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i 

94–223 2015

[H.A.S.C. No. 114–21] 

ASSURING ASSURED ACCESS TO SPACE 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON STRATEGIC FORCES 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

HEARING HELD 

MARCH 17, 2015 
(II) 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON STRATEGIC FORCES 

MIKE ROGERS, Alabama, Chairman 

TRENT FRANKS, Arizona 

DOUG LAMBORN, Colorado, Vice Chair 

MIKE COFFMAN, Colorado 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

JIM BRIDENSTINE, Oklahoma 

J. RANDY FORBES, Virginia 

ROB BISHOP, Utah 

MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio 

JOHN FLEMING, Louisiana 

JIM COOPER, Tennessee 

LORETTA SANCHEZ, California 

RICK LARSEN, Washington 

JOHN GARAMENDI, California 

MARK TAKAI, Hawaii 

BRAD ASHFORD, Nebraska 

PETE AGUILAR, California 

STEVE KITAY, Professional Staff Member 

LEONOR TOMERO, Counsel 

ERIC SMITH, Clerk 
(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Page 

STATEMENTS PRESENTED BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS 

Rogers, Hon. Mike, a Representative from Alabama, Chairman, Subcommittee 

on Strategic Forces ............................................................................................... 1 

WITNESSES 

Bruno, Salvatore T. ‘‘Tory,’’ President and Chief Executive Officer, United 

Launch Alliance .................................................................................................... 3 

Hyten, Gen John E., USAF, Commander, U.S. Air Force Space Command ....... 28 

LaPlante, Dr. William A., Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, 

Department of Defense ........................................................................................ 26 

McFarland, Hon. Katrina G., Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, 

Department of Defense ........................................................................................ 25 

Mitchell, Maj Gen Howard J. ‘‘Mitch,’’ USAF (Ret.), Chairman, USAF-Chartered RD–180 Availability Risk Mitigation Study ............................................. 29 

Shotwell, Gwynne, President and Chief Operating Officer, Space Exploration 

Technologies Corporation .................................................................................... 5 

APPENDIX 

PREPARED STATEMENTS: 

Bruno, Salvatore T. ‘‘Tory’’ .............................................................................. 57 

Cooper, Hon. Jim, a Representative from Tennessee, Ranking Member, 

Subcommittee on Strategic Forces .............................................................. 56 

Hyten, Gen John E. .......................................................................................... 104 

LaPlante, Dr. William A. ................................................................................. 94 

McFarland, Hon. Katrina G. ........................................................................... 88 

Mitchell, Maj Gen Howard J. ‘‘Mitch’’ ............................................................ 114 

Rogers, Hon. Mike ............................................................................................ 53 

Shotwell, Gwynne ............................................................................................. 67 

DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD: 

[There were no Documents submitted.] 

WITNESS RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS ASKED DURING THE HEARING: 

Ms. Sanchez ...................................................................................................... 125 

QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY MEMBERS POST HEARING: 

Mr. Brooks ......................................................................................................... 134 

Mr. Coffman ...................................................................................................... 133 

Mr. Rogers ......................................................................................................... 129 

(1) 

ASSURING ASSURED ACCESS TO SPACE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON STRATEGIC FORCES, Washington, DC, Tuesday, March 17, 2015. 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 4:13 p.m., in room 

2118, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Mike Rogers (chairman 

of the subcommittee) presiding. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MIKE ROGERS, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM ALABAMA, CHAIRMAN, SUBCOMMITTEE ON 

STRATEGIC FORCES 

Mr. ROGERS. Good afternoon. I want to welcome everybody to the 

Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing on assured access to space. 

We will be conducting two panels today. 

In the first panel, we have two expert witnesses from industry 

who represent our current and projected near-term providers of national security space launch in the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle [EELV] program. 

In our second panel, we have three senior government officials 

who have responsibilities over EELV program and one advisor to 

the government. 

Testifying on Panel 1 is Mr. Tory Bruno, President and CEO 

[Chief Executive Officer] of United Launch Alliance [ULA], and Ms. 

Gwynne Shotwell, President and Chief Operating Officer of Space 

Exploration Technologies Corporation [SpaceX]. 

We appreciate you both taking the time to be here today and 

offer your perspectives, including the challenges and opportunities 

related to our national security space launch activities. 

In this job as chairman of the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, 

I have come to more fully appreciate the importance of our space 

to our country. It is one of the underpinnings of our national security. 

Let me provide an example. If a foreign adversary was to launch 

an intercontinental ballistic missile at our country, our military 

would rapidly detect this missile launch through our Space-Based 

Infrared System satellites, and the information would be provided 

to our highest national command authorities to appropriately respond. 

Such response would almost certainly be transmitted across 

space-based communications satellites to combatant commanders 

all over the world, who would order our military forces to take action, and those troops would rely on space-based intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities and communication capabilities to perform their mission and return home safely. 
2 

These are extremely important capabilities that American lives 

may literally depend upon. We can’t have space capabilities like 

this without an effective launch program. This is literally rocket 

science. So, one of my top priorities in this job is to make sure that 

we have assured access to space both now and in the future. 

We have come a long way since the late 1990s, when we went 

through a span of 10 months and suffered five launch vehicle failures. Since 2006, we have benefitted from an unparalleled record 

of success through the Air Force partnership with United Launch 

Alliance with 78 successful launches in the Evolved Expendable 

Launch Vehicle program. 

Most recently this partnership has also brought tremendous sav- ings to the taxpayers, $4.4 billion, according to the Air Force, as 

a result of a 36-rocket core block-buy contract. 

Now we are once again entering into a new phase for the EELV. 

We are transitioning to a more competitive environment. Many 

steps have been taken by the government, including Congress and 

the Department of Defense, to encourage this. 

Congress provided funding that was dedicated to new entrants 

for the two launches. SpaceX was awarded both of those contracts. 

And the Air Force has spent nearly $60 million and allocated more 

than 100 government employees to help certify SpaceX for the 

EELV program, which it may do in the near months ahead. 

We look forward to competition in the EELV program because 

that will achieve the best outcome for the benefit of our taxpayers 

and our warfighters. 

Lastly, it is extremely important that we work to transition off 

relying on Russian engines for national security launch purposes. 

The intention of the fiscal year 2015 NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act] was to provide a reasonable transition. Section 

1608 language regarding prohibition of procuring Russian rocket 

engines included specific exceptions and waivers. 

We intended to allow the use of the Russian engines that we understood to be on contract through the period of time that we believed would allow for the development of the new U.S. engine. My 

understanding is the Department of Defense may not be interpreting it the same way. This remains an issue that we look forward to understanding better today. 

Regarding the development of a new engine, I understand this 

will take time. But I believe in our U.S. history, and I believe that 

once the men and women in the Department of Defense have the 

red tape eliminated, we can do this expediently, effectively, and efficiently. We should take the lowest risk approach that is in accordance with the terms of section 1604 of the fiscal year 2015 NDAA. 

Thank you again for being with us today regarding this important topic. I look forward to your testimony. 

I now recognize my friend and colleague from Tennessee, Mr. 

Cooper, for an opening statement. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Rogers can be found in the Appendix on page 53.] 

Mr. COOPER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

In view of the lateness of the hour, since this hearing was delayed almost 45 minutes due to votes, I ask unanimous consent 

that I insert my opening statement in the record. 
3 

Mr. ROGERS. Without objection. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Cooper can be found in the Appendix on page 56.] 

Mr. ROGERS. However, I have read his opening statement, and 

I fully concur with it. I could not have said it better. As he reminds 

me often, I couldn’t say it better. 

But having said that, now I recognize Panel Number 1, Mr. 

Bruno and Ms. Shotwell. The witnesses are asked to summarize 

their prepared statements for the record. The entire statement will 

be submitted, but you have 5 minutes to summarize. 

Mr. Bruno, we will start with you. 

STATEMENT OF SALVATORE T. ‘‘TORY’’ BRUNO, PRESIDENT 

AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, UNITED LAUNCH ALLIANCE 

Mr. BRUNO. Thank you, Chairman Rogers, Ranking Member Cooper, members of the subcommittee. Thank you very much for inviting me here this evening. I look forward to talking about the EELV 

program, the future of space launch, and how I am transforming 

the United Launch Alliance to meet this new environment. 

In changing our company, I have asked our team to focus on four 

basic goals. First and foremost, to substantially reduce the cost of 

launch. Secondly, to move expeditiously and quickly towards an 

American rocket engine replacement so that we may retire the venerable and advanced technology, Russian RD–180. 

We are going to do this while maintaining our unique capability 

to launch the entire suite of national security space satellites, a capability that no other provider has the technical ability to perform. 

And then, finally, we are going to do all this without losing our 

laser focus on mission success, something we feel also sets us apart 

in this marketplace. 

I would like to say a couple of words about our path to an American rocket engine. We entered into a strategic partnership with 

Blue Origin late last year, a company founded by Amazon founder 

Jeff Bezos. 

There are a number of reasons why that engine was attractive 

to us from a technology point of view, but I will admit that first 

and foremost in my mind was the urgency I felt to move towards 

an American rocket engine. 

The BE–4 Blue Origin engine is 3 years into its development 

path and offered the most expeditious track to an American engine 

replacement. It is a methane engine and offers novel technology 

and advanced manufacturing techniques that promise to substantially reduce cost. 

But as a person who has done rocket development for 30 years, 

I can tell you that it is difficult and rocket engines are the hardest 

part. And the history of rocket engine development is common with 

the occurrence of technical challenges and those that often affect 

schedule. So prudence required that I have a backup plan. 

So we have also entered into a partnership with Aerojet 

Rocketdyne for their AR–1 engine with a more conventional kerosene-based fuel. You could argue that the technical risk of that 

approach is lower because the fuel is more common in the industry. 

However, that engine is 1 to 2 years behind the Blue Origin engine. 
4 

And so we will continue both of these until we down select in 

about the 2016, 2017 timeframe, when sufficient testing data has 

been available for us to make an informed decision. I have gone to 

my board of directors and asked for this to be funded privately so 

that we can move out smartly and do both of these activities. 

Now, we will place this engine underneath the next generation 

of launch vehicles that will continue to provide that complete support to all of the national security space satellites, to all of their 

intended orbits, but we will also expand our performance capability 

so that we are able to meet the challenges that might arise in the 

future as the country finds new needs to be coped with in space. 

I will also substantially reduce the cost of our infrastructure by 

streamlining our product line and streamlining our facilities and 

our other launch infrastructure. 

So today we maintain a fleet of 16 different rockets. Other providers may have a single rocket or two rockets. We fly 16 variants 

in order to cover that entire span of national security space requirements. But within that fleet of 16, there are 2 redundant systems. 

The Delta IV medium class is entirely redundant to the Atlas V 

class in terms of its performance. We have maintained these two 

systems all this time in order to satisfy the country’s need for assured access, which is to say two independent systems so that, in 

the event that there might be a failure or a flaw in one system, 

there would still be a second system able to launch our critical national security assets. 

In this new environment where the policy has changed to assure 

access through the existence of two providers, I will now retire the 

Delta medium class of space launch vehicles when we have completed our current requirements within the manifest and that team 

and that infrastructure will be consolidated into Atlas, creating 

considerable savings to our offerings. 

I will also consolidate our pads. Today we have five launch pads 

to support this work. We are going to consolidate to two pads, one 

on each coast. We are going to do that by bringing in innovative 

designs to the pads that will allow them to be mission-agnostic, 

flexible, and handle the volume of lift that is currently requiring 

five. 

And we are going to revolutionize the way people come to us to 

purchase launch services. We are going to introduce a standard 

launch offering, fixed price, priced in advance, that customers can 

buy and then add to that, if they desire, standard options also at 

a pre-priced. 

It will literally be like going to a Web site and building your own 

rocket. It will completely change the way launch services are purchased. Together, with all of these changes and innovations, we 

will substantially reduce the price of launch from where it is today. 

I would also like to say a couple words about reliability. We enjoy 

an unprecedented perfect mission success record of 94 consecutive 

flights, all of which were on time and, by the way, all of which 

were on or under budget. 

This is a record no one has yet to match. And, from our perspective, when you are launching national security missions, some of 
5 

which are multi-billion-dollar, one-of-a-kind assets upon which lives 

depend, reliability matters. 

And so, in this environment, I am very excited about the changes 

in our industry. Competition is now possible. I believe competition 

is good for the taxpayer. I believe it is healthy for the industry. 

And I am looking forward to taking that field and putting my team 

there because I am confident that we can win. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Bruno can be found in the Appendix on page 57.] 

Mr. ROGERS. Thank you very much. 

Ms. Shotwell, thank you very much for being here. You are recognized. 

STATEMENT OF GWYNNE SHOTWELL, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF 

OPERATING OFFICER, SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Cooper, and 

members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before this committee today. In addition to my opening statement, I have prepared a detailed written statement which I have 

submitted for the record. 

Mr. Chairman, every day I go to work with the best and the 

brightest engineers, technicians, and support staff in the world, 

over 4,000 of them now, and I can tell you that they are prepared 

to support our Nation’s most critical launches. Those who say that 

U.S. engineers can’t compete or that continued foreign reliance is 

the only way forward are wrong. 

The SpaceX mission from day one has been to leverage American 

innovation and technical know-how to provide the most reliable 

space launch systems in history. We seek to serve the Nation by 

offering these systems for national security launches. 

To date, the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle has flown successfully 16 consecutive times for a sophisticated array of U.S. Government and commercial customers, including the Air Force. I am 

highly confident that the Falcon 9 will be certified for the Air 

Force’s EELV-class missions by June of this year. 

Later this year we intend to fly the Falcon Heavy, which will 

double the lift capability of any rocket currently flying. We believe 

that this vehicle, which has a great commonality with the current 

Falcon 9, can be certified in relatively short order. 

The subcommittee’s hearing today on assured access is timely. 

National policy law rightly calls for two completely independent 

launch systems that can lift the full spectrum of national security 

payloads. Due to the common upper stage engines flown between 

Atlas and Delta, Russian reliance, and only one heavy-lift rocket, 

we do not have assured access today. 

Even without assured access, the cost of the EELV program has 

become unsustainable. According to the GAO [Government Accountability Office], the price per EELV launch has quadrupled, 

from $100 [million] to nearly $400 million. 

But I want to focus my testimony today on what I believe to be 

constructive solutions to achieve assured access. 

First, the United States does not need more Russian engines to 

get national security space payloads to orbit with the Falcon 9 and 
6 

the Delta, both all-American rockets, available. The notion of a capability gap is just not true. 

It is noteworthy that the head of Russia’s space enterprise, 

Dmitry Rogozin, has publicly stated that funds received from the 

United States for the RD–180 is free money that goes to the Russian missile program. How do we justify buying more and funding 

the Russian military? 

Second, continue to pursue a policy of assured access through 

genuine competition between multiple qualified providers with redundant, truly dissimilar launch vehicle systems. 

Third, eliminate the costly, inefficient, and ineffective launch capabilities contract to the incumbent. In the meantime, these subsidies must be accounted for if you are to have true and real competition. 

Finally, Congress can structure engine development efforts to 

maximize smart investment. Government money is best spent 

against unique government mission requirements that otherwise 

would not be developed by a commercial provider. 

Mr. Chairman, again, thank you. As a nation, we stand on the 

cusp of having real competition for national security space 

launches. SpaceX, with our all-American Falcon 9 and Falcon 

Heavy, looks forward to contributing to the Nation’s assured access 

to space. 

I am pleased to address any questions that you have. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Shotwell can be found in the Appendix on page 67.] 

Mr. ROGERS. Great. Thank you, both. 

Again, I know it takes a lot of time to prepare for these things. 

So I appreciate you all putting the time in and being here. This is 

a very important subject. 

But let me start with a little housekeeping. 

Ms. Shotwell, I understand that you requested an extension to 

fully respond to the requirement of the disclosure of contracts with 

foreign governments as required under House rules. 

Do I have your commitment to provide the required disclosure, 

which is posted publicly per House rules, no later than 7 days after 

the March hearing? To be clear, that would be the close of business 

on the 24th of March. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Absolutely. 

Mr. ROGERS. Great. Thank you. 

Okay. Next off, quick question for both of you. 

Do you have any concerns, from your perspective, of allowing this 

committee to have access to the terms of the recent settlement 

agreement regarding SpaceX’s lawsuit against the U.S. Government? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. I have no concern about the recent—— 

Mr. ROGERS. About us having access to the terms of that agreement. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Oh. I am sorry. I am sorry, sir. 

The terms of that agreement are basically governed by the Court. 

And so we have no say whatsoever. 

Mr. ROGERS. I understand that the Court is saying that it is a 

secret settlement. I want to know if you all would object if the 

Court let us see that. 
7 

Ms. SHOTWELL. I don’t object. I am sorry. No. 

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Bruno? 

Mr. BRUNO. We have no objection at all. 

Mr. ROGERS. Thank you, both. 

New topic. Ms. Shotwell, tell us why it is important to have competition for the EELV vehicle program. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Competition drives prices. Importantly, it drives 

quality of service as well. If you are truly competing against a real 

competitor, you are going to ensure that you have a quality product, you have a quality service, at the best possible price. 

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Bruno, same question. 

Mr. BRUNO. Competition, when it is possible, is universally good 

for the taxpayer. It is healthy for the industry. It drives innovation, 

and it drives value to cost. 

Mr. ROGERS. Ms. Shotwell, how do you feel about competing 

against ULA? Do you think that SpaceX can win a free and fair 

competition with ULA? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Absolutely I do. 

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Bruno, how do you feel about competing against 

SpaceX? Do you think you can win a free and fair competition? 

Mr. BRUNO. Absolutely. 

Mr. ROGERS. All right. All right. So we both agree. 

Mr. Bruno, what is the impact of section 1608 from the fiscal 

year 2015 NDA [National Defense Authorization] based on the 

most current interpretation of DOD {Department of Defense]? 

