{"id":14036,"date":"2018-01-24T22:17:20","date_gmt":"2018-01-24T14:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/ula-announces-takeover-of-commercial-atlas-5-launch-sales\/"},"modified":"2018-01-24T22:17:20","modified_gmt":"2018-01-24T14:17:20","slug":"ula-announces-takeover-of-commercial-atlas-5-launch-sales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/ula-announces-takeover-of-commercial-atlas-5-launch-sales\/","title":{"rendered":"ULA announces takeover of commercial Atlas 5 launch sales"},"content":{"rendered":"
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File photo of an Atlas 5 launch from Cape Canaveral. Credit: ULA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

United Launch Alliance announced Monday that the company will assume responsibility for commercial marketing and sales for Atlas 5 rocket missions, taking over for a Lockheed Martin division that previously sold Atlas 5 launch services on the commercial market.<\/p>\n

The change will mean ULA will directly negotiate commercial launch contracts with customers, a move that could result in reduced launch prices and other business efficiencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cULA has undergone a tremendous transformation over the last two years, and with our innovative techniques, coupled with world-class reliability and schedule certainty, we are well positioned to offer Atlas 5 launch services to our current and potential commercial customers,\u201d said Tory Bruno, ULA\u2019s president and CEO. \u201cULA will serve as a business partner committed to building a launch strategy that maximizes the commercial provider\u2019s profits and positions them above their competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

With 75 successful flights in a row, a record dating back to the rocket\u2019s maiden flight in August 2002, the two-stage Atlas 5 has launched costly, one-of-a-kind payloads for the U.S. military, NASA and the National Reconnaissance Office, the agency which manages the U.S. government\u2019s spy satellite fleet.<\/p>\n

Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services acted as the booking agent and service provider for six commercial Atlas 5 flights since ULA\u2019s formation in December 2006. ULA combined Atlas and Delta rocket operations previously owned and managed by Lockheed Martin and Boeing.<\/p>\n

But Lockheed Martin retained rights for commercial Atlas 5 launch sales, taking over for International Launch Services, which previously had that responsibility. After winning a commercial contract, Lockheed Martin would subcontract the mission to ULA to provide the launch vehicle and launch services.<\/p>\n

ILS now exclusively sells Russian Proton launch services commercially.<\/p>\n

George Sowers, ULA\u2019s former vice president of advanced programs who helped design the Atlas 5, wrote on Twitter that the commercial sales shake-up rectified a \u201cdecade-old mistake\u201d dating to ULA\u2019s founding.<\/p>\n

Recent commercial wins by Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services included contracts to deliver the EchoStar 19 broadband satellite to orbit in December 2016, the Morelos 3 communications relay spacecraft for the Mexican government (which was considered a commercial launch), and two WorldView Earth-imaging satellites.<\/p>\n

The Atlas 5 has been a niche player in the commercial launch market since ULA\u2019s formation. The price of a dedicated Atlas 5 mission \u2014 higher than companies like SpaceX, Arianespace and ILS \u2014 and ULA\u2019s priority given to U.S. government payloads have kept the Atlas 5 shut out of much of the market.<\/p>\n

But Bruno has renewed ULA\u2019s focus on commercial contracts, and he said the company\u2019s next-generation Vulcan rocket will need commercial launch business to be viable.<\/p>\n

Bruno was a late addition to a commercial launch panel at Euroconsult\u2019s World Satellite Business Week in September, joining SpaceX, Arianespace, ILS, Japan\u2019s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and China\u2019s Great Wall Industry Corp. at one of the commercial satellite industry\u2019s biggest annual meetings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe value of a launch is a lot more than its price tag,\u201d Bruno said in a statement. \u201cULA Atlas 5 launch services help customers capture savings and added value by delivering spacecraft to orbit earlier, extending mission life, and providing unsurpassed schedule certainty.<\/p>\n

\u201cLockheed Martin\u2019s Commercial Launch Services organization served its customers well with a flawless record of mission success and strong customer partnerships for more than a decade,\u201d Bruno said. \u201cWe look forward to continuing that legacy of performance, service and precision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom Tshudy, ULA\u2019s vice president and general council, will lead the new commercial launch services division, the company said in a statement. He previously was general counsel at ILS and Lockheed Martin while both companies were active in the commercial launch market.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

File photo of an Atlas 5 launch from Cape Canaveral. Credit: ULA United Launch Alliance announced Monday that the company will assume responsibility for commercial marketing and sales for Atlas 5 rocket missions, taking over for a Lockheed Martin division that previously sold Atlas 5 launch services on the commercial market. The change will mean […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[724,291,25,472,750],"class_list":["post-14036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-atlas-5","tag-commercial-space","tag-launch","tag-lockheed-martin","tag-united-launch-alliance"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14036"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14036\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}