United Launch Alliance (ULA) is an American launch service provider, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin Space and Boeing Defense, Space & Security. As a launch provider, ULA designs, assembles, sells, and launches rockets like the Atlas V and Vulcan Centaur, providing access to space for national security payloads, commercial satellites, and deep-space exploration missions. Its primary customers include the U.S. Department of Defense, NASA, and commercial entities. Key activities involve launch services, rocket development, and partnerships with organizations like NASA and ESA for various space missions.
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Nearly 600 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers voted 2018-05-19 to accept a revised contract with United Launch Alliance.
The revised contract changes directed travel provisions to provide additional hourly pay for employees sent from United Launch Alliance’s Decatur, Alabama factory to launch sites in Florida or California.
Tory Bruno, president and chief executive of United Launch Alliance, acknowledged union concerns about travel, job security, and pensions in a 2018-05-10 letter and reiterated that the company does not intend to eliminate union jobs through subcontracting or by having salaried employees perform work assigned to union personnel.
United Launch Alliance selected Aerojet Rocketdyne’s RL10C-X engine to power the upper stage of its next-generation Vulcan rocket on 2018-05-11.
Astrobotic’s Peregrine mission is planned to provide small robotic lander capabilities to the Moon as early as 2020 and will launch on a ULA Atlas V.
United Launch Alliance’s proposed contract included a ratification bonus of $6,000 and wage increases of 1.5 to 2 percent per year.
United Launch Alliance’s next mission after the 2018-05-05 Atlas V launch is scheduled for the end of July, when a Delta IV Heavy is planned to launch NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mission.
Nearly 600 United Launch Alliance workers at three sites voted 2018-05-06 to reject the company’s latest contract and go on strike.
Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance are working on the details of a production contract for Blue Origin to supply BE-4 engines to ULA.
United Launch Alliance and the union last negotiated a contract in May 2015.
The proposed contract covers nearly 600 union members at United Launch Alliance’s main manufacturing facility in Decatur, Alabama, and at its launch sites at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
The negotiating committee for the Machinists Union unanimously rejected United Launch Alliance’s proposed three-year contract presented 2018-04-26 as its best and final offer.
United Launch Alliance’s offer includes a $6,000 ratification bonus per employee if members approve the contract before 2018-05-07.
On 2018-04-26, United Launch Alliance named John Elbon as its chief operating officer.
Orbital ATK plans to buy enough RD-181 engines to cover the first four launches under its CRS-2 contract and is studying using United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket and its own OmegA rocket for future Cygnus launches.
Prices NASA paid under its Launch Services Program for ULA’s Atlas 5 missions dropped by about $20,000,000 after SpaceX’s Falcon 9 became eligible to compete for those missions in 2013.
Congress directed the Air Force to replace United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket, which uses the Russian RD-180 engine, with a domestic propulsion alternative.
The planned launch of the first GPS III satellite shifted from March 2018 to late 2018 because the Air Force decided to launch the satellite on a SpaceX Falcon 9 instead of a ULA Delta IV rocket.
Lockheed Martin reported $85,000,000 in equity earnings for its space division in the first quarter of 2018, primarily from its stake in United Launch Alliance, up from $80,000,000 in the first quarter of 2017.
Astrobotic's Peregrine Lunar Lander is scheduled to launch to the Moon in 2020 on ULA’s Atlas V.