Mr. BRUNO. Certainly. So the most current interpretation limits 

us to engines that we had on hand prior to the outbreak of Crimea. 

The impact of that is that we will be unable to introduce the new 

American rocket engine before those engines are consumed. 

We will have no more than 5 that we are able to use between 

our existing 36-core block buy. That means there will be a capability gap between when we are out of engines on Atlas and can 

no longer fly Atlas and when we have the earliest opportunity to 

introduce an American engine. 

Mr. ROGERS. What will that mean for your ability to compete? 

Because you all both really want to compete with each other. I just 

heard you say it. 

Mr. BRUNO. Yes, we do. 

So the reason we are retiring the Delta IV medium class is because it is inherently 25 to 30 percent more expensive than the 

Atlas. It is not competitive in the marketplace. So without access 

to the Atlas rocket, we are essentially unable to compete in that 

timeframe. 

Mr. ROGERS. To provide another perspective, Ms. Katrina McFarland, who is testifying on the second panel today, offered the Department of Defense her view of the statement for the record: 

‘‘Even assuming a new entrant is certified in the near term’’— 

which we expect you to be—‘‘the Department is concerned that, 

with the loss of the Atlas V and the medium- to intermediate-class 

Delta IV vehicle, we could be faced with a multi-year gap without 

at least two price competitive launch providers servicing mediumto intermediate-class missions.’’ 
8 

Ms. Shotwell, the Department is saying we may be faced with 

this multi-year gap in competition. Do you still agree that competition is important? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Yes, sir, I do. But there is many ways to achieve 

competition. There is also many ways to make vehicles cost-effective. 

When we produce more Falcon 9s, the vehicle cost decreases. If 

you were to increase the number of Delta vehicles that you produce 

every year, the price of the Delta would come down. Certainly the 

cost of the Delta would come down. 

Mr. ROGERS. But do you think the Delta single can compete with 

SpaceX on price? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. I believe it would take work on the part of ULA, 

but I believe that is their job. 

Mr. ROGERS. That is interesting. 

Do you want to respond to that? 

Mr. BRUNO. Certainly. So today we fly Atlas about twice as often 

as we fly Delta. When I said a moment ago that Delta was about 

25 to 30 percent more expensive than Atlas, that was adjusting for 

flying an all-Delta fleet. 

I would also like to point out that ULA has consistently reduced 

costs from the beginning of the formation of the company and the 

EELV program through today. 

Prior to the formation of ULA, the price of lift had risen dramatically due to the collapse of the commercial telecom industry. And 

the average price of lift was then, in fact, $400 million each. 

As we entered into our block buy, ULA had driven that cost down to more like $200 million. And, of course, our goal is to eventually drive that price to $100 or below, so cutting it in half again. 

Mr. ROGERS. Before I stop, I want to go to what Ms. McFarland 

just described as this potential gap of time when we won’t have access, particularly on the heavy-lift, because I understand that 

SpaceX is close to being certified on these medium- and intermediate-range missions, but you still have a way before you test on 

the heavy-lift. 

And Mr. Bruno was saying, without the RD–180, he would not 

be able to continue to compete for the intermediate- and mediumrange missions, which could then jeopardize his ability to maintain 

the Delta Heavy. 

And I will start with you, Ms. Shotwell. 

Do you agree that there is the potential, as outlined by Ms. 

McFarland, that there could be a multi-year period where we 

would not have assured access to space for the heavy NRO [National Reconnaissance Office] platforms? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. I think it is important to note that the Atlas does 

not have a heavy configuration and that the heaviest NRO satellites must fly on the Delta IV Heavy, which is of the Delta line. 

Mr. ROGERS. Exactly. 

And Mr. Bruno has made the statement that, without the Atlas, 

which is his workhorse mission, that needs the RD–180, he would 

not be able to maintain the infrastructure that supports the heavylift, Delta IV, which only lifts about once every 2 years, and would 

make it cost-prohibitive; so, it wouldn’t be in the market. Now this 

is his argument, not mine. 
9 

Do you agree that that could create the potential that we would 

not have heavy-lift capability for the NRO platforms for a 2- to 5- 

year period, as Ms. McFarland from the DOD has said? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. So, obviously, I don’t understand the intricacies 

of the ULA business. However, I do see the Delta IV vehicle flying 

and flying successfully, the Delta Heavy vehicle flying and flying 

successfully. 

And so, with a Falcon 9 single core, which is comparable to a 

Delta IV, and then the Falcon Heavy, which we will bring on-line 

and be certified in time for competition in 2018, then you have two 

completely independent, dissimilar vehicle families, both from medium-lift all the way through heavy-lift. 

Mr. ROGERS. With that, thank you very much. 

I yield to the ranking member for any questions he may have. 

Mr. COOPER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank you for calling 

this hearing. 

And I want to welcome witnesses from two outstanding companies. 

I think the taxpayer has reason to be reassured because we have 

come a long way toward competition, toward higher quality and 

better price for the taxpayer. It was heartening for me to hear Mr. 

Bruno’s comments. 

Because I think you are talking about a very different company 

than ULA was even just a few years ago, as you try to transform 

it to a more commercial model with fixed pricing and things like 

that. I think competition led by SpaceX is having a very good effect. 

But we all are worried about the lack of assured access to space 

and this window of vulnerability that we may or may not be facing, 

and I think it is important to be aware of that risk, but not exaggerate it. 

To my knowledge, there is not a backup for Marine One helicopter for the President or for Air Force One. They both rely on 

similar technologies, and it has worked pretty darn well. The ULA 

launch record is outstanding, as is SpaceX’s. So, as I say, the taxpayer has a lot to be proud of. 

As we transition toward real competition, though, a lot of ways 

of doing business have to change. The ELC [EELV Launch Capability] payment that ULA has been getting for a long time, almost 

a billion dollars a year, that would have to go away in a truly competitive environment, wouldn’t it, Mr. Bruno? 

Mr. BRUNO. No. It doesn’t go away. The capability contract is 

generally misunderstood. So let me clarify exactly what it is. 

They are costs that all providers have. The capability contract 

pays for pads, laboratories, day-of-launch operations, and the infrastructure that supports all of that. It is simply a contracting choice 

that the Air Force has made. 

Other providers receive these same costs. NASA [National Aeronautics and Space Administration] contracts them in a single contract. The Air Force has chosen to break out into two contracts. 

The reason they have done that is because the current set of satellites currently on orbit that are now being replaced by the 

launches in the block buy are generally exceeding their designed 
10 

life. And so there is tremendous urgency to replace those as quickly 

as possible. 

The replacement satellites, however, are often experiencing 

schedule challenges and delays. And so it is imperative that, even 

though we don’t necessarily know which satellite is going to show 

up to the pad when, that when they do, they can be promptly lifted. 

So the Air Force decided to break out those launch infrastructure 

and launch-day costs into a separate contract to ensure that we 

had the flexibility to do just exactly that. And in fact, it enables 

us, together with the block buy of 36, to set up an environment 

where we have essentially planned every launch in threes. 

So if we are targeting a given date in a given rocket for a spacecraft, we have identified a rocket ahead of time and a rocket behind 

that that spacecraft could move to, should it be early or late. We 

have, in fact, exercised that slot-manifesting technique six times 

last year in total transparency to the manifest and the Air Force 

without delay. These are costs that everyone has. They are simply 

contracted differently in EELV. 

Mr. COOPER. So are you saying that the other company, SpaceX, 

benefits just as much as ULA does from the billion dollars of ELC 

expenditures every year? 

Mr. BRUNO. What I am saying is SpaceX has those same costs. 

They are folded into a single contract when they do business with 

NASA, just like they are with me. 

And, in fact, I should have also mentioned that, when we do fly 

a mission outside the block-buy contract, we, in fact, reimburse the 

Air Force a substantial fee for that infrastructure they have supported for each and every launch. 

Mr. COOPER. Do you agree, Ms. Shotwell, with what Mr. Bruno 

is saying? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. I don’t agree completely. No. I don’t agree with 

the term substantial reimbursement of costs. In fact, if you were 

to take the billion dollars a year that they get and spread that over 

the average 8 to 10 missions they do per year, you know, that is 

$100 [million] to $125 million per launch. 

It is my understanding that the payback—and I don’t have his 

contract, I don’t have access to his contract—is substantially less 

than that, possibly on the order of 10 or 15 percent of that cost. 

Mr. COOPER. A number of other members are here. So I will just 

end with this final observation. 

Washington is fortunate to have a patriotic philanthropist, David 

Rubenstein, who even paid personally to repair the Washington 

Monument. I think the country is lucky to have amazing entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos who, for some reason unknown to me, both want to participate in some of the boldest new 

technologies in space. 

So we are fortunate that they are choosing to spend their money 

in that fashion, not that these companies don’t have many other 

backers. But that is a remarkable development for this country, 

and I am proud of their entrepreneurial drive. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. ROGERS. I thank the ranking member. 
11 

The chair now recognizes the gentleman from Utah, Mr. Bishop, 

for any questions he may have. 

Mr. BISHOP. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Ms. Shotwell, if I could ask you a couple questions. First of all, 

thank you for being here and the expertise that you bring. 

The chairman did, as is customary, invite Mr. Musk, who is head 

of the company, to be here. So the questions I actually have are for 

him. But since he decided not to be here and manage his schedule 

to be with us, let me ask you the questions, since you are representing him. 

I was reading in Space News an article in January that was entitled ‘‘Musk Questions Integrity of the U.S. Air Force Certification 

Process.’’ The quote he gave in the article was, ‘‘The people fighting 

it’’—meaning the Falcon 9 certification—‘‘are really in the bureaucracy of the Pentagon and the procurement officers, who then go 

and work at Boeing and Lockheed Martin, the prime contractors, 

which has actually happened. It is easy to understand from a game 

theory standpoint, especially when you are asking them to award 

a contract to a company where they are probably not going to get 

a job against a company where their friends are. So they have got 

to go against their friends and their future retirement program. 

This is a difficult thing to expect.’’ 

Now, I don’t necessarily presuppose that these are your opinions, 

anyway, as well, but the head of SpaceX, which is your company, 

appears to believe that some of the people who are in service in the 

Air Force and Department of Defense, many career employees, may 

be holding back on certification because they have friends somewhere else and they want to work there later. 

So I please ask you if you could explain this statement to me. Because while Mr. Musk may find it easy to understand, I frankly 

find it very troubling. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. I appreciate the question. 

Mr. Musk had a concern about a particular procurement officer 

and his choice of job after leaving service. And I am sure, if there 

was any evidence that led to there actually being some issues with 

that particular choice of job, that this committee would have investigated and cleared it up. 

However, I do want to state that the relationship with the Air 

Force and SpaceX has been extremely good. We have been working 

shoulder to shoulder on the certification process. It was a little 

slow to get going last year. But, by November, December timeframe, we were operating at an incredible pace and we just couldn’t 

get it done by December. But I anticipate certification of the Falcon 

9 launch vehicle upcoming here shortly. 

Mr. BISHOP. So what you are telling me is that you no longer believe that people who may have slowed the certification process are 

doing it simply because they are looking out for their own retirement and because they are going against friends, that no longer reflects the attitude of the company or Mr. Musk? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. What I am saying is his particular concern 

doesn’t seem to have been borne out. He was just raising a concern. 

Mr. BISHOP. That is a rather damning kind of concern to put in 

public, isn’t it? 
12 

Let me also ask another thing. Because I appreciate your insistence on competition, but I understand NASA is ready to award 

SpaceX three additional cargo delivery missions to the International Space Station. 

I am assuming you support NASA’s decision in this regard. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Yes, sir. 

Mr. BISHOP. But those are sole-source awards without competition. 

So do you think it is okay for NASA to award those three missions as a sole source without having open competition? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Congressman, actually, there was a competition, 

and SpaceX and Orbital Sciences—— 

Mr. BISHOP. For these new three cargo missions to which I am 

referring. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. So the competition for the cargo resupply [CRS] 

missions included pricing for out-year missions. And so, fundamentally, when we initially competed for that initial CRS awards, there 

were prices for out-year missions. So NASA has the ability to look 

at Orbital’s prices, has the ability to look at SpaceX’s prices—— 

Mr. BISHOP. And you don’t see a distinction between those approaches, then? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. No. We competed and we won. 

Mr. BISHOP. You have also said a couple of times here as well 

that Falcon 9 is an all-American launch vehicle and the overwhelming material used is aluminum. 

From what company do you get that aluminum? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. We buy the aluminum from Constellium. 

Mr. BISHOP. Is that an American company? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. No, it is not. 

Mr. BISHOP. So you have also said—or at least one of your senior 

engineers has said that most of the avionics is designed and manufactured and tested in America. 

Does that mean you have some avionics that are foreign-made as 

well? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. We have one particular box, a GPS [Global Positioning System] receiver. All-American is by percentage. And this 

vehicle is 99 percent American. 

Mr. BISHOP. There is a statute in California that would not allow 

that to be advertised as all-American. You know? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. I am unaware of that. 

Mr. BISHOP. Yield back. 

Mr. ROGERS. I thank the gentleman. 

The chair now recognizes Mr. Takai for 5 minutes for any questions he may have. 

Mr. TAKAI. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Bruno, United Launch Alliance has a very impressive launch 

success, and I just wanted to thank you and your employees and 

commend you for this success. 

This hearing concerns the matter of assured access to space, and 

the national policy in law requires two separate vehicle systems 

that can execute 100 percent of the national security launch requirements. 

What do you suggest we do to fulfill this legal requirement? 
13 

Mr. BRUNO. So the current policy for assured access to space has 

moved from maintaining two launch systems with a single company to achieving two launch systems in a competitive environment across two providers or more than two providers. 

That is allowing for competition. I think that is a wise and a 

healthy change in the policy, now that that is possible. The best 

way to achieve its ends is to ensure a fair and even playing field 

in which both companies are able to compete effectively. 

Mr. TAKAI. Thank you. 

Ms. Shotwell, SpaceX has said that it can provide launches for 

DOD payloads at about 75 percent price reduction—I heard a little 

bit different reduction today—from what is currently being 

charged, on the average, per flight. 

How have you been able to achieve this savings? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. So I am not quite sure where you got that percentage. 

Mr. TAKAI. What is the correct percentage? I have been hearing—— 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Compared to—— 

Mr. TAKAI. Compared to the—— 

Ms. SHOTWELL. My price compared to—— 

Mr. TAKAI. Your competitor. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Mr. Bruno? 

Mr. TAKAI. Yes. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Okay. So, obviously, I don’t have access to what 

Mr. Bruno charges per launch. However, he did receive a block buy 

for 28 missions for $11 billion. So that, to me, sounds like about 

$400 million per mission. 

And I believe the GAO has found price per launch of about those 

numbers. So if the average price for a ULA mission is $400 million, 

the average price for a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch commercial is $60 

million. 

The government buys launch slightly differently from my commercial customers, and they add requirements and additional technical. So I would say an average price to the DOD for a Falcon 9 

launch would be on the order of $80 [million] to $90 million. 

Now, to be fair, my Falcon Heavy is more expensive than the single-core Falcon 9. The average price for a Falcon Heavy to the U.S. 

Government would be on the order of $150 [million] to $160 million. 

So an overall average price to the U.S. Government, if I were to 

split Heavies with single-core Falcon 9s, is on the order of 120 or 

so million dollars per flight. So, from that math, I see that my 

prices are 25 percent of what the ULA prices are. 

Mr. TAKAI. Okay. So my question is: How are you able to achieve 

that type of savings? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. It is hard for me to say. I don’t know how to 

build a $400-million rocket. So the more difficult question would 

be—instead how am I less expensive than ULA, I don’t understand 

how ULA is as expensive as they are. 

The next most expensive launch vehicle is the Ariane 5, produced 

by Europe. And though they have brilliant technology and fine engineers, it is not a particularly efficient economy. And the Ariane 
14 

5, which enjoys a similar success record—approximately similar 

success record, is about half the cost of a ULA launch. 

Mr. TAKAI. Okay. And for my final question, you note in your 

statement that SpaceX designs and builds all of its own rockets in 

California, yet most of the other rocket engines that currently support other rockets are built in other countries, say, Russia. 

Why did you choose to make your engines in the United States? 

And what are some of the national security advantages of an allAmerican supply chain? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. So SpaceX did not start out thinking that we 

would build the majority of this rocket ourselves. And we do actually build the majority of this rocket. We build our tanks. We build 

our engines. We write our software. We build our launch sites. We 

write our ground-control software. We build our fairings. 

So we build this rocket in the United States. Granted, there 

might be some raw materials purchased elsewhere. But this is an 

American rocket built by American hands and technicians. 

And though we didn’t necessarily start out that way, there were 

a number of critical technologies that we would not allow another 

company to build for us, and that was propulsion technology. We 

needed to own it because it is a critical part. It drives the vehicle 

design, and it can drive schedule as well. 

So though President Putin might be supplying RD–180s right 

now, that is not a guaranteed supply chain to ULA. Even if the ban 

on additional RD–180s were to move forward, how do you know 

that he isn’t going to pull the supply chain of those engines? 

As a matter of fact, Dmitry Rogozin did threaten to do that. So 

we found it critically important. Propulsion is critically important 

to the vehicle, and we felt that we, SpaceX, had to build that engine ourselves. 

Mr. ROGERS. The gentleman’s time is expired. 

I thank the gentlelady for her answer. 

Now that Mr. Lamborn is back, he is recognized for 5 minutes 

for the next series of questions. 

Mr. LAMBORN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Ms. Shotwell, I am aware that your company is concerned that 

the EELV launch capability contract will provide possibly an unfair 

advantage to your competitor, ULA. But, like ULA, your company 

does have other government contracts. In fact, your company receives money from NASA for the Falcon 9, Version 1.1, I believe. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. We have a contract with NASA to fly that. Yes. 

Mr. LAMBORN. Just real quickly as I go along here, what would 

be the amount of that contract? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. The contract for the Jason-3 mission this summer I believe was $63 million. 

