Thursday, August 6, 2009

SpaceX Boosts EELV Efforts

Hawthorne-based SpaceX, the commercial spaceflight operation run by Elon Musk, reported today that it has named Marv Vander Weg to Vice President of its EELV Customer Office, which appears to be a new office targeted at the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. government's EELV (Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle) program. The EELV program is an effort to replace the USAF's legacy rockets with newer technology. Vander Weg joins from the United Launch Alliance (ULA), where he was also a VP at the firm's Customer Program Office, covering Atlas and Delta launch vehicles. He has also served at Lockheed Martin, which has been a bidder on the EELV program and other space programs. SpaceX had been cut out of the EELV program in 2005, when the United Launch Alliance--a joint effort of Boeing and Lockheed Martin--won the EELV program. That win resulted in an anti-trust lawsuit from SpaceX in 2005, alleging Boeing and Lockheed Martin had prevented the firm from entering the government launch market. That lawsuit was eventually dismissed.