Comment originally posted at NASAWATCH
While it’s true that Atlas and Delta are not military owned vehicles, I’d argue that there are bigger points to be made.
The EELV program that spec’d out these rockets was developed by the Department of Defense in 1994 when they released the Space Launch Modernization Plan, aka the Moorman Study. Lockheed & Boeing developed the EELVs ‘independently’ (haha) to military specs, the fact is that the DoD forced these two giants to invest their own money into the rockets’ development given the potential for commercial launches. Unlike Orbital & SpaceX…these guys didn’t consider themselves ‘commercial’ space providers, and nobody I know seriously includes them as part of the ‘commercial space’ movement.
However, there is an even bigger issue here than who owns the rocket, but who puts them together and who launches them. A NASA badge may take you across the river at KSC, but you’re not going to get into Atlas IV or Delta launch control unless you have a military credentials or escorts. Remember, the Apollo moon shots and the Space Shuttle leave Earth from Launch Complex 39, which is NASA property. The Atlas and Delta sites are controlled by 45th Mission Support Group on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. I believe the last they had complete control of a space mission was during Gemini. Throwing civilian hardware and civilian astronauts on top of a ‘commercial’ rocket in Air Force controlled installation will be a significant shift in NASA operations.
But there’s a bigger point here: Obama has suggested reviving the National Aeronautics & Space Council, which suggests an even higher level of integration. A friend of mine was a higher up at NASA when the Council existed and it was clear that the military had significant influence in NASA business.
An interesting aside will be what role NASA Ames Director Pete Worden will play if Obama does bring back the National Aeronautics & Space Council. Given that he was a staff officer for the Council during the first Bush administration, and as a USAF Colonel served the Panel Leader for Business & Management Practices in the aforementioned Moorman Study, I suspect he’ll be front and center if military does step back into NASA’s business.
For the record, I am a HUGE fan of this possibility, as I have much respect for what Pete Worden has done at Ames. Additionally, switching to the EELV in my mind opens up an opportunity to preserve the launch capability of the Shuttle to maintain Hubble & ISS by keeping the VAB & LC-39 from being irrecoverably modified, among other reasons. Moreover it also allows TRUE Shuttle derived options such as Shuttle-C to be considered for different flight programs where such a capacity could be warranted.