Mr. LAMBORN. And that is your only contract with NASA? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. We just received a contract from NASA to launch 

the test payload in 2017 or 2018. And I actually don’t know the 

value of that contract. I am guessing—and I will follow up with the 

committee—on the order of $75 million for that. 

In addition, I do have a contract with NASA for cargo resupply, 

which is Falcon 9 and the Dragon spacecraft mission, to serve the 

International Space Station with cargo both up and down. 

Mr. LAMBORN. And how much is that for? 
15 

Ms. SHOTWELL. It was $1.6 billion initially for 12 flights, and we 

were recently awarded 3 additional missions. On the average of 

about $150 million per mission. 

Mr. LAMBORN. So, with that in mind and just to put everything 

in context, how do we define ‘‘fairness’’? And I would like to hear 

from each of you on that. 

I mean, obviously, it sounds like you both are doing a great job 

of getting the applicable agencies to trust you to provide certain 

goods and services. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. I appreciate the question, actually. This is a very 

important topic. 

So ULA, through the EELV launch capabilities contract, receives 

this amount of money every year whether they launch or not. Their 

fixed costs are covered. My fixed costs are only covered because of 

what I charge on a per-mission basis. So if I am not launching, my 

fixed costs are not covered. So they are very different, very different, mechanisms to contract. 

With no competition, which ULA has enjoyed since 2006, it 

doesn’t matter whether you have a part that is firm-fixed price and 

a part that is not firm-fixed price that costs less. But when there 

is competition, they can sell their launch vehicles for the marginal 

cost of that launch vehicle because their fixed costs are already 

paid for by the Department of Defense. 

Mr. LAMBORN. Thank you. 

Mr. Bruno, how would you respond to that question? 

Mr. BRUNO. Certainly. But, first, I think I have to untangle some 

of the numbers we just heard to make the context of the answer 

clear. 

So we, in fact, do not charge $400 million for an average lift. Our 

Atlas 401, which is roughly equivalent to a Falcon 9.1 within the 

block buy, costs $164 million, on average, for a launch service. 

We have an entire fleet of launch vehicles, unlike other providers 

that fly, essentially, one bird. The average lift of all of that within 

our 36-core block buy is $225 million. 

This is a 30 percent reduction as we entered into the block buy 

than from prior years, as we have been working our costs down. 

In fact, the most recent GAO report recognized the $4.4 billion that 

the block buy and ELC contract saved the government. 

Within the recent cycle of Better Buying Power practices, this is 

fully one-quarter of all of the savings achieved by the Department. 

So there is a consistent trajectory of reduced costs. Four hundred 

[million] dollars is not a number that I recognize. These are the actual numbers. 

At the end of the block buy, the price of that 401, which is equivalent to a Falcon 9.1, will be more like $140 million for the next 

incremental buy. 

The Delta Heavy is a different class of vehicle than the Falcon 

Heavy will be. One of the things that we have as a technical capability that other providers do not have is a high-energy upper 

stage. 

So while performance may be roughly equivalent to LEO [low 

Earth orbit], to the most challenging orbits, the geosynchronous 

orbit, and the high-elliptical orbits there is still a performance 

delta that I urge the government to be considerate of as we make 
16 

sure we have competition for the entire spectrum of national security lifts. 

Let me also explain the RD–180. We have an RD–180 underneath the Atlas because the government asked us to. At the end 

of the Cold War, there was significant concern about Soviet rocket 

scientists ending up in places like North Korea. And so we were 

asked to find cooperative opportunities to keep those people employed in a productive way. 

Additionally, the RD–180 represents advanced technology in 

rocket engines that did not exist in the United States then and still 

does not exist today. That technology will come to the United 

States when we develop our new American rocket engines. It constitutes a significantly higher performance in the advancement of 

the technology. 

That is why—— 

Mr. ROGERS. The gentleman’s time is expired. 

The chair now recognizes the gentlelady from California, Ms. 

Sanchez, for 5 minutes for any questions she may have. 

Ms. SANCHEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The more I learn, the more confused I get. I just would mention 

that a few years ago I was over with the French counterpart of 

these two companies. And they were telling me that their launch 

costs about $200 million equivalent, and they said they weren’t 

worried about UAL, but could I get rid of SpaceX because they 

were going to drive them out of business. So I see why we have 

kind of a confrontation going on here. 

Mr. Bruno, I understand the reason that you have given for the 

use of the Russian RD–180 engine. I am one of those persons that 

works consistently in NATO and is very worried about what is happening with Russia, and I think that it is high time that we develop our own engine here or have it or, in the case of SpaceX, I 

guess we have developed it. 

Somebody told me that it was going to be $1 [billion] or $2 billion 

additional government moneys invested into building this new engine. Is that around the right realm? 

Mr. BRUNO. No. That is not correct. Let me help to explain. So 

the typical cost of developing a new liquid rocket engine is, in fact, 

around a billion dollars, with somewhat more money to incorporate 

it into a rocket. The American rocket engine that we have embarked upon with Blue Origin and, also, our backup with Aerojet 

Rocketdyne is largely privately funded. 

Ms. SANCHEZ. So the United States isn’t putting very much 

money into developing this? Because I am being told by my staff 

that General Mitchell said it is about $1.5 billion that the government is investing into this engine development. I don’t want to get 

caught up. But is that true or false? 

Mr. BRUNO. That is false. 

Ms. SANCHEZ. So I will have to go back to General Mitchell, then, 

to see why he said that. 

Let me go to Ms. Shotwell for a minute, and then I might come 

back to you, Mr. Bruno. I am just trying understand this. 

I have been very interested in having competition and new entrant certification process for a long time. And I understand the 
17 

major requirement for new entrant certification was that you perform three launches successfully. Am I correct about that? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. That is correct. 

Ms. SANCHEZ. Now, SpaceX, I believe, completed those by January 6 of last year, of 2014. Is that correct? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. That is correct. 

Ms. SANCHEZ. And, since then, you have completed a total of 11 

more consecutive successful launches with the Falcon 9 rocket. 

So is your sense that your rocket has demonstrated reliability? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Absolutely. The Falcon 9 has demonstrated incredible reliability. We are 100 percent primary mission success 

with the earlier version of Falcon 9 as well as this upgraded 

version of Falcon 9. 

I want to clarify a little bit. The path that we chose for certification required three flights, plus data, plus engineering review 

boards, which are basically design reviews of every subsystem, plus 

audits of our launch site, our quality systems, our management 

systems, and our systems engineering. 

So I just wanted to be clear that it was more than just the three 

flights. It was the three flights plus all the additional activity. 

Ms. SANCHEZ. But it is pretty much the same rocket each time? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Largely the same rocket. We don’t fly a fairing 

when we fly a Dragon capsule to the International Space Station, 

but it is fundamentally the same first stage, with the exception of 

recoverability and reusability pieces. But, fundamentally, the same 

first stage. 

Ms. SANCHEZ. Then I understand that ULA has about 14 different configurations of the vehicle. 

So can you tell us, have all of these flown more than three times 

to demonstrate reliability? Mr. Bruno. 

Mr. BRUNO. No. They have not all flown more than three times. 

So we have 16 configurations, 10 for the Atlas, 4 for the Delta IV, 

and 1 for the Delta II. The number of flights across that family is 

varied, and I don’t off the top of my head have the exact scorecard 

for each one. 

Ms. SANCHEZ. How much of each went. 

Mr. BRUNO. But I will submit that for the record. 

[The information referred to can be found in the Appendix on 

page 125.] 

Ms. SANCHEZ. That would be great. I would appreciate that. 

Okay. 

For right now, that is the questions that I have. I have a lot 

more after everything you said, but maybe somebody else will get 

to them. Thank you. 

Mr. ROGERS. I thank the gentlelady. 

The chair now recognizes the gentleman from Alabama, Mr. 

Brooks, for 5 minutes. 

Mr. BROOKS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Of course, with all these questions, there is often going to be 

some degree of overlap. 

Mr. Bruno, how many launches has ULA done? 

Mr. BRUNO. 94. 

Mr. BROOKS. How many has it tried? 

Mr. BRUNO. 94. 
18 

Mr. BROOKS. 100 percent success record? 

Mr. BRUNO. Yes. 

Mr. BROOKS. As you have noticed in the media over the last couple years with respect to various launch efforts by various companies, there have been failures. 

If there were a failure of the kind of launch that ULA does, what 

is the cost? What is the damage, the loss? 

Mr. BRUNO. Typically, it would be in the billions. So launch is, 

on average, 10 to 15 percent of the life-cycle cost of a national security space mission. 

Mr. BROOKS. You said how much? 

Mr. BRUNO. Billions of dollars. 

Mr. BROOKS. Billions of dollars for one lost launch? 

Mr. BRUNO. Yes. 

Mr. BROOKS. Ms. Shotwell, last year Mr. Elon Musk testified to 

the Senate Appropriations Committee that, ‘‘No competition will be 

fair, full, and open so long as the Air Force continues to utilize contract line items to fuel ULA’s fixed costs to maintain its launch capability.’’ 

As you are aware, the Air Force currently has the EELV launch 

capability, ELC, contract in place to meet government requirements. As I understand the situation, the Air Force plans for competition later this year. 

Do you think these competitions will be fair or unfair and why? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Well, it depends on how the Air Force decides to 

determine how much of the ELC should be allocated to any competed mission. I can’t say in advance of reading the request for proposal, but I do anticipate a draft in the next month or so. 

Mr. BROOKS. Mr. Bruno, do you have an opinion? 

Mr. BRUNO. I do. I have greater faith in the Air Force acquisition 

corps than my counterpart at SpaceX. I am convinced that they 

will find a way to create a level and even playing field and create 

real competition. 

Mr. BROOKS. All right. Next question. 

Ms. Shotwell, the Air Force has told us that whoever wins a competition will get a portion of the ELC funding. If SpaceX wins, my 

understanding is that you will get a portion of that planned funding. 

Is this correct? And is that fair or unfair? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. That is not my understanding at all. We have 

never sought nor accepted ELC funding. 

Mr. BROOKS. Okay. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. I hope I understand your question. 

Mr. BROOKS. Well, I am reading it as written. So that is the best 

I can do right now. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Okay. All right. 

Mr. BROOKS. Mr. Bruno, is the ELC contract a subsidy, as 

SpaceX often refers to it? Please describe the role of this contract. 

Mr. BRUNO. No. It is not a subsidy. As I have said before, it covers costs that all launch providers have: pads, labs, day-of-launch 

operations, fuel and propellents, the infrastructure that supports 

them. The Air Force has simply chosen to contract for that separately from the production element. 
19 

Mr. BROOKS. Ms. Shotwell, I am going to give another shot at a 

different question, but please bear in mind that each of us Congressmen have staff, both committee and office, that put these 

things together to assist us. Hopefully, this one you will be better 

able to follow. 

Quote, ‘‘Ms. Shotwell, I am aware that SpaceX was surprised 

that its Falcon 9, Version 1.1, was not certified by the Air Force 

at the end of 2014, despite the fact that weekly teleconferences 

were conducted by senior SpaceX leadership, such as yourself or 

Mr. Musk, with Lieutenant General Sam Greaves of the Air Force 

Space and Missile Center. 

‘‘Were all the elements of the cooperative research and development agreement that was signed by the Air Force and SpaceX completed by the end of 2014?’’ 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Before I answer the question, I do want to note 

that SpaceX and the Air Force are working very closely. They are 

working very hard and we are working very hard, shoulder to 

shoulder, to get this vehicle certified to help fix this assured access 

to space issue. So let’s make sure that that is very clear. 

The surprise that we had in December was that the mode that 

we were operating in with respect to dealing with open items, it 

looked like we were going to be able to resolve open items after certification—some open items after certification. I think the Air Force 

believed in December that they did not want to certify with any 

open items. And so kind of the practice that we had been following 

did not—basically, did not bear out. 

However, we have a great understanding with the Air Force 

right now. We continue to work on certification. And I would like 

to be clear. The certification process that we are undergoing right 

now, which SpaceX is going through, we are not being paid by the 

Air Force to go through, and ULA had a very different and a much 

easier certification process when they were new with their rockets. 

So we are working very closely with the Air Force on the certification. And the certification fundamentally addresses all of the 

issues that one would address right up until a flight-readiness review, which occurs just a week or so before launch. 

So not only are we, by going through this certification process, 

being certified as a provider or maybe even the launch vehicle design, but, fundamentally, we are being certified as if we were going 

to be flying in a week or two. 

And, normally, when you do an Air Force contract, you receive 

a contract and then you fly that mission 2 or 3 years later. So all 

I am trying to say is it is an incredibly rigorous certification process. 

Mr. BROOKS. I see my time is expired. Let me conclude with this 

one remark. 

Mr. Bruno, United Launch Alliance, thank you for your perfect 

record in servicing our country. 

And, Ms. Shotwell and SpaceX, thank you for your company’s 

willingness to engage in a very risky endeavor in space. 

Mr. ROGERS. Thank the gentleman. 

The chair now recognizes the gentleman Mr. Bridenstine for 5 

minutes. 

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 
20 

Mr. Bruno, just a question regarding the Delta retirement process. Do you have a timeline for that? 

Mr. BRUNO. Yes. I expect to retire it in the 2018 to 2019 timeframe after we have accomplished the commitments we already 

have. 

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. So when you think about the limitation on the 

RD–180, how does that affect your calculus on when to retire the 

Delta program? Because, ultimately, if there is going to be a competition, you will need the Delta program beyond 2018, 2019. 

Mr. BRUNO. Delta is inherently more expensive than Atlas and 

is simply not competitive in an open marketplace. 

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. And I am just—out of curiosity, when there is 

this limitation out there and the limitation is waiverable and there 

may be uncertainty based on that, how does this effect you, as a 

company, trying to make capital expenditures and plan for the future? Does it change the way you do business? 

Mr. BRUNO. It does. The investment for our new American rocket 

engine and our Next Generation Launch System will largely be private. 

Private investment does not like uncertainty. And so this issue 

around 1608 and the availability of the RD–180 is making it difficult for us to close with our investors on that arrangement. 

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. You mentioned that the Delta IV Heavy has 

a different capability from the Falcon Heavy. 

So how is that relevant if it is going to be retired after 2018, 

2019? 

Mr. BRUNO. I will maintain the Delta IV Heavy as long as the 

NRO requires it. I have made that commitment to the NRO and 

to the Air Force. 

When we have the final version of our Next Generation Launch 

System, it will, in fact, have 30 percent more capability than a 

Delta Heavy has today and at a substantially lower cost. At that 

point, I expect the Air Force and the NRO will find a graceful path 

to migrate to that platform. 

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. You mentioned that the BE–4 engine is methane and that the AR–1 engine is kerosene. My understanding is, 

when you build a new rocket—or you build a new engine or you 

have a new engine, you need to build an entirely new rocket 

around that engine. 

What are the engineering implications of which direction you end 

up going? Is there a difference in timeframe and those kind of 

things? 

Mr. BRUNO. There is a difference in timeframe, but it is primarily because the methane engine started 3 years earlier than the 

kerosene engine did. 

Methane is a lower density fuel. And so the tanks on the first 

stage would need to be larger. The kerosene engine we are developing will also be longer in length and have different interfaces. So, 

for both, there will be pad changes that need to be made as well. 

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. When do you expect the next-generation rocket 

to be ready for testing and, ultimately, usability? 

Mr. BRUNO. If all goes as planned, we would have the next-generation rocket first flying no earlier than 2019, which would support a certification in 2022 or 2023. 
21 

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. And for both of you, could you give me an estimate, what percentage of your launches are driven by the private 

sector commercial enterprise, the satellite industry, for example, 

you know, commercial telecommunication satellites? And not just 

telecommunication, whether—whatever satellites there may be. 

What percentage is from commercial? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Sixty percent of SpaceX launches are commercial. 

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Okay. 

Mr. BRUNO. Just under 20 percent for us today. 

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Is there a reason that it is about 20 percent 

and not more, not higher? 

Mr. BRUNO. Our primary core market in mission has been for national security space. 

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Okay. And then the final question for both of 

you would be—I have got about 55 seconds left, so you guys can 

divide that among yourselves—as far as infrastructure requirements, both of you are going to need infrastructure for launch capabilities. Can you share with this panel what those requirements 

might be as we think about the future? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. As a responsible launch service provider, we basically build our own launch pads. We maintain our own launch 

pads. We maintain all our infrastructure, and all of the costs of 

that are rolled into the per-mission price for each launch. So it is 

covered. 

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Okay. 

Mr. BRUNO. Ditto. 

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Roger that. 

Mr. Chairman, I yield back. 

Mr. ROGERS. I thank the gentleman. 

I just want to ask some cleanup questions and then we will dismiss this panel. And trust me, I can keep you all here for 2 hours 

talking about the stuff on my mind. 

You just mentioned that you would keep the Delta Heavy in 

place, as long as—that the NRO requires or the government requires. But you have also said publicly, and I would to go back to 

the RD–180 and the problems it generates, that if we don’t fix the 

1608 language problem in the NDAA 2015 budget, that you may 

not be able to compete for some of the missions upcoming and then 

the Delta program may go away. Is that accurate? 

Mr. BRUNO. Yes, it is. 

Mr. ROGERS. All right. And before I go any further, let me ask 

Ms. Shotwell this: He has already talked about getting rid of the 

Delta IV. If he were to stop the Delta IV, are there any missions 

that it carries out that you could not carry out? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. No. Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy could carry out 

all the missions—— 

Mr. ROGERS. Anything that the Delta IV does. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. That is correct. As a matter of fact, the comment 

that the Falcon Heavy is less capable than the Delta IV heavy is 

patently untrue. 

Mr. ROGERS. Well, my point is, so we would go from him having 

a monopoly to you having a monopoly if he stops with Delta IV. Is 

there anyone else to compete with you for those missions? 
22 

Ms. SHOTWELL. I don’t understand why ULA can’t focus and determine how to make the Delta IV more competitive. 

