Is ULA for sale? Reports swirl as crews prep for Monday's Vulcan inaugural launch from Cape
United Launch Alliance may be purchased by Blue Origin or another potential suitor, the Wall Street Journal reported — and company officials are declining comment.
Meanwhile, ULA crews continue preparing for Monday's historic maiden flight of the Vulcan rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, a pivotal landmark for the company.
Two weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal reported ULA has received buyout offers from Blue Origin and Cerberus, with Textron also showing interest. The report cited people familiar with the matter. ULA and Blue Origin operate under a long-term partnership, and Blue Origin built the pair of BE-4 engines that will power Vulcan's first stage.
The sale of ULA would require Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice approval, Ars Technica reported.
"If the rumors are true that Blue Origin may be purchasing ULA, I think that can be fantastic for both companies. They've had a long history of working together," said Phil Metzger, director of the Stephen W. Hawking Center for Microgravity Research & Education at the University of Central Florida.
More: Behind the scenes: ULA prepping Vulcan rocket for inaugural launch on Christmas Eve
Forged in 2005, ULA is a joint partnership between Lockheed Martin and The Boeing Co. that has delivered 158 missions to orbit with a 100% success rate. However, only three launches occurred last year from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, including a prototype mission for Amazon’s future Project Kuiper satellite constellation.
SpaceX now dominates Florida's rocket market, accounting for 68 of last year's record-breaking 72 orbital launches with an array of big-ticket commercial and governmental customers. SpaceX's innovations in reusability and cost reductions were showcased by Thursday's Falcon Heavy-Falcon 9 doubleheader, where the Space Force's X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle and 23 Starlink satellites launched within three hours — while the rockets' three boosters landed to fly more missions.
ULA employs about 2,700 employees nationwide, according to the company website. That includes launch operations at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California; manufacturing, assembly and integration operations in Decatur, Alabama, and Harlingen, Texas; and headquarters in Denver, Colorado.
Asked about rumors of a potential sale, a ULA spokesperson referred FLORIDA TODAY questions to parent companies Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Both declined to provide information.
“In general, it is our company practice not to comment on market rumors or speculation," a Lockheed Martin spokesperson told FLORIDA TODAY in an email.
“Consistent with our corporate practice, Boeing doesn’t comment on potential market rumors or speculation," a Boeing spokesperson said in an email.
Blue Origin media representatives did not return messages seeking comment.
Talk of a ULA sale swirls as the company prepares for Monday's 2:18 a.m. EST inaugural launch of the new Vulcan Centaur rocket. And the mission's success is of great import: Vulcan is slated to replace ULA's venerable Atlas V and Delta IV Heavy rockets.
Quick facts about the Vulcan launch:
Location: Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Trajectory: Northeast.
Payloads: The rocket's Centaur V upper stage will Astrobotic's Peregrine commercial moon lander and a payload from the spaceflight memorial company Celestis.
Live coverage: Starts two hours before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space.
During a November media roundtable, ULA President and CEO Tory Bruno said Vulcan rockets have a backlog of more than 70 future launches worth billions of dollars. He said he hopes two Vulcans launch per month by the end of 2025.
Asked about the potential sale of ULA during the roundtable, Bruno said he could neither talk nor speculate about a merger or acquisition situation.
During a February 2019 lecture at the Florida Institute of Technology, Bruno discussed ULA's "Cislunar 1,000" vision of creating a community of about 1,000 people between Earth and the moon within 30 years or so. He stressed the abundance of lunar and asteroid-based natural resources such as titanium, iron and nickel.
A planetary scientist, Metzger co-authored a ULA-funded study to determine whether lunar ice mined and extracted from the moon can be economically converted into rocket fuel. He said a ULA sale would "unleash" its engineers from the co-parent companies to pursue innovative ideas such as CisLunar 1,000.
"I think unleashing the ULA team would be fantastic for the space industry of the United States. I have super-high respect for the ULA team. They're creative. They do fantastic work, really top-notch work. So seeing them be able to execute on the vision they have would be an outstanding development," Metzger said.
"And then also, I think it'll benefit Blue Origin. Because that great influx of talent would be coming into the Blue Origin vision of developing industry on the moon, and revolutionizing the cislunar region of space economically," he said.
For the latest launch schedule updates from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA's Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/launchschedule.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or [email protected]. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Is ULA for sale? Reports swirl as Vulcan rocket launch nears Monday
