Boeing-Lockheed’s Vulcan rocket debut challenges SpaceX

A Boeing-Lockheed joint venture’s launch of a new Vulcan rocket showed off a new rival to Elon Musk’s dominant SpaceX.

Boeing and Lockheed Martin’s United Launch Alliance sent Vulcan into space for the first time, a first step toward reclaiming market share from SpaceX.

The reusable Falcon 9 rocket for years has been the main option for countries to get their satellites into space.

The payload, a privately funded moon lander, will not finish its mission because of tech problems, but the Vulcan launch in Florida was a success.

“This launch puts ULA in the front-runner position to challenge SpaceX’s de facto monopoly over launch,” said Caleb Henry, a space analyst at Quilty Analytics.

“If ULA can prove that Vulcan can scale up to a rapid launch cadence quickly, they will provide the market with another route to space.”

Dependence on SpaceX has been a concern for the Pentagon, which wants multiple vendors of rides to orbit.

“If SpaceX has a bad day in the future, we’d still have a pathway to space for our national security needs” with Vulcan, said Michael Lembeck, a space consultant and director of University of Illinois Advanced Space Systems lab.