Mr. ROGERS. That is not my question. One thing at a time. If he 

stops the Delta IV rocket launches, is there anybody else that 

can—and you have already said you can do anything it can do, is 

there anybody else that can compete with you for those missions? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. I have not seen Delta IV prices, so if they stop 

Delta IV, I guess we would compete with the Atlas, hopefully with 

an American engine. 

Mr. ROGERS. No, I am just saying—forget the Atlas. Let’s say the 

Atlas is gone. I am fixing to go there with him. If the Delta IV is 

no longer making launches, and you have already said you can do 

anything it can do, is there anybody else in the marketplace that 

could compete with you for the mission work that it would leave? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. There are international launch service providers 

that could—— 

Mr. ROGERS. Who? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Ariane 5 or Arianespace, and the Proton Launch 

Vehicle through ILS [International Launch Services]. 

Mr. ROGERS. And you think that they would be competing for 

those launches? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Well, I don’t think the National Security Committee—— 

Mr. ROGERS. I don’t think so either, that is my point. You would 

have a monopoly is where I am going with this, and I just want 

you to acknowledge it. You would have a monopoly on that work. 

But, now I am going to leave you and go back to him. 

If this RD–180 problem is not solved, which I hope we are going 

to solve this year, you have made a statement that you may not 

be able to compete and the Atlas program would go away; is that 

right? 

Mr. BRUNO. Yes. 

Mr. ROGERS. So, you have already said that the Delta IV is going 

away in 2018. You are saying that we could lose the Atlas, but you 

promised you will never let the Delta IV Heavy go away as long 

as the NRO needs it. Now, if those two things happen that I just 

described, that we lose the Delta IV and the Atlas program goes 

away, how much would it cost for a Delta IV to lift, heavy-lift 

launch? 

Mr. BRUNO. Substantially more than it costs now. 

Mr. ROGERS. What does it cost now? 

Mr. BRUNO. So, Delta IV, depending on the configuration, costs 

between $400 million and $600 million—— 

Mr. ROGERS. What would it cost if you no longer have the other 

infrastructure? 

Mr. BRUNO. Oh, it could be upwards of $1 billion. 

Mr. ROGERS. Okay. Is that an acceptable number, do you think? 

Mr. BRUNO. No. 

Mr. ROGERS. Do you think that we would ever pay you that much 

money to launch? 

Mr. BRUNO. I do not. 

Mr. ROGERS. I think you are correct. 

Now, let me go to you. You do not have the heavy-lift capability 

right now; is that correct? 
23 

Ms. SHOTWELL. That is correct. We will demonstrate that later 

this year, the plan. 

Mr. ROGERS. And let me get you on this now. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. That is okay. I expected it. 

Mr. ROGERS. I love your optimism, but you said in April of 2014, 

quote, ‘‘We will launch the Falcon Heavy from here—from this 

pad—early next year.’’ We are in early next year; in fact, we are 

at the end of early next year. When do you think you will be able 

to test that Heavy Falcon lift—the Falcon Heavy lift? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. So I will try to be quick. I know—— 

Mr. ROGERS. No, we are all about you right now. I want to hear 

this. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. 

So first of all, we did deemphasize the Falcon Heavy development after I made that remark, because we wanted to focus on the 

single-stick or the single-core Falcon 9. It was a choice that we 

could make, largely because the customers that we have for the 

Heavy were really going to start in mid-2016. So, we had more 

time than we originally thought. We did have a contracted mission 

through the Air Force, the STP–2 mission and that was originally 

going to fly in December of 2015. However, thankfully, my customer moved that flight out, which gave me more time to both 

focus on the Falcon 9 and its reliability, of which we have done a 

great job of flying that with 100 percent mission success, and then 

I could delay the Falcon Heavy. 

Mr. ROGERS. Yeah. Well I just want you to understand—and I 

am not picking on you, because, Blue Origin has got all kind of optimistic promises out there, as does Aerojet—is that the name of 

them?—Aerojet Rocketdyne. But here is another thing that Elon 

Musk said in April of 2011, quote, ‘‘First launch from our Cape Canaveral launch complex is planned for late 2013 or 2014.’’ 

So, you all have made statements before about having this 

heavy-launch capability before now and it hadn’t happened yet. 

You said earlier today that you think you are going to have this 

launch later this year and be certified by 2018; is that correct? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Yes. 

Mr. ROGERS. That is very optimistic. Would you agree that the 

certification process historically has been a 2- to 3-year process? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Actually, we started the certification process—— 

Mr. ROGERS. For the Heavy, the Falcon Heavy? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. We started the certification process for Falcon 9, 

basically got going, in April of 2014, and we are going to finish in 

about June—by June of 2015. So, I believe—and by the way, the 

Air Force has really participated and leaned forward heavily on 

this—with lots of emphasis, I believe that the Heavy can be certified in 14 to 16 months. 

Mr. ROGERS. You are optimistic. I hope you hang around for the 

next panel, because have you heard of the Mitchell Commission? 

They have a much more dim view of the timeline. And I say all this 

because I am not picking on either one of you, but I am very concerned, about this possible window, that we don’t have heavy-lift 

capability. I just am. We are at war right now, and as you may look 

around, the world is getting a lot more dangerous. We don’t know 

what is about to happen. We have to have these NRO platforms up 
24 

in the air. And we can’t pay you $1 billion to do it. So, we can’t 

let that happen. 

And, I can’t wait for you to be certified on your intermediate 

launches as well as your heavy-lift launches. And frankly, I hope 

you get another company in there competing with you all. But, I 

just want you to understand from our perspective, we are going to 

keep some kind of heavy-lift capacity until you are certified, going 

on. That is in our Nation’s interest. You may not like the fact that 

we are going to try to figure out a way to keep his Atlas launches 

going so that we can keep the cost down for those heavy launches, 

but I think it is in our Nation’s interest. So, please, hurry and get 

that Falcon 9 Heavy working and certified, and I will be a happy 

camper. 

Last thing I want to ask and then I will shut up. But I tell you, 

I may try to arrange a meeting with Mr. Cooper, a sit down with 

the two of you all, in a room and talk about some of these things 

when we have got more time. 

But the last thing I did want to ask, because this concerns me, 

and that is, Ms. Shotwell, does your company oppose Defense Contract Audit Agency [DCAA] standards as well as providing the necessary detailed costs in processing information to government oversight? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. So, we have DCAA auditors doing manufacturing 

audits for us right now, and we have provided the Air Force and 

other government customers with our costs, and our costs have 

been audited. Our rates have certainly been audited. 

Mr. ROGERS. So, as we go forward and you compete for government launches, you have got no problem with these DCAA audits? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. No, we have DCAA auditors in the plant right 

now. 

Mr. ROGERS. That is what I wanted to hear. 

Mr. ROGERS. Chair now recognizes the gentleman from Tennessee for much smarter questions. 

Mr. COOPER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

This question is actually Ms. Sanchez’s. She asked me to ask it 

on her behalf. It is to Mr. Bruno, and it is, do you need any government funding investment for your plan B, which is replacing the 

RD–180 engine for Atlas? 

Mr. BRUNO. I do not require government funding; however, there 

are wise investments the government can make, in reducing the 

technology risk of this new and advanced technology we are introducing, and I will not say no to help. 

Mr. COOPER. Well, new and advanced technology, but you would 

basically be duplicating what you have been reselling from the Russians for 30 years. 

Mr. BRUNO. We will, but we will be doing it in a different size 

class with different materials in advanced and more modern manufacturing techniques. 

Mr. COOPER. Because they still have a 5-year license hold on the 

technology. 

Mr. BRUNO. They have a 5-year license hold on the design of the 

RD–180, not on the fundamental technology I am referring to, 

which is an oxygen-rich, staged-combustion process. 
25 

Mr. COOPER. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to 

the next panel. 

Mr. ROGERS. I do too. 

Thank you all very much. This has been enlightening. And I do 

hope you will hang around for this next panel because it is going 

to be an important part of this process as well. So with that, this 

panel is dismissed and I call up the second panel. 

I would now like to welcome our expert witnesses for the second 

panel. Thank you all for coming to testify today and be with us. 

We have the Honorable Katrina McFarland, Assistant Secretary of 

Defense for Acquisition; Dr. William LaPlante—apparently you 

must not be honorable. Nobody put that in front of your name. I 

am just joking. You are a very honorable man—Assistant Secretary 

of the Air Force for Acquisition; we also have General John Hyten, 

Commander of U.S. Air Force Space Command; and Major General 

‘‘Mitch’’ Mitchell, United States Air Force, retired. General Mitchell 

is representing himself today, but he was the chair of the Air Force 

chartered study to risk mitigation for the EELV program concerning U.S. reliance on the Russian RD–180 engine. 

And I would also like to recognize a special guest with us today. 

General, it is clear that you have got somebody with us that is 

much better than you. 

General HYTEN. That is for sure. 

Mr. ROGERS. You married up, brother. But you brought the big 

guns with you. If you get in trouble, I will just ask her what the 

answer is. 

General HYTEN. She is much smarter than me too. 

Mr. ROGERS. All right. So, Ms. McFarland, I will start with you. 

Your entire statements will be submitted for the record. If you 

could take 3 minutes to kind of summarize it, and we are going to 

do the same thing for all of you, 3 minutes each and then we will 

get into the Q and A and hopefully some more discussion type of 

an environment. 

But anyway, Ms. McFarland, you are recognized for 3 minutes to 

summarize your statement. 

STATEMENT OF HON. KATRINA G. MCFARLAND, ASSISTANT 

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR ACQUISITION, DEPARTMENT 

OF DEFENSE 

Secretary MCFARLAND. Thank you, Chairman Rogers, Ranking 

Member Cooper, and distinguished members of the committee. I 

appreciate the opportunity to appear today before this subcommittee. 

The Department’s highest priority for space launch is assured access to space. That requires two highly reliable engine launch systems as a fail-safe method to allow for continued access should one 

suffer a fleet grounding event. If we do not have an alternative 

launch system, all our overhead space operations that provide capabilities such as global awareness, communications, strategic missile warnings and indications, and position, navigation, and timing 

information are at risk. 

We are dependent upon assured access to space as the enabler 

of space operations that we rely on for national security. We can 

recognize, however, that the assured access to space must come at 
26 

an affordable price, and that is why we intend to pursue affordability and a healthy industrial base by incentivizing innovation 

through an orderly transition to competition via certified new entrants. I state orderly transition, as moving to competition must 

not occur at the reduction or expense of mission assurance. We lost 

sight of mission assurance in the 1990s and that led to a string of 

launch failures, where more than $5 billion worth of hardware and 

three national security payloads were lost. We can’t afford to repeat that. 

When speaking of new entrants, it is important to understand 

that certification is a cornerstone of our mission assurance process. 

We have invested heavily through the Air Force in providing a 

means for certification to new entrants, and it appears to be paying 

off as our first new entrant, in this case SpaceX, according to the 

Air Force as the certificating authority should be certified this 

year. 

My last emphasis will be on our commitment to end use by our 

providers on the Russian RD–180 engines as we pursue our competition of competitive launch services. The Air Force has been 

working with industry and subject matter experts since last year 

early to find an alternative solution. We are concerned about the 

current fiscal year 2015 NDAA section 1608 language. It may interfere with our ability to transition in an orderly and efficient manner to two domestically produced affordable and effective certified 

launch systems in a competition that can sustain our full launch 

manifest requirements. As it is written, it may result in a trade of 

one monopoly to another. 

We are committed to reintroducing competition into the EELV 

program and ending the use of the RD–180 as quickly and as safely 

as possible. Space launch is an inherently unforgiving, high-risk 

endeavor, which our approach to mission assurance has effectively 

mitigated for over 15 years. As we move forward into a more competitive environment, we will continue to maintain our robust mission-assurance standards because the cost of failure is simply too 

high. 

Thank you, again, for this opportunity to appear before the subcommittee, and I turn it over now to my colleague. 

Dr. LAPLANTE. Thank you, Ms. McFarland. 

[The prepared statement of Secretary McFarland can be found in 

the Appendix on page 88.] 

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. LaPlante is recognized. 

STATEMENT OF DR. WILLIAM A. LAPLANTE, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE FOR ACQUISITION, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Dr. LAPLANTE. Yeah. Thank you, Chairman Rogers. Thank you 

Ranking Member Cooper and other members of this panel. I can 

just say right up front that this panel just today has already done 

a really important work in exposing and clarifying, I think, the 

challenges we have, particularly in the wrap-up there, Mr. Chairman. You got right to it. So, thank you for holding this hearing. 

As we know, we have a lot of challenges here. You know, one 

word that has not yet come up but I want to emphasize is ‘‘sequester.’’ So, we think about everything that is ahead of us, whether we 
27 

do public/private partnership, we also could have the ‘‘S’’ word to 

deal with. 

So, let me go ahead and just give a summary of where I think 

things stand and then, in the interest of time, turn it over then to 

my colleague, General Hyten. 

Obviously, this is a hard problem. I think you just heard this in 

the last meeting. I am an engineer. I like to talk about constraints 

and over-constrained problems. In many ways, this is an over-constrained problem, meaning we and the situation are given more 

constraints than are possible to achieve the outcome. So let’s talk 

about this. Typically, when you have a problem like this, it is usually worthwhile, I found, to first start about the desired end state. 

It is actually pretty simple and easy to get everybody to agree to. 

The desired end state. Then what you do is you say where are we 

today? I think what you just heard was a pretty good summary of 

where we are today. I am going to give my version of that. But 

those are two kind of easy pieces. The next piece is the key: What 

is the way to get from here to there, the transition plan? That is 

what we are here, and that is what we are all about. And can we 

pull it off? 

So, let’s talk about the desired end state. We heard it. We have 

at least two independent launch vehicle families that can do the assured access to space for General Hyten’s manifest. We heard that 

we need to do this with American propulsion, American technology. 

And we heard we need to do this competitively. We want competition. We want to bring the price down. That is our desired end 

state. 

Where are we today? Well, we just heard. Let’s talk about ULA. 

ULA has got the Atlas V and the situation with the RD–180. We 

heard the risk that is there. We heard the discussion and the language. We heard Tory Bruno say a number of his lowest five, okay. 

Then let’s go to the next one, the Delta. We heard Tory Bruno say 

what we all know, which is at least 30 percent more expensive 

than the Atlas V, and we heard what he proposes to do about that, 

namely to shut down the line in 2018 so he can make his Atlas V 

more competitive, okay. 

And then we heard SpaceX, which any day now, any month now 

or week now—we are shooting for June—who is going to be certified to do a lot of our manifest. And make no mistake, the national security of the United States will be improved the day 

SpaceX is certified. It is really, really important. 

But so now, let’s talk about a transition plan to get between 

where we are today to this desired end state. Well, I think what 

we just heard is that just talking about an engine in isolation and 

the government funding the engine and getting at what Congresswoman Sanchez was asking, about the amount of money, no, that 

is the amount of money that has to be spent. Let’s say $1 billion, 

maybe plus. The question is by whom? How much of it is government? How much of it is private? 

We heard just in the last session, very promising from both witnesses, and pride, about what private investment can do. I think 

if we want to spur innovation, we have a duty to the taxpayer to 

look at what it would be done to compete launches of service and 

see what teams come forward, including how much they would do 
28 

on their own and how much the government would pay. That is 

what is called a public/private partnership. We are moving out on 

that immediately right now. We were going the put a draft RFP 

[request for proposal] on the street next week—next month excuse 

me—to find out who is serious, what does this look like. At the 

same time, we are putting money, as per the legislation, against 

risk reduction this year to continue it on this type of engine technology, and we are going to move out. 

So, that is the situation we are in and that is our approach to 

it. But, make no mistake, Mr. Chairman, you got to it near the end: 

We do have to ask ourselves what risk we have still doing that 

strategy and having all of those conditions. So, at that point I am 

going to just finish my opening remarks. Again, thank you for the 

hearing. 

[The prepared statement of Secretary LaPlante can be found in 

the Appendix on page 94.] 

Mr. ROGERS. Great. Thank you. General Hyten, you are recognized for 3 minutes. 

STATEMENT OF GEN JOHN E. HYTEN, USAF, COMMANDER, U.S. 

AIR FORCE SPACE COMMAND 

General HYTEN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you Ranking 

Member Cooper, members of the committee. This really is an important subject. And I very much appreciate as a commander of Air 

Force Space Command that you allow us to come here today and 

talk about this problem. Because, it is a risk decision that we have 

to figure out as we go through. So, on behalf of the 38,000 men and 

women of Air Force Space Command deployed in 134 locations 

around the globe right now, I really thank you for this opportunity. 

So, as the commander of Space Command, I have three priorities 

for our space-lift mission. The first priority and most important is 

to maintain assured access to space from at least two U.S.-based 

transportation vehicle families who can reliably launch national security payloads. 

So, in my 34 years in the Air Force, I have twice experienced periods where our military lost assured access to space. The first was 

in January 1986 with the loss of the space shuttle Challenger. Because the shuttle was used for military satellite launches, we not 

only lost the lives of seven great Americans, but we lost our Nation’s access to space at the same time. That impact was significant. It caused gaps, but it was limited because space was just becoming part of our military infrastructure at the time. 

The second time it happened was in the late 1990s, when we had 

a string of launch failures caused by our lack of focus on mission 

assurance and basic engineering principles, that culminated in the 

failure of three huge Titan IVs: One with a DSP [Defense Support 

Program] missile warning satellite, one with a Milstar-protected 

satellite communications system, and one with a National Reconnaissance [Office] satellite. 

Each of these failures cost this Nation over $1 billion, but more 

importantly, it denied our Nation critical warfighting capabilities 

that would be important as we approached 9/11. Today space is 

fundamental to every military operation on this planet, from humanitarian to full-combat operations and the loss of assured access 
29 

to space would be extremely damaging to national security. That 

is why it is my highest priority and it is the prime directive for my 

command. 

