Good news

Delta IV has been canned in favor of Atlas V. I predicted it would go the other way, because the DoD has yet to launch on Atlas V. I had presumed there was some sort of issue with the Russian (Ukranian?) origin of the engine. I now presume the issue has been dealt with somehow, and that's good news all around.

So now, does the Air Force think it's safe from a Boeing/LockMart monopoly because SpaceX is coming along well enough to scare them into better prices? Or is the Air Force figuring that keeping the Delta IV on life support is going to be more expensive than monopoly overcharges on Atlas V?

And, for those who might protest at me treating the whole thing as a spectator sport, let me point out that it costs me something like the cost of a movie ticket every time they launch the Shuttle or Titan IV.

Other good news, might be old though: John McCain is being clear about our foreign energy dependence problem, and how to deal with it: build nuclear power plants. Of course, McCain is also in favor of hydrogen-fuelled vehicles, which is a boondoggle as far as I can see.