The next priority is to insert competition into the launch business. There is no doubt that new entrants have the potential to improve assured access to space as well as drive down costs. That is 

important, but it has to be conducted in context with assured access to space. 

The next priority is move as fast as we can to get away from 

rocket engines not built by the United States. Specifically, getting 

off the Russian RD–180 from the Atlas V. I fundamentally believe 

that every American rocket should be powered by an American engine. It is really that simple. So, keeping in mind the prime directive of assured access, the production of a new engine must be in 

partnership with industry to assure we have a rocket, or ideally 

rockets, which will be able to fly with any engine that we build. 

Right now, this is a concern of mine. 

But my biggest concern in this new competitive environment 

with the future, and I thought the previous panel did a great job 

talking about that, is what happens when, God forbid, we have a 

launch failure and we must shut down a rocket for a year or two. 

With multiple companies operating under tight margins, how does 

the company that experienced that launch failure stay in business 

without the revenue stream that you heard talked about so much 

from a vigorous launch campaign? 

Who makes the decision when we return to fly? Who makes the decision to put another $1 billion satellite on top of that? Who 

makes the decision that we have to have assured access to space 

and there we are going to do those things? The story of ELC is actually part of that story, and I will be glad to address that in questions, but all of these are difficult questions. 

So, Mr. Chairman, I thank you for your support. 

Ranking Member Cooper, I thank you for your support, and I 

look forward to your questions as we go forward. 

[The prepared statement of General Hyten can be found in the 

Appendix on page 104.] 

Mr. ROGERS. Thank the gentleman. General, you are recognized. 

STATEMENT OF MAJ GEN HOWARD J. ‘‘MITCH’’ MITCHELL, 

USAF (RET.), CHAIRMAN, USAF–CHARTERED RD–180 AVAILABILITY RISK MITIGATION STUDY 

General MITCHELL. Chairman Rogers, Ranking Member Cooper, 

and members of the committee, thank you very much and good 

evening. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss assured access 

to space, a critical component of our national security. 

I chaired the RD–180 mitigation study last March and April. I 

testified on Congress, provided copies of the report. I would only 

say that the major recommendation from that was that the Nation 

should have the capability to have liquid hydrogen, solid rocket motors, and hydrocarbon propulsion systems available to rocket designers to optimize the designs, and that is still valid today. 

The EELV program has been very successful. It was designed to 

meet the DOD national security space requirements and has done 

so remarkably well. The family of launch systems has met all the 
30 

requirements documented in the key performance parameters of 

the 1998 operational requirements document. 

That being said, as has been discussed today, the program is the 

midst of a major restructure, if not properly resourced and carefully thought out, will add significant risk to assured access to 

space for national security, particularly, launches in the 2018 to 

2022 timeframe. That may not result in a competitive environment, 

as has been discussed earlier. Depending on the interpretation of 

the RD–180 restrictive language, it could actually affect the 2015 

to 2017 Phase A1 procurements that the Air Force plans, because 

we will be in a sole-source position as early as 2016. 

If success orientated schedules for the contractors and the government are not met, the 2018 EELV program will look like the following: No Delta IVs, except the Delta IV Heavy at an extraordinary cost; no Atlas Vs; no certified Falcon 9 Heavy, that is yet 

to be submitted for that certification process to begin; no Next Generation Launch System [NGLS] yet, as Mr. Bruno said, it won’t be 

on until 2022 or 2023. 

Only Falcon 9, version 1.1, which launches the lower end of the 

mission model, and the Delta IV Heavy would be available for national security missions. The result would be that national security 

flying on the Atlas V, that are currently in that middle range, 

would have to fly on a Delta IV Heavy or they would have to wait 

for either NGLS or SpaceX Falcon 9 Heavy to show up. That would 

be an untenable situation. 

This potential 2018 program would result in two monopolies, one 

for the heavy mission, ULA, one for everything else, SpaceX. Obviously, this is not the desired end state for competition, but is certainly a plausible outcome based on the risk profiles. The only way 

to preserve competition and avoid this situation is to allow the use 

of RD–180 engines until a transition plan to new launch system is 

defined and adequately resourced. 

I recommend a plan be put in place led by the Air Force to do 

that. And I will close with a comment from a colleague of mine who 

said, ‘‘Currently, no stakeholder has a credible plan that closes. 

Each stakeholder has a different endgame solution, and each stakeholder’s current non-closing game plan has ‘and then a miracle 

happens’ as the last element of the plan. And all of those miracles 

are different.’’ 

I appreciate the opportunity to discuss this and look forward to 

your questions. 

[The prepared statement of General Mitchell can be found in the 

Appendix on page 114.] 

Mr. ROGERS. Great. Thank you. All of you made reference to the 

importance that we clean up this 1608 language problem, and you 

just heard General Mitchell made a real sense of urgency about it. 

So, I want to start with this: You heard earlier—we heard Mr. 

Bruno, in the earlier panel—I guess all of you listened to the first 

panel—make references to what will happen if he doesn’t get a replacement engine for the RD–180 soon, get that language cleaned 

up. Well, if he doesn’t get a replacement engine or isn’t able to use 

the engines that we have paid for, that could create a potential 

that we would only have the Delta IV Heavy for the NRO launches 
31 

that are essential to our national security. Does everybody agree 

with that? 

Record will show everybody said yes. 

All right. You heard the eternal optimism of Ms. Shotwell, that 

she is going to have her Falcon 9 Heavy able to launch later this 

year and certified by 2018. And let me start with General Mitchell. 

Do you think that is a realistic timeline? 

General MITCHELL. Sir, I think when you talk the Falcon 9 

Heavy, it is realistic for them to start the process. The question on 

finishing the process has got a couple aspects to it: One is, do they 

get enough launches in? And that is determined by them. As they 

do their statement of intent, they will say whether they are going 

to do three launches or six launches. There is several options. The 

process to go through to get certified will then take some time. 

Mr. ROGERS. But before you go to the certification, let’s stay on 

the launches. They are going to have to prove this technology—— 

General MITCHELL. Yes, sir. 

Mr. ROGERS [continuing]. Which is going to take some launches. 

You know this business. What is a realistic timeline that you think 

that that could be done by that company? 

General MITCHELL. Well, from what I understand, their manifest, they are in the process of building the Falcon 9 Heavy now, 

the first one. It would be at least a year, year and a half before 

they could launch all three of those, perhaps 2 years. And that is 

only one part of those certifications. 

Mr. ROGERS. And that is if it works? 

General MITCHELL. Yes, sir. That is success orientated. 

Mr. ROGERS. There is 27 rockets that is going to be put in there 

and there is all kind of issues about whether it would work. But 

let’s assume it works. You are saying a year to 2 years before they 

can test—— 

General MITCHELL. Before the—— 

Mr. ROGERS. No, no, not certification. 

General MITCHELL. Just the launches. 

Mr. ROGERS. Just to prove the launches work and all the rockets 

go in the same direction. 

General MITCHELL. Yes, sir. 

Mr. ROGERS. Which is the desired goal. So now, 18 months from 

now, they have successfully proven the technology works. How long 

will the certification process take? Because as I understand it from 

you, it starts at that point. 

General MITCHELL. Yes, sir. 

Mr. ROGERS. You heard Ms. Shotwell say they have already 

started the certification process. I don’t think you can start the certification process until you prove the technology works. 

General MITCHELL. Right. So let’s be clear, sir. There are some 

steps in this process. First, there is a statement of intent that says 

I want to get this rocket certified. 

Mr. ROGERS. Okay. That is what she started. 

General MITCHELL. Right. When they put that statement in, then 

they say how many launches they are going to do, as part of that 

certification process, and depending on how many launches they 

do, depends on what depth of technical expertise you apply to look 

at their design. Then, they do an agreement as to how that certifi-
32 

cation is going to be done. It takes some time after the statement 

of intent to negotiate what the rules of engagement are going to be. 

Then it takes typically, I would say, because it is a redo of the 

company, you don’t have to go back and look at their quality and 

a lot of their manufacturing processes, but you do have to look at 

the product. So, it probably won’t take 2 years, but I would be surprised if it took less than 18 months, because a Falcon 9 Heavy is 

going to have to meet some very stringent requirements, the hardest one being a direct inject to geosynchronous orbit for a 14,500- 

pound payload that requires a 3-hour coast mission for an upper 

stage, and that upper stage today does not exist. 

So, it is not just getting a heavy. It is getting a heavy that can 

perform the DOD missions. The first heavies are going to be at experiment. The STP–2 mission, they have got a couple of commercial 

launches, but none of those launches are going to be as stressful 

as the heaviest of the DOD requirements. 

Mr. ROGERS. Okay. So—— 

General MITCHELL. I don’t think you are going to get a system 

certified until 2018 or beyond. 

Mr. ROGERS. Okay. She, Ms. Shotwell believes that she will have 

that entire process complete by 2018. Are you saying that is doable? 

General MITCHELL. They could get there by 2018 if everything is 

successful. 

Mr. ROGERS. If everything is successful. 

General MITCHELL. No earlier than 2018. 

Mr. ROGERS. Is that optimistic or is it practically realistic? 

General MITCHELL. I would say it is optimistic, sir. 

Mr. ROGERS. What do you think is a realistic timeline, based on 

your experience with this process, which is extensive? 

General MITCHELL. If they have no failures of the Falcon Heavy, 

then they can get there probably in 2 years, 24 months after, so 

it would be the middle of 2019. 

Mr. ROGERS. Okay. 

General MITCHELL. If they have a failure, all bets are off. It depends on what it is and what it means for the redesign and everything else. 

Mr. ROGERS. Okay. General Hyten, you heard me talk about this 

new technology and, again, as I said in the previous panel, I want 

to see this heavy, this Falcon 9 Heavy certified. But this is new, 

this whole approach of using 27 rockets. Tell me about what your 

thoughts are on that. How high a confidence level do you have that 

this new technology is going to work in the test that Ms. Shotwell 

talked about would be later this year? 

General HYTEN. I will never deny the ingenuity of SpaceX to pull 

something off. Because what they have done in the last 4 years is 

really remarkable, how far they have come. 

Mr. ROGERS. Right. 

General HYTEN. So they have the ability to do that. But they are 

going to strap three Falcon 9s together, each with 9 engines on the 

bottom, so you will have 27 engines on the bottom to take that 

heavy capability up. And then they are going to have an upper 

stage because they are going to have to demonstrate how to get 

with an upper stage coasting to GEO [geosynchronous Earth orbit] 
33 

for a long period of time. That is a very stressful mission. They are 

going to have to come in to us with a certification proposal. 

Mr. ROGERS. Have they submitted an intent? 

General HYTEN. They have not submitted—— 

Mr. ROGERS. So, no process has even been started yet? 

General HYTEN. Not on the Falcon 9 Heavy, no, sir. And so when 

they come in, they will tell us, one, three, nine, it won’t be nine 

for a heavy because you will never get to there with nine. But probably one or three and then they are going to have to basically say 

we will submit the following data, the following design reviews, the 

following certification process. And if it is one, it is a longer process, if it is only one launch they have done, it is a longer process 

than it is with three, because we will see more of the multiple 

launches that go on. 

So, I agree with General Mitchell in terms of it is very aggressive 

to get to 2018, but SpaceX has been amazing in their ability to deliver those capabilities. So, I will not say that it is impossible, but 

I think 2019 or 2020 is a more likely solution for a heavy capability. 

Mr. ROGERS. Okay. Dr. LaPlante, same question: How realistic is 

it do you think, we will have an alternative to the Delta IV Heavy, 

from SpaceX, demonstrated and certified? What is the most realistic timeline, in your mind? 

Dr. LAPLANTE. Well I think, again, what my previous two colleagues said is exactly what I have been hearing for the last 2 

years, is more or less what these two gentlemen have said. And 

they have also said, you know, just that the challenge is success 

oriented, and so the likelihood of having all that done, all the certification done in the 2018 timeframe, normally I would say that 

is probably lower likelihood than you would expect. 

But, the caveat I have to make is what General Hyten just made. 

I mean, SpaceX has done remarkable things. They have done remarkable things. And so, we are all in the jobs of trying—our job 

is not to be optimistic or pessimistic; it is to be accurate. And so 

I think it is an optimistic schedule. They may be able to pull it off, 

but you heard all the challenges. 

I also want to add one other thing, Mr. Chairman. If you heard 

General Hyten and General Mitchell talking about, depends which 

approach they do in certification, for those just to know, we have 

essentially a user’s guide. If you want to be a new certifier, you can 

go in and you can look, depending on what class of missions, which 

path you want to go. General Hyten just said, you could do it only 

with one launch but then you have to do a lot of other stuff to show 

us. 

On the other hand, at the other extreme, you could do a lot of 

launches and show us very little because the proof is in the pudding, or go something in between. So they, SpaceX has to decide 

which approach they want to do and then put in place their statement of intent. That has not yet, at least on our side, happened. 

Mr. ROGERS. Yeah. So, I am surprised, I thought that based on 

Ms. Shotwell’s testimony, the certification process has already been 

initiated. But you say that is not accurate? 

Dr. LAPLANTE. Not formally on our side. In the case of the Falcon 9, the formal process, depending on whether it is statement of 
34 

intent, we actually signed the CRADA [Cooperative Research and 

Development Agreement], which was the detailed agreement between the Air Force and SpaceX for certification in June of 2013. 

That is the detailed plan of how we, together, would do this. And 

so, that hasn’t happened yet for Falcon, for the current vehicle. 

That is a key point. 

Mr. ROGERS. Let many ask this question: If, in fact, it takes 

SpaceX, and I understand it is heavy lift, because that is where I 

am really concerned for our national security interest, if it takes 

them another 2 to 3 years to successfully test this technology, to 

the satisfaction of you that it works, and then the certification 

process takes 18 months, we could be looking at 2020 or 2021 or 

maybe even 2022 before the final certification process could be 

done. If everything doesn’t go perfectly. Is that an accurate statement? 

General MITCHELL. Sir, I would only add to that that once it is 

certified, then you have to be awarded a mission, and it is about 

2 years after certification before you would actually launch a mission. Because you have to integrate that payload into it. So, you 

have got to take the end of certification, then you have to win a 

competition to actually fly a mission, and then you have to take 

about 2 years to integrate and make sure that it is going to be a 

mission success not just—— 

Mr. ROGERS. This is the last thing I will pester you all with, so 

everybody else gets a chance to ask questions. Is there, in your 

opinion—and this is for each one of you I am asking another question—a realistic probability that we could have a window of 1 to 

3 or more years, where we will not have heavy-launch capacity or 

access to space in the absence of paying $1 billion or more for a 

launch, under the landscape, as you see it, laying ahead of us? Ms. 

McFarland. 

Secretary MCFARLAND. Chairman, since I haven’t had a chance 

here, I will definitely jump on that. Yes, that is our gravest concern. 

Mr. ROGERS. Is that an acceptable national security risk, in your 

opinion? 

Secretary MCFARLAND. No, sir, it is not. 

Mr. ROGERS. Dr. LaPlante, same question. 

Dr. LAPLANTE. No, not if we are going to have assured access to 

space with two independent lines. By definition, by policy of the 

country, that violates that. 

Mr. ROGERS. But based on the testimony you have heard from 

the first panel and the witnesses here in this panel, the circumstance we are facing is not an acceptable national security risk, 

in your opinion? 

Dr. LAPLANTE. My opinion, it adds significant risk to national security, and the policy—this is important—the policy of having two 

independent vehicles, if you will, and independent, as Tory Bruno 

and Gwynne Shotwell talked about it, access to space. It does not 

meet that. 

Mr. ROGERS. General Hyten, same question. 

General HYTEN. It is not acceptable risk, period. 

Mr. ROGERS. Okay. General Mitchell. 
35 

General MITCHELL. I would only add that the Falcon 9 Heavy 

probably has a better chance of getting there before the NGLS or 

the Next Generation Launch System, which probably isn’t going to, 

as Mr. Bruno said, be launching until 2022 or 2023. I think you 

will see a Falcon 9 Heavy launch before then but probably not before 2020. 

Mr. ROGERS. Ms. McFarland, do you believe that if we fix this 

1608 language problem, it would remedy the circumstance that you 

all just testified was unacceptable? 

Secretary MCFARLAND. Chairman, I would be thrilled if you came 

and worked with us on anything that you would like to propose relative to helping us in this matter. 

Mr. ROGERS. If the 1608 language was fixed so that we could use 

those additional 14 RD–180 engines, would it remedy the situation 

that you just all said was unacceptable? 

Secretary MCFARLAND. Yes, sir. 

Mr. ROGERS. That is all I want. Thank you very much. 

The chair now recognizes the ranking member. 

Mr. COOPER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

And I appreciate the terrific expertise of all the witnesses. 

I am a little worried that in some of the chairman’s questions we 

were like starting to borrow some trouble, and we have enough 

trouble already because we want to be honest about this. The 

greatest threat we face that threatens assured access to space is 

probably our own sequestration stupidity. Because that is a Pentagon-wide problem, and it is up to Congress to fix that. And I am 

grateful, it is my understanding, that some 67 of our Republican 

colleagues have now signed a letter saying they will not vote for 

a budget that is below the President’s request for defense spending. 

Because we have got to at least be at the President’s level, because as General Dempsey said, that is the lower ragged edge of 

what we absolutely have to have. So, that is step one and that is 

the committee’s responsibility. Step two, the chairman just got at, 

let’s correct the mistake that we probably made in the 1608 language so that all 14 of the RD–180s can be used, because that 

would help close this possible window of vulnerability. 

Okay. Then we get to more of the stuff we have been talking 

about in this hearing, which is we took the great words, ‘‘assured 

access to space,’’ and we have effectively added some other things, 

for good reasons. Assured affordable, access to space. And competition is a way of achieving that but it is not the only way. I will 

get to that later. And then it has got to be assured, affordable 

American access to space because, you know, we are not against 

the Europeans but they have a rocket too, the Ariane 5, that can 

work for some stuff. 

So, but if we delve deeper into these things, we really haven’t 

brought up with RL–10 issue, the single point of vulnerability that 

we have today, in which that is really almost prehistoric technology 

compared even to the RD–180. So, there are a lot of issues here. 

But it seems to me that when the taxpayer is listening to this, they 

are thinking, well, competition is good, but that also could be 

viewed as redundancy. We are paying for extra capacity that we 

know we are not going to use, and in certain areas of life you want 
36 

redundancy, you want belt and suspenders. That is good. You want 

a seat belt and airbags. 

But, you know, when I see entrepreneurs, and it is interesting 

now that both SpaceX and ULA are relying heavily on these remarkable individuals, who essentially compete against themselves. 

You know, their motto is probably, you know, ‘‘The difficult we do 

immediately; the impossible takes a little longer.’’ Because already 

in many ways they have achieved what most mortals would have 

considered impossible. 

So, this window of vulnerability that we may or may not be facing—and General Mitchell did an excellent job with his RD–180 

mitigation report—there are ways of closing that gap. One of the 

ways that might be distasteful is to acknowledge that we have had 

30 years to replace the RD–180 and we haven’t done it yet, and 

buying a few more, which even in times of trouble with the Russians, they have been willing to sell us, is a way of closing that 

gap. And a darn affordable one, because the business plan of ULA 

previously has basically been reselling Russian technology. And 

that is an American company? Whoa. Definitions get a little 

squishy here. 

So, there are ways to solve this problem. So I hope the sum message of this hearing is not that we can’t do it in America, because 

we can do it in America. We will do it in America. We will get this 

done. And oftentimes, we argue over technique, and it is good to 

have this competition and occasional elbow. But, we are a can-do 

country and we will get this lift done. 

And one thing that hasn’t been mentioned is, it is my understanding that many of our satellites are being downsized. So, perhaps the heavy-lift capability isn’t as necessary as it once was. So, 

we have got to get with the program here. And I think that the 

sum total of your testimony is, maybe we need to get the bureaucracy a little faster, because an automatic 2-year process, as I told 

one of the witnesses earlier, that was half of World War II and now 

we just use that much time. 

And, you know, if we had to, in emergency, spend $1 billion, well, 

what did we spend in Afghanistan and Iraq, and what exactly did 

we accomplish? You see. You know, so putting things in perspective, we are a can-do, successful nation. We will get this done. And 

we have advantages that no other place on Earth has. 

So, the overall message of this, let’s not borrow too much trouble 

from the future. This will be done, and we will figure out a way 

to do it. And that, to me, is one of the most encouraging things that 

I could take from this hearing. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. ROGERS. I thank the gentleman. 

Chair now recognizes Mr. Lamborn of Colorado for 5 minutes. 

Mr. LAMBORN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Thank you all for being here. 

And General Hyten, greetings from Colorado Springs. I know 

people that work for you or associated with contractors helping 

you, and they certainly have a lot of respect for what you are doing, 

so thank you so much. 

For any one of you, I have a question. Now, I was concerned because in a March 27 House Science Committee hearing, Garrett 
37 

Reisman or Reisman of SpaceX testified, quote, ‘‘With each flight, 

the Falcon 9 launch vehicle also continues to undergo improvements to safety, reliability, and performance,’’ unquote. Does that 

mean that it is a moving target? That—I mean—General Hyten. 

General HYTEN. Yes, sir. So the interesting thing about launch 

is that pretty much every launch that we fly, doesn’t matter whether it is a ULA launch, an Atlas, a Delta, whether it is a SpaceX 

launch, a Falcon 9, there is almost always first-flight items on that 

launch. We continue to mature the technology. We continue to provide additional capability. We focus on that, and we have a very 

disciplined process for how we bring those things on. 

The certification process incorporates all of those things coming 

in. It is not going to be an issue for us working through that. We 

know how to do that kind of business. We know how to bring new 

capabilities on. We will continue to do that with SpaceX just like 

we have done with ULA, sir. 

Mr. LAMBORN. Would any of you add to that, or does that pretty 

much sum up what your thoughts are? 

Secretary MCFARLAND. That is what we consider our state. 

Mr. LAMBORN. Okay. All right. Thank you. 

And secondly, General Hyten, at a February 25 hearing at the 

Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, the Secretary of 

the Air Force stated that, quote, ‘‘SpaceX has not really been part 

of our EELV program yet, right. They are trying to get certified to 

be part of it, but if you look back in time they have had various 

mishaps,’’ unquote. 

What was the Secretary of the Air Force getting at by that statement? 

General HYTEN. So, the Secretary is pointing out, and we have 

had the same issues with launches, is that not every launch goes 

perfect. And so SpaceX has had some internal anomalies in the 

launches that they have done. Those are proprietary information, 

so I would be glad to share the details with you in a private setting, but I don’t want to share them in a public setting. But we 

have also had the same things with Atlas launches. We have had 

the same thing with Delta launches. 

And we go back and look at that. But the most important thing 

to remember is each one of those was a mission success. The actual 

rocket was successful as we went through. So, the Secretary was 

talking about issues with SpaceX in terms of anomalies that they 

have had. We continue to pursue those anomalies. We have worked 

those out with SpaceX. We have also done that with ULA. That is 

a normal way of working in the launch business. We will continue 

to do that with SpaceX. 

The tricky part is that you can never extrapolate them into a national security space launch, because some of our requirements are 

very stringent and so when you ask the question, would the Falcon 

9 have worked if you were launching this kind of rocket, it starts 

turning into a multidimensional helix where you just can’t figure 

out all the variables and turn it into an answer that makes sense. 

But the good news is that every one of their launches have worked. 

It has been a mission success. We just have to work through the 

issues with them. 
38 

Mr. LAMBORN. I am just going to finish up with a very general 

question just to illuminate my understanding better. What is at 

risk? If you take one of these heavy launches, how much time is 

involved in putting the bus together and then how many dollars 

are involved, in a worst-case scenario? And I don’t want to go into 

detail, and can’t, on what capability we lose. That is huge also. But 

how much time do we lose, and how many dollars do we lose with 

one of these heavy launches? 

Dr. LAPLANTE. You mean with the heavy-launch failure? 

Mr. LAMBORN. Exactly. 

Dr. LAPLANTE. Yes. Well, and as has been said by several of my 

colleagues here, of course, we are—launching is a means to an end. 

The important thing is what we are launching into space. That is 

what we actually care about. And those are at least $1 billion a 

pop. Sometimes more. You lose the capability, as General Hyten 

said, about what happened in the late 1990s. And just remind people the type of things we are putting into space are not just communications, but it is communications. 

I mean, essentially, if you think of the nuclear triad we have, we 

have the bombers, we have the ICBMs [intercontinental ballistic 

missiles], and we have the submarines, the command and control 

of it, which we care about, but with the indications and warning 

of that, is what we put into space. It is what we assure and have 

been assured the country and the President for decades that we 

have a reliable deterrence system that he or she or the leadership 

will know if there is something happening in a timely way so they 

can make a decision. So this is serious, serious stuff. 

So, you lose the money, you potentially lose the capability, and 

so it is a big deal. And then as General Hyten said, you know, the 

company—we have to be concerned if the company is going to be 

run out of business depending on the company. 

Mr. LAMBORN. And lastly, I am running out of time, how many 

years are we talking about to duplicate it? 

Secretary MCFARLAND. So, you have to rebuild the system that 

you launched, and some of those systems take 5, 6, 8, 12 years. 

Mr. LAMBORN. Well, thank you so much. This is so critical. I appreciate your help. 

Mr. ROGERS. Gentleman’s time has expired. 

Chair now recognizes the gentleman from Colorado, Mr. Coffman, for 5 minutes. 

Mr. COFFMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Ms. McFarland and Dr. LaPlante, given the importance associated with the payloads we are talking about here, I think is described by General Hyten, do you agree that any future launch contracts should put a premium on full certification based on demonstrated launch success? 

Secretary MCFARLAND. Yes, sir, I do. 

Mr. COFFMAN. Okay. 

Dr. LAPLANTE. Yes, but what I also think we need to do, we need 

to challenge ourselves as to make sure we are doing it as efficiently 

as possible, and, you know, we need to look at the process to make 

sure of it. But yes, I do. 

Mr. COFFMAN. General Hyten, anything? 
39 

General HYTEN. The certification process—this is the first time 

we have been through a certification process, Congressman. And so 

the first time you go through with something, the nature of a bureaucracy is to make sure that you have everything covered. And 

so we did that. When you look back in hindsight, and we have just 

had an independent team look back and we will have some reports 

come through the Secretary of the Air Force shortly, but when you 

look back, there is probably some things we can do to streamline 

that. That is what Dr. LaPlante is referring to. I think there are 

smart things we can do in the future. You always learn the first 

time you go through something. 

Mr. COFFMAN. Major General Mitchell. 

General MITCHELL. Yes. That is being looked at by General 

Larry Welch, who was a former chief of staff for the Air Force. He 

actually did two things, one for General Greaves in the certification 

of the Falcon 9 1.1 specifically, and then he is looking at the general overall process on part of that team that is supporting him in 

that look of can we improve the process without giving up mission 

assurance. And General Welch is very adamant about that because 

he goes back to the 1999 failures when he did the broad area review, and he has been engaged ever since then. 

Mr. COFFMAN. Ms. McFarland and Dr. LaPlante, I think that everyone can agree that competition in any industry is a healthy dynamic that drives down cost and increases value to the U.S. Government. But, do you also agree that the foundation of any headto-head competition between launch providers needs to be based on 

fair and open competition, taking into account any government-provided resources such as launch facilities, engineering services, or 

any other below-value government contribution? 

Secretary MCFARLAND. Congressman, absolutely. When we go 

through competition in the future, we have to be very cognizant of 

what contributions are held where, and that actually is part of the 

competition process when you equate cost to cost. 

Dr. LAPLANTE. Congressman, yes, Adam Smith is correct. Competition is good. But we have to do our level best when we are 

doing it to make sure you look at it from every angle and make 

sure it is a level playing field. That is our strategy, and so we always are doing that. We have to do that. 

Mr. COFFMAN. Okay. Any other comments? Okay. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. 

Mr. ROGERS. I thank the gentleman. 

Chair now recognizes Mr. Bridenstine for 5 minutes. 

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. General Hyten, you gave an estimate on when 

you think the Falcon 9 Heavy might be certified, and you said 2017 

was maybe optimistic but you wouldn’t bet against it necessarily? 

General HYTEN. I said 2018. 

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. 2018. 

General HYTEN. And I would not bet against SpaceX. I think 

anybody that has bet against SpaceX in the last few years has lost. 

So, I think they are a very inventive company that has demonstrated mission success. But the heavy missions are very, very 

demanding. It is a whole new level of complexity that you are adding to the problem that they haven’t faced yet in the missions that 

they have done. So, it is another step up. That is why, if you are 
40 

asking me, I think that is a risky proposition to get there. But, 

again, I would not put it past them. 

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. So, we have heard, and I think a lot of people 

on this panel have expressed the concern, especially the chairman—and I appreciate it and certainly I understand it—that we 

have a risk as it relates to heavy launch. But, we have also heard, 

Mr. Bruno very clearly articulated that they are not going to retire 

the Delta IV Heavy, and we are hearing that the Falcon 9 Heavy 

could be certified by 2018, maybe optimistically, 2019, I would 

think, would be more, you know—we would be more sure of. 

So, the reality is, we are really not at risk of losing a redundant 

launch capability; is that correct? 

General HYTEN. The one modification I made to the analysis you 

went through would be, what General Mitchell pointed out, is that 

once they are certified, they are 2 years away from doing a mission. 

So, the way you look at the problem is that—is when we look at 

every category of lift that we are talking about, we are really talking about a potential gap that we have to worry about—‘‘gap’’ is 

probably not the best term. ‘‘Transition’’ is probably the best 

term—a transition period from 2018 to 2022, that we have to somehow work with Congress to figure out how we are going to transition, because when you get out to 2022, it is pretty easy to understand the competitive environment at heavy, intermediate, and 

small lift that can be out there in 2022. The challenge is how do 

you transition from 2018 to 2022? That is what we need to work 

with the Congress to do. 

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. With the heavy-lift requirements of satellite 

communications, for example, it would seem like there is a large 

market here for commercial industry as well as for the military. 

When you think about the entire market for heavy lift, can you 

guys share maybe some—shed some light on what percentage is 

commercial and what percentage is military? 

General MITCHELL. Yeah, I can speak to that. When you are 

talking the commercial satellites, you are not talking the heavy lift 

we are talking about. They don’t need a Delta IV Heavy. They can 

do that with a smaller rocket. And—— 

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Even to get to GEO? 

General MITCHELL. Yes, sir. They go to a geotransfer orbit, and 

then from the geotransfer orbit they boost themselves up to their 

final location. 

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Okay. 

General MITCHELL. So the Falcon 9 1.1, can handle that, some 

of the bigger ones. The Falcon 9 Heavy but, you know, you don’t 

have to use all of its capability. 

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. So, there is not a whole lot of opportunity to 

bring down the costs by relying on commercial—— 

General MITCHELL. No, sir. This is like the Titan IV was. We 

launched 41 Titan IVs. It is a very expensive rocket. It is a unique 

mission. It is very heavy. And the NRO payloads are the only ones 

that require that heavy lift capability today at the Delta IV Heavy 

category. And when we did the RD–180 study, we poked at that a 

little bit and we got back that that requirement will be in place 

until at least 2030. 
41 

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Okay. For Dr. LaPlante, you brought up—and 

I think it is perfectly appropriate and I would like to echo it—that 

the challenge that we are living under right now is born of the sequester. And if you would highlight for us, because now we are 

looking at passing a budget, and the budget is going to have a 

number, a sequester number for DOD and then there is going to 

be OCO [overseas continency operations] dollars. 

My question for you is, can you shed light for us, what are the 

implications for OCO dollars? Does that help you? Does that hurt 

you? I know the dollars are different. Can you maybe shed a little 

light on that? 

Dr. LAPLANTE. Yeah, I will try to and then maybe also defer to 

Ms. McFarland. So, in the case of the space—of this space-launch 

issue, we have I believe the number in the President’s budget for 

2016 and beyond for the 5-year is somewhere a little short of $300 

million. Part of that, we are going to know a lot more when we get 

these RFPs back because we are going to find out what is real in 

public/private partnership. Of course, that $300 million is like everything else, going to be 

under the scrutiny with the sequester or if we end up having to increase it, if we find out that it has got to be $500 million. Now, 

can that be helped by OCO? I don’t know how that could be. I am 

having trouble thinking of the color of money. But I will also ask 

Katrina to answer. 

Secretary MCFARLAND. So, Congressman, the problem is that we 

currently budgeted in the President’s budget for a competitive 

launch service, that was based on the use of Atlas Vs. Now you add 

the complexity of trying to enter in with a new launch system, the 

Next Generation Launch System, and then you try to find out what 

the public/private venture is that you can actually afford. 

It was very interesting that the chairman pointed to the two industrial folks and they came back with no real response for what 

is the business case. And we have to provide a business case, because indeed, one of the things that you are poking at when you 

are trying to do a public/private venture is that you know you end 

up with something better than you started, not transferring from 

one monopoly to another as part of that. 

So, indeed, I believe there is a concern here in sequestration: Can 

we afford it, and will we be able to put the money into the system 

for the long term that they see a business case that they can see 

money there to get, for us to be able to assure space launch. 

Dr. LAPLANTE. Yeah. And just to add onto Ms. McFarland, in a 

case, an example, and this is maybe just a simple example is, do 

you have to guarantee a certain number of minimal launches for 

them to close their business case? And is there enough launches 

where you could have more than one person with a minimum guarantee? Things like that. 

You were also asking very astute questions about what is the 

commercial marketplace for some of this, because that is part of 

the business case too, right? And that is why it was very important 

to hear from General Mitchell because his study—which by the 

way, is really called the Mitchell Commission, he just is too modest 

to call it that—looked at the market for these things and it is not 

what you might initially expect, it is particular with the heavies. 
42 

Secretary MCFARLAND. If I could add to that, the 2014 commercial—thank you. I am an engineer. The 2014 commercial space 

transportation forecast that came out has a flat line on what they 

anticipate the future brings in terms of commercial and NGO [nongovernmental organization] and government. So, this business case 

is very interesting to us. They are all competing for this same size 

pie. 

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. And if I may, Mr. Chairman, so let’s pretend 

there was a third entrant. Would you say, that the market can’t 

support that? 

Dr. LAPLANTE. I would defer to General Mitchell. 

General MITCHELL. So, I would say, I think it is going to be interesting to see how you support two. Three would be even more 

challenging. Because last year, as was reported by SpaceNews, 

there was 18 competitive commercial launches awarded. Of those 

18, worldwide, of those 18, 9 were won by SpaceX and 9 were won 

by Arianespace. Nobody else won any; Proton’s kind of grounded, 

they are not flying real well. And the reason it is so small is every 

country that has a capability vectors their satellite builders to their 

rocket. 

So, there may be 50 launches worldwide but only 18 of those are 

going to be competed, last year as an example. And the document 

that Ms. McFarland refers to that 50 kind of stays stable and there 

is about 15 to 20 every year that is competitive. So, you don’t have 

much to split up because Arianespace is going to win half of them 

typically, and their consortium will continue to subsidize them to 

make sure they win half of them so that they remain viable. So, 

you are just not going to get all of that market. 

And so, the DOD tends to be around 10 to 12 missions a year. 

NASA has three or four that fall on this category. And when you 

add them up, there just is not a target-rich environment out there 

to go sell rockets. And even if you get a cheap rocket, that doesn’t 

mean more people are going to build satellites just because of the 

launch vehicle is cheap. As Mr. Bruno said, it is 10 to 15, 20 percent of the cost of the stack. So, people aren’t going to go build 

more satellites. They are going to do this in a business case. 

Now, there are some out there that are talking about blotting out 

the sun with small satellites, and there is a couple of investments 

that are going on to do that. That is the same thing we heard in 

1999, and that fell apart, which led us to kind of where we are in 

the EELV program now. They may be successful this time, but I 

guess we are a little bit jaded from the first experience to say let’s 

go bank on all those commercial guys showing up again. So, I think 

it is going to be difficult to support three. It will be a challenge just 

to make two viable. 

Mr. ROGERS. I thank the gentleman. 

I just want to close up and get some things on the record. And 

I do want to pick up on that point though. What you just described 

is what worries me. And you heard me ask Ms. Shotwell that when 

the Delta IV goes offline in 2018 isn’t she going to have a monopoly—and she didn’t want to say it but we all knew the answer— 

that worries me, because of what you just described. The whole 

reason that ULA came into existence is Boeing and Lockheed 

couldn’t make the business case to stay in the market so we basi-
43 

cally created this partnership so that the national security interests were taken care of. 

I love it when billionaires want to spend their own money to do 

cool things that help the country, but it’s still a business. And you 

just described the very flat marketplace that either SpaceX or Blue 

Origin or whoever decides they want to pursue that, and then in 

a few years they go, you know, we are really not making any 

money. And we can’t let this infrastructure go away because we 

still have national security demands. 

So, I don’t want it to look like at any time that the government 

is putting their finger on the scale to help anybody, except the government. And that is to make sure we have the national security 

infrastructure in place to take care of our security. 

But having said that, I want to go back to General Hyten, that 

you talked about the transition period. You kind of summed up in 

there, that 2018 to 2022 period, that I was kind of trying to get 

to in my earlier questioning about this certification process. There 

is that period where we could have no assured access to space, 

which every one of you have said for the record, or at least the two 

of you, let me get you: Is that period of—acceptable to you of not 

having assured access to space period? 

General HYTEN. We have to have it every year, every minute. 

That is critical to our national security. 

Mr. ROGERS. And General Mitchell, I would say you would agree? 

General MITCHELL. Yes, sir. As long as you refer to assured access to space in the policy statement that it is two providers. We 

will be able to have one provider. It is just going to cost more. 

Mr. ROGERS. Yeah. And do you think we are going to give them $1 billion? With sequestration, it is not an option. 

General MITCHELL. I agree with you, sir. All I can say is in the Titan era, we were spending about $500 to $550 million a launch 

in then-year dollars, which was in the 90s. I don’t know what that 

would equate to today, but it is probably 3 quarters of a billion that 

we were spending back then to launch, and we launched 41 of 

them. 

Mr. ROGERS. Yeah. Well, anyway. I think all of you have made 

it clear that not having assured access to space is not an option 

from our national security standpoint. 

Now, the thing I want to kind of—the last thing I want to touch 

on is this replacement to the RD–180. And this is more for the 

record. I know it is late, but this is just such important stuff. My 

understanding is, there are two companies that are trying to build 

this engine at present to replace the RD–180, Blue Origin and 

Aerojet. Am I correct? Is there anybody else that any of you know 

of that may compete for this? 

General MITCHELL. I would not refer to it as replacing the RD– 

180. I would refer to it as—— 

Mr. ROGERS. Building the American version. 

General MITCHELL [continuing]. A heavy-lift American-made engine that is an oxygen-rich stage combustion. But they are not really to replace the RD–180. It is not like they are going to throw it 

under the Atlas body. 

Mr. ROGERS. That is not the way I understand it. I think it is 

supposed to be thrown under the Atlas. 
44 

General MITCHELL. No, sir. The Blue Origin is a methane engine. 

It can’t—— 

Mr. ROGERS. You are getting ahead of me now. The whole point 

is, as you heard Mr. Bruno testify, he is about to run out of these 

engines. Even if we fix the 1608, there is going to have to be an 

American-made engine to replace that mission. Now, you are getting technical in talking about how some of these folks would not 

be able to build an engine that would fit basically. 

General MITCHELL. Yes, sir. You are going to have to change the 

package to whatever the engine is. You build the rocket around the 

engine. So, just try and, you know, jack up an Atlas, and say, I am 

going to take an RD–180 out and I am going to put something underneath it. Not going to happen. 

Mr. ROGERS. Well, you are getting ahead of me. But let me ask 

this question then: Do you believe—and I will start with you, General Mitchell—that either of those two companies could build an 

American version of a rocket engine to replace the RD–180 within 

the next 3 years that would be certifiable that we could use? 

General MITCHELL. Not within the next 3 years. 

Mr. ROGERS. How about the next 5 years? 

General MITCHELL. I would say it is 5 to 7. 

Mr. ROGERS. Five to seven. 

General MITCHELL. And I would say that an RD–180 class engine 

with that kind of thrust they could certainly do. But that is why 

I segregate from an RD–180 specifically because it is an 875,000- 

pound thrust engine. 

Mr. ROGERS. Right. 

General MITCHELL. So, when you are talking that class of engine, 

yes, they could build engines to do that but then they have to build 

a different rocket body to take advantage of those rockets. 

Mr. ROGERS. And do you think that limited to just those two 

companies? 

General MITCHELL. There is nobody out there right now, although—— 

Mr. ROGERS. Nobody else out there doing it? 

General MITCHELL [continuing]. Although SpaceX is looking at 

building a thing called the Raptor engine, which is a million-anda-half pound thrust, but they are very, very—they are way behind 

either Blue Origin or the AR–1 at this point in time. So—— 

Mr. ROGERS. And you say, in your opinion, those two companies 

at best we are looking at a 5- to 7-year timeline before they would 

be ready to launch something? 

General MITCHELL. Yes, sir. 

Mr. ROGERS. General Hyten, your opinion? 

General HYTEN. Yes, sir. And I would reference Mr. Bruno’s testimony earlier where he said that, even with the AR–1, he is going 

to have to extend the tank of the first stage of the Atlas V; and 

with the BE–4, Blue Origin engine, he would have to basically 

come up with a completely new tank, much larger in diameter because of the physics. So, either way you go with those engines, 

there is going to be a new rocket that is built around it. But I agree 

with the timeframe. 

Dr. LAPLANTE. Yeah, I agree and the 5- to 7-year number, it is 

no coincidence that General Mitchell said it because that was really 
45 

the view of his commission. And almost everybody I respect in this 

community, the scientists and engineers, use that same timeframe. 

And that is not, by the way, bureaucracy; although, we certainly 

know how to do that. And it is not money. It is the engineering 

that it takes and the development is driving 5 to 7 years. 

Mr. ROGERS. Ms. McFarland. 

Secretary MCFARLAND. I really can’t add anything further, Congressman. It is definitely a challenge to—— 

Mr. ROGERS. But my question is, do you concur it is a 5- to 7- 

year timeline? 

Secretary MCFARLAND. I concur. 

Mr. ROGERS. Okay. Now, let me—and I promise it is my last 

question. What I would like to see happen, and this is me, and I 

am not an engineer, I am not a rocket scientist or any of that stuff, 

but I would like to see us put out an RFP for an American-made 

engine that is our version of the RD–180 to try to stay in the same 

technology. Because, while I have heard Mr. Bruno’s optimism 

about this methane that Blue Origin is talking about, it has been 

talked about for decades and nobody’s been able to pull it off. 

Now, Jeff Bezos may be able to do it. He is a really smart guy. 

SpaceX may come up with an option that is different. But, we know 

the technology, the kerosene-based technology from RD–180 works. 

So, I want to see us come up with our version of the RD–180, the 

American-made version, and stay within that same technology 

realm. 

My question is this: Do you think that it is practical for us to 

put out an RFP to do what I just described and expect market competition to do that? And I would ask Ms. McFarland to respond. 

Secretary MCFARLAND. Well, I will start, Chairman. The practical that you had in your question is most important. If you go 

back to my conversation about a public/private venture and a business case, the problem with trying to have us solicit and have an 

engine built, means somebody has to build a rocket around it. So, 

if I were to go out with a rocket, if I was to go out with a request 

for a rocket, that I would say ask to have someone take on as a 

business case to launch for us under services, that is a more practical approach. 

Mr. ROGERS. But now, see, you moved away from my premise. 

The premise of my question is, this American version of the RD– 

180, which means it would fit the Atlas V. I don’t want to build 

another rocket. That gets us down another pig trail that I don’t 

want to go. I want to launch what we are launching now and not 

build a new rocket. 

So, is it realistic, if we put in an RFP, to ask for the American 

version of the RD–180 to be built by the same technology that 

would fit an Atlas V, would we get market competition from the 

players in the universe that you are familiar with? 

And I guess Dr. LaPlante wants to take that. 

Dr. LAPLANTE. I will give it a shot in how we are thinking about 

it and see if this addresses your question. 

So, you are asking—essentially the question is, when do we do 

the down select and pick exactly, you know, something like the 

RD–180 or not. And you could do that right now in how you issue 

the RFP, sure. 
46 

Well, our plan is not to do that. Our plan is to issue the RFP 

that is broader than that, and get as many, as I said earlier, it is 

four people under contract. So, let’s see what comes in with an RD– 

180 like, in your words, perhaps with an Atlas. Let’s see what 

comes in with the AR–1. Let’s see what else comes in. We would 

like to get these guys under contract and see what is serious about 

the public/private partnership and then evaluate the technology, 

get them along and then we will down select it. You may be going 

right to where we end up. 

It is a question of whether we restrict it now before issuing the 

RFP or later. Our approach is to do it later because, you know, it 

is funny, until you get people under contract, you kind of really 

don’t—you don’t get the real data and you don’t get to see the real 

designs and you don’t get to see and really test it out. And I believe 

we are responsible for the taxpayer to check that stuff out, and I 

don’t think it is going to slow it down at all. And so, but that is 

kind of essentially our approach. But we will be happy to engage 

with you further as we develop this. 

Mr. ROGERS. General Hyten. 

General HYTEN. So, I will just echo what Dr. LaPlante said. As 

you look at the future, and you look at where we are moving into 

engine technology in the future, we also have to look at the law. 

And the law tells us we want to preserve competition, and we do 

not want an engine that is only available to one provider. And so, 

it is essential for us to comply with the law, and it also makes business sense to do it that way, is that we go out and find out what 

is available on the open market today. And that has got to be the 

first step. I think that was the intent of Congress in the Authorization Act that was passed, to make sure that we have that capability and that is the process we are going down. 

Mr. ROGERS. If we did what you just described, we wouldn’t have 

competition because there is only two players in the market, Blue 

Origin and Aerojet. And Blue Origin is talking about a methane 

engine. It would never fit the Delta V. 

General HYTEN. Yes, sir. 

Mr. ROGERS. I mean the Atlas V, I am sorry. 

General HYTEN. Right. Yes. The Atlas V. The Authorization Act 

specifically says you can’t build an engine that is only available for 

one provider. And so we have to make sure that we are in that. 

So, we want to look at what Blue Origin can do. We want to look 

at what they can do, but eventually we are going to have to make 

that decision. So, what Dr. LaPlante says I agree with completely. 

Eventually, we are going to have to make that decision. 

Mr. ROGERS. I am following you now. 

General. 

General MITCHELL. I agree totally. The only thing I would say is, 

predicting is difficult business, particularly when it is about the future. 

Mr. ROGERS. Yeah. Thank you. 

Chair now recognizes ranking member for any final questions he 

may have. 

Mr. COOPER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have no more questions. I was just here to chaperon you. 

Mr. ROGERS. That means give me the hook. 
47 

I would to close with this: We may have some—I know we have 

some written questions that we may need to submit to you all for 

the record and not keep you here any longer, and the same thing 

for our first panelists. Both are still here. So, if we submit written 

questions to you, we will get them to you within the next 10 days, 

and I would ask you to try to timely respond to those for the 

record. 

With that, I thank you for your participation. This hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 6:28 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] 

A P P E N D I X 

MARCH 17, 2015 

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MARCH 17, 2015 

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WITNESS RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS ASKED DURING 

THE HEARING 

MARCH 17, 2015 

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RESPONSE TO QUESTION SUBMITTED BY MS. SANCHEZ 

Mr. BRUNO. ULA has successfully launched 95 times since inception in December 

2006. ULA has offered multiple configurations to best serve our customers on the 

Delta IV, Atlas V and Delta II vehicles. The Delta IV and Atlas V vehicles have 

successfully flown 82 times, dating back to before the inception of ULA. 

For Atlas V, ULA flies a 4-Series (4M payload fairing) and a 5-Series (5M payload 

fairing). These two configuration classes have launched successfully 35 and 18 times 

respectively. The core vehicle and upper stage are the same for every vehicle configuration with the exception of payload fairing size and number of solids, which 

varies based on customer requirements. 

For Delta IV, ULA also flies a 4-Series (4M payload fairing) and a 5-Series (5M 

payload fairing). For these configuration classes, ULA provides additional solid rocket boosters if required. The Delta IV Intermediate booster stage is the same with 

the fairing size, upper stage size and number of solids varying to support customer 

requirements. In addition for Delta IV Intermediate, ULA flies the Delta IV Heavy. 

ULA has demonstrated reliability through its configuration classes. The specific 

configuration is dependent on solid rocket boosters. The exact configuration is based 

on customer need. Below, please find the missions flown by ULA for each configuration. [See page 17.] 

QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY MEMBERS POST HEARING 

MARCH 17, 2015 

(129) 

QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY MR. ROGERS 

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Bruno, why are you planning to phase out the intermediate (single stick) Delta IV launch vehicle? 

Mr. BRUNO. The Delta IV Medium-class is entirely redundant to the Atlas V-class 

in terms of its performance. 

We have maintained these two systems all this time in order to satisfy the country’s need for assured access, which is to say two independent systems so that in 

the event that there might be a failure or a flaw in one system there would still 

be a second system to be able to launch our critical National Security assets. 

In this new environment where the policy has changed, to assured access through 

the existence of two providers I will now retire the Delta Medium-class of space 

launch vehicles when we have completed our current requirements within the manifest. 

The last scheduled Delta IV Medium mission is WGS–10 in CY’19. This is part 

of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) Phase 1 procurement. In response to the Phase 1 Acquisition strategy signed by USD(AT&L) with a total USG 

requirement for 50 cores, of which 36 were to be procured using a block buy approach and the remaining 14 cores would be made available for competition, ULA 

committed to its Atlas V industrial base for 29 cores and Delta IV industrial base 

for 21 cores. The Delta IV cores were specifically for the requirements identified in 

the block buy (Phase 1) and the Atlas V cores were to support Phase 1 and 1A missions. This commitment has provided DOD with the over $4B of savings recently 

identified by the GAO in its annual assessment of DOD Acquisition Programs, dated 

March 2015. Since it is at least a 36-month lead time (from order to launch) for 

Delta IV hardware, coupled with the non-competitive prices associated with Delta 

IV, ULA will not be offering Delta IV single core vehicles to support Phase 1A or 

2 mission procurements. 

Mr. ROGERS. Ms. Shotwell, you were recently quoted in the media stating that 

SpaceX is working on a higher-thrust engine. Please provide details on the associated planned hardware and software changes in the engine and launch vehicle. Will 

this be the new baseline launch vehicle configuration going forward, and when is 

the first launch planned for? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. SpaceX is planning to fully optimize the Merlin 1D engines on future flights of the Falcon 9 rocket. This optimization will enhance the existing Merlin 1D engine, which has a 100% success record on 13 consecutive missions and currently operates at approximately 85 percent of its thrust capability, and will qualify 

the engine to 100 percent thrust. The engine is in qualification at this time. SpaceX 

is currently planning the first launch of this vehicle for a commercial customer later 

this year. SpaceX would be pleased to provide the Committee with proprietary, detailed information about the Falcon 9 launch system directly. 

Mr. ROGERS. Do you plan to fund an entirely new launch vehicle and all new infrastructure? Do you know what it will, or could, cost the taxpayer? What are the 

risks of this approach, and how does this compare with a path that replaces the 

RD–180 and leverages existing launch vehicle and infrastructure investments? 

Secretary MCFARLAND. The Department currently procures launch services rather 

than launch vehicle hardware for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) 

program requirements, and is committed to working with industry on how to continue providing these services utilizing domestically-produced propulsions systems. 

Our strategy is to competitively invest with industry, to develop launch capabilities 

able to support National Security Space (NSS) requirements. The ultimate objective 

is access to two domestic commercially viable launch service providers utilizing domestically produced propulsion systems in accordance with statutory requirements 

and National Space Transportation Policy. 

Based on our initial review, we do not know today the level of USG investment 

required, but prior program experience suggests it will be less than the cost of a 

government run standalone engine development program. The Department has released a Request for Proposal to industry that solicits innovative solutions to a performance based set of requirements. We expect these solutions may range from new 

launch vehicles and infrastructure to evolution of existing launch vehicles and infra-
130 

structure. The Department will assess cost, schedule and technical elements of these 

commercially based solutions and incorporate them into a multi-step acquisition approach that will result in new or evolved systems meeting all of our NSS launch 

requirements. 

The risk to this shared investment approach is whether industry chooses to participate. Industry must perceive that a viable business case exists and be properly 

incentivized to develop capabilities for new launch vehicles and infrastructure investment that meet the demands of the commercial satellite market and NSS needs. 

The Department is committed to transitioning off the RD–180 but a Government 

led program that is limited to replacing this engine would not necessarily result in 

a new launch capability. Further, it may run counter to promoting competition in 

the launch service provider market for NSS requirements. 

Mr. ROGERS. Can the DOD rely on the domestic commercial launch provider market to the meet the national security requirements for assured access to space? 

What are the risks of this approach? 

Secretary MCFARLAND. The Department does not believe it can rely on the commercial satellite market alone to drive domestic launch service providers to develop 

or offer systems that meet all of our National Security Space (NSS) launch and assured access to space requirements. As the Department’s launch rate tapers down 

over the next decade, launch service providers may decide to maintain viability by 

tailoring their solutions to the commercial satellite market, a market which is expected to remain relatively stable at least through 2023. As this market typically 

consists of smaller spacecraft launching into less demanding orbits, unique NSS requirements could be viewed as niche markets with their own specific business cases 

that, without government investment, could go unaddressed. 

Moving forward, our strategy is to invest in launch capabilities that enable at 

least two domestic commercially viable launch service providers capable of supporting NSS requirements. The Department’s challenge, and the risk of relying on 

the commercial market, is making sure NSS requirements are not excluded as domestic commercial capabilities are developed. The industry must perceive that a viable business case exists so they are incentivized to develop capabilities that are crucial to meeting NSS requirements and the demands of the commercial satellite market. 

Mr. ROGERS. Why is the EELV Launch Capability arrangement in place, and how 

does this benefit the U.S. Government? Is the DOD still evaluating the appropriate 

contracting structure in the future, in terms of launch services, capabilities, and infrastructure, to maintain assured access to space and have fair competition? 

Secretary MCFARLAND. The Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) Launch 

Capability (ELC) construct with United Launch Alliance was put in place in 2006 

to preserve the industrial base at a time when there was not sufficient commercial 

launch market to do so. The ELC line item in the current EELV FA8811–13–C– 

0003 contract continues to provide the Department substantial benefits in both 

launch readiness and operational flexibility when navigating the dynamic DOD, Intelligence Community and Civil and Commercial manifest. 

As New Entrants enter into the market and the EELV program transitions into 

a competitive environment, the Department is evaluating the appropriate method 

for consideration of launch readiness infrastructure costs. 

Mr. ROGERS. Do you plan to fund an entirely new launch vehicle and all new infrastructure? Do you know what it will, or could, cost the taxpayer? What are the 

risks of this approach, and how does this compare with a path that replaces the 

RD–180 and leverages existing launch vehicle and infrastructure investments? 

Dr. LAPLANTE. The Air Force plans to transition off the Russian supplied RD–180 

via a launch service approach which may or may not result in a new launch vehicle 

and all new infrastructure. The Air Force released a Request for Information (RFI) 

in August 2014 to solicit industry inputs on propulsion and launch systems. The 

overwhelming conclusion from the RFI responses is that a solution at the propulsion 

level does not necessarily result in a launch vehicle solution capable of meeting the 

National Security Space (NSS) requirements. The Air Force plans to leverage the 

commercial market with the goal of two (or more) domestic launch service providers 

in innovative public/private partnerships, selected through competition, and able to 

support the entire NSS manifest. 

Part of the plan is shared investment of the development to support the entire 

NSS manifest, and the level of shared investment is still to be determined with industry through RFI and Request for Proposal (RFP) responses; thus we do not have 

the exact costs for each solution at this time. 

No path is without risk, and engine development by 2019 is risky but may be 

achievable. However, the path we have laid out reduces risk by leveraging industry’s on-going engine development capabilities. Conversely, solely replacing the RD– 
131 

180 increases the risk that a launch service is not ultimately secured or the secured 

launch service is not ultimately competitive. An engine alone will not launch us into 

space, as the engine must still be integrated and tested in a rocket. It is near impossible to exactly replicate an existing engine or the performance features of an existing engine due to different manufacturing facilities, manufacturing processes, and 

material sources, likely resulting in engine with weight and thrust differences. Any 

engine changes will drive launch vehicle changes. Launch systems are customarily 

designed around the engine as the lowest risk approach. Furthermore, simply replacing the RD–180 engine in an attempt to minimize launch vehicle changes will 

likely result in a launch system that is not competitive, as the launch industry has 

fundamentally changed over the past decade. Therefore, we have to make sure we 

partner with industry, and that our shared investment with launch providers is a 

workable and cost-effective approach. 

Mr. ROGERS. Can the DOD rely on the domestic commercial launch provider market to the meet the national security requirements for assured access to space? 

What are the risks of this approach? 

Dr. LAPLANTE. Yes, DOD can rely on the domestic commercial launch provider 

market to meet the national security requirements for assured access to space as 

long as there are two or more commercially viable providers. Federal Aviation Administration Commercial Space Transportation Committee forecasts and Year in Review reports indicate a stable competitive commercial market. However, this is only 

a projection. A risk in relying on the domestic market is that it could enter a downturn and launch providers may not remain viable. With DOD as their sole customer, 

domestic providers would have to increase prices to make their business cases close. 

Mr. ROGERS. Why is the EELV Launch Capability arrangement in place, and how 

does this benefit the U.S. Government? Is the DOD still evaluating the appropriate 

contracting structure in the future, in terms of launch services, capabilities, and infrastructure, to maintain assured access to space and have fair competition? 

Dr. LAPLANTE. The EELV Launch Capability (ELC) arrangement was put in place 

in 2006 to ensure the launch providers could launch when the satellites were ready, 

thus preserving our nation’s assured access to space IAW statute and the National 

Space Transportation Policy. During this time, many satellites in development were 

experiencing delays, and ELC offered a way to directly negotiate and manage the 

critical launch overhead and infrastructure costs independent of fluctuating launch 

schedules and ops tempo since we had to pay the costs anyway. ELC maintains 

operational flexibility to adjust the launch manifest in response to NSS requirements. ELC was and is required to maintain this flexibility and the readiness of 

critical personnel that possess unique and advanced technical skills to process and 

launch our most complex missions. 

Yes, the DOD is still evaluating the appropriate contracting structure for future 

launch services. The goal of Phase 2 is for the Air Force to be able to competitively 

award launch services to meet NSS mission needs (FY18–FY22 procurements for 

FY20–FY24 launches) to the maximum extent possible. A final decision has not been 

made on how launch capability activities will be handled in Phase 2. As we work 

towards developing a successful overarching strategy, the need for some sort of ELC 

will be evaluated with the need to maintain mission success, assured access to 

space, fair competition, and affordability. 

Mr. ROGERS. General Hyten, SpaceX has recently made statements about a higher-thrust engine. What does the USAF know about the planned changes to the engine and launch vehicle? 

General HYTEN. SpaceX presented an overview of its planned ‘‘full-thrust’’ Falcon 

9 launch system to NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP) on 7 April 2015, with 

the Air Force in attendance. However, SpaceX has not formally submitted the 

changes desired to be accepted under certification for the ‘‘full-thrust’’ system to the 

Air Force. 

Mr. ROGERS. How will this affect certification? 

General HYTEN. The Air Force will determine if the ‘‘full thrust’’ Falcon 9 is a 

‘‘new configuration’’, as defined in the New Entrant Certification Guide (NECG). 

Higher thrust alone doesn’t automatically mean it is a new configuration, but other 

vehicle system changes that accompany that (structures, dimensions, flight profile, 

etc.) could result in a new configuration determination for the vehicle or launch system. If certification activities are necessary, they would focus largely on the hardware and performance portions of the launch system since the Falcon 9 v1.1 certification will have already covered company engineering and manufacturing processes 

(unless those processes have been modified as well). 

Mr. ROGERS. Will the Air Force be certifying the existing Falcon 9 version 1.1 and/ 

or the new higher thrust capability? 
132 

General HYTEN. Yes. The Air Force is currently wrapping up certification of the 

Falcon 9 v1.1, and anticipates some level of verification effort to begin for the higher 

thrust system once SpaceX provides formal notification of changes. 

Mr. ROGERS. Do you plan to fund an entirely new launch vehicle and all new infrastructure? 

General HYTEN. We plan to transition off the Russian supplied RD–180 via a 

launch service approach which may or may not result in a new launch vehicle and 

all new infrastructure. Engine development alone does not improve our assured access to space posture because significant launch vehicle development may be required to use a new engine, even if the engine is designed as a replacement. However, investing at the launch system level does improve assured access to space by 

harnessing the commercial providers’ investments to develop launch system(s), including the engine if required, that are commercially viable but can also launch all 

national security payloads. Therefore, our recommended plan to transition off the 

RD–180 is to invest with industry partners to develop domestic, commercially viable 

launch systems that also assure access to space for all national security payloads, 

and to competitively procure launch services using those systems. 

Mr. ROGERS. Do you know what it will, or could, cost the taxpayer? 

General HYTEN. We are working with industry to understand their business cases 

for developing commercially viable launch systems, so we do not have the costs for 

each solution at this time. 

Mr. ROGERS. What are the risks of this approach, and how does this compare with 

a path that replaces the RD–180 and leverages existing launch vehicle and infrastructure investments? 

General HYTEN. If we were to develop an engine solution for a single launch vehicle (i.e., to replace the RD–180 on the Atlas V), a competition could be accomplished 

at the engine level but the resulting engine would favor some launch systems over 

others. This approach would be seen as competitive for the engine developers but 

anti-competitive for the launch service providers. Also, any new engine replacement 

for any existing launch vehicle is still technically risky for two reasons. First, the 

baseline technical risk for developing a high-performance rocket engine is high. Second, even a new version of the RD–180 engine for an Atlas V launch vehicle may 

require structural changes to the launch vehicle due to the different forces and vibration imparted on the launch vehicle by the new engine. From a schedule risk 

perspective, it has historically taken ∼8 years to develop a new engine, so there is 

a likelihood that a new engine, if started now or currently in early development, 

would not be completed by 2019. 

Mr. ROGERS. Can the DOD rely on the domestic commercial launch provider market to the meet the national security requirements for assured access to space? 

General HYTEN. The DOD can rely on the domestic commercial launch provider 

market to meet National Security Space (NSS) requirements if there are two or 

more commercially viable providers. This will require the DOD to partner with providers to jointly develop a commercial launch service that can also meet NSS launch 

needs. 

Mr. ROGERS. What are the risks of this approach? 

General HYTEN. The risk to this approach is that it requires U.S. providers to capture enough commercial and civil launch contracts to remain viable. If there are not 

enough commercial and civil launches available or if the launch system, once developed, is not competitive enough to win commercial and civil launch contracts, launch 

providers may not remain viable businesses. In this case, not only would the competitive supply be reduced, the DOD may be forced to procure launch services from 

those providers at a higher cost to assure access to space for our NSS payloads. 

Mr. ROGERS. Why is the EELV Launch Capability arrangement in place, and how 

does this benefit the U.S. Government? 

General HYTEN. The EELV Launch Capability (ELC) arrangement was put in 

place in 2006 to ensure the launch providers could launch when the space vehicles 

were ready, thus preserving our nation’s assured access to space in accordance with 

the National Space Transportation Policy. It was also created to stabilize the industrial base during a time of reduced numbers of launches. The other risk is in the 

event of a launch failure and one provider is unable to fly for an extended period 

of time. Who makes the decision to return to fly and how does one company stay 

in business with the lack of revenue during the down time? We do not know the 

answers to these questions yet. Especially since there has been only one provider 

currently that can meet the entire National Security Space (NSS) manifest, ELC 

was and is used to stabilize the engineering workforce throughout dramatically 

changing launch manifest to include NASA and commercial launches. The ELC part 

of the USAF Phase 1 contract continues to provide the Department of Defense the 

required operational flexibility to meet its NSS requirements without Request for 
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Equitable Adjustment (REAs) or schedule penalties as a result of launch slips due 

to satellite vehicle acquisition issues, first time integration delays, or anomaly resolution timelines. The scope of the launch capability includes all work associated 

with supporting launch infrastructure maintenance and sustainment, program management, systems engineering and the Government’s independent mission assurance 

process and launch site operations. Finally, the Phase 1 Block Buy contract ELCs 

portion is a significant part of the earned $4.4B in cost savings from the FY12 PB. 

Mr. ROGERS. Is the DOD still evaluating the appropriate contracting structure in 

the future, in terms of launch services, capabilities, and infrastructure, to maintain 

assured access to space and have fair competition? 

General HYTEN. Yes, the DOD is still evaluating the appropriate contracting 

structure for future launch services. The DOD is weighing the needs for mission 

success, assured access to space, fair competitions, affordability, and is working to 

develop a successful overarching strategy that fulfills requirements in each of those 

areas. 

Mr. ROGERS. Can the DOD rely on the domestic commercial launch provider market to the meet the national security requirements for assured access to space? 

What are the risks of this approach? 

General MITCHELL. Yes the DOD could rely on domestic commercial launch providers to meet National Security Space (NSS) requirements but due to the associated risks I do not think they should. 

While commercial satellite operators and the NSS community both desire to have 

reliable launch systems at a competitive cost point with certainty of schedule they 

differ in their approaches to managing the risk inherent in space launch. 

The commercial operators manage launch risk thorough a combination of insurance, self-insurance (buying ‘‘spare’’ satellites ahead of need), designing satellite so 

they can be manifested on multiple launch systems (foreign and domestic) and having contractual milestones that allow them to change launch systems if the launch 

provider does not meet them. 

The NSS community does not insure, does not procure satellites ahead of need, 

can only manifest on domestic launch systems by law and, since launch system options are limited, do not design all satellites to be able to be launched on all launch 

providers, and has not used the same type contractual clauses as commercial satellite operators. So given these limitation the NSS community manages risk by employing a mission assurance process that is much more in depth and ‘‘intrusive’’ 

than commercial satellite operators. The NSS mission assurance approach has proven to be extremely effective since the turn of the Century. The current provider has 

adjusted to the government processes even though the strict terms of the contracts 

were for launch services and not hardware. It is not clear whether commercially 

competitive offerors would take the same approach to accommodating the government’s mission assurance processes. 

The bottom line is that National Security is about ASSURING CAPABILITY for 

the National Command Authorities, the Warfighter and the Intelligence Community 

and commercial space is about INSURING their revenue stream. The NSS Community needs to be able to apply its mission assurance standards on its launch providers as long as the current laws, policies and approaches to procuring satellites 

and launching satellites on schedule with no spares and no insurance is in place. 

QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY MR. COFFMAN 

Mr. COFFMAN. SpaceX’s support of competition in the launch markets is appreciated. Please explain SpaceX’s objection to permitting future purchases of RD–180 

engines to allow for an orderly transition to an all-U.S. alternative, given that Delta 

IV is not a commercially cost-competitive vehicle, even when produced at rate? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. SpaceX appreciates the support of Congress and the Air Force for 

reintroducing meaningful competition into the EELV Program as a means to lower 

costs, provide true assured access to space, and stimulate continuous innovation 

that will enhance the U.S. industrial base. The issue of Russian engines is not related to competition—it is squarely related to the assured access to space policy. Reliance on the RD–180 engine for national security space launch is not consistent 

with assured access to space and that sending hundreds of millions of dollars to 

Russia’s industrial base is not necessary when America has multiple options today. 

As a result, Congress passed legislation, with broad bipartisan support, to phase out 

such reliance and leverage existing and future capability. An ‘‘orderly transition’’ to 

an alternative is available immediately—with increased utilization of the Delta and 

Falcon family of rockets. The decision to discontinue the Delta Medium rests neither 

with SpaceX nor with Congress, but with ULA. Whether or not a provider has a 
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competitive offering is not an issue for Congress to resolve on behalf of that provider; instead, that provider should take steps to place itself in a competitive position. Competition will be truly enhanced to the extent that the Launch Capability 

subsidy (approximately $1 billion annually) paid to ULA is fully accounted for in 

head-to-head competitions and/or eliminated. 

Mr. COFFMAN. SpaceX boasts development of a commercial launch site ‘‘soon’’ at 

Brownsville, TX. Please define the milestones and final operational date for this 

site. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. SpaceX currently plans to have the launch site in South Texas 

completed in late 2016, and operational in 2017, when the first launch is scheduled 

to occur from this launch site. SpaceX is not relying on any federal funds for this 

launch site. 

Mr. COFFMAN. Most U.S. Government payloads require performance in excess of 

the Falcon 9 V1.1. How does SpaceX plan to support these missions? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Falcon 9 can execute roughly 60 percent of national security space 

launches today. SpaceX has self-funded the development, qualification, and initial 

launch of the Falcon Heavy—set to occur later this year. Falcon 9 and Falcon 

Heavy, in just two configurations, will be able to execute 100 percent of EELV missions. The Falcon Heavy will be certified well in advance of any competitions for 

missions that would require its capability. 

Mr. COFFMAN. SpaceX current launch has been delayed due to an evaluation of 

helium bottles. SpaceX has had multiple missions impacted by helium leaks. What 

has been done to address this specific issue? 

General HYTEN. SpaceX has not had multiple missions impacted by helium leaks. 

During a pre-launch test of a single mission, SpaceX experienced a single helium 

bottle failure which resulted in a helium leak. Working with the Air Force, SpaceX 

has implemented changes and enhanced test methods regarding helium bottles, and 

has successfully flown the Falcon 9 a number of times since the issue was detected 

during the pre-launch test. The Air Force and SpaceX continue to work collaboratively on New Entrant certification, which will address any identified risks and 

implement USG and SpaceX agreed-to risk handling plans to mitigate the risks. 

Mr. COFFMAN. Would SpaceX benefit from the mission assurance experience that 

resides in the U.S. Government? 

General HYTEN. Yes. SpaceX has already benefited from the U.S. Government 

(USG) mission assurance experience with respect to this issue. The USG team was 

instrumental in identification of a potential root cause for an F9–010 issue, and recommended the recently performed follow-on testing. Additionally, the USG team 

recommended implementation of additional inspection acceptance criteria that are 

now being applied by SpaceX. 

Mr. COFFMAN. How will SpaceX work with the U.S. Government to ensure that 

systemic issues do not impact future NSS missions? 

General HYTEN. SpaceX and the USG team are currently engaged in the new entrant certification process designed to evaluate the Falcon 9 version 1.1 launch vehicle and identify potential risks to National Security Space missions. As part of this 

process, all identified risks or systemic issues require development and implementation of USG and SpaceX agreed-to risk handling plans to mitigate the risks. 

Mr. COFFMAN. Is the U.S. Government or Aerospace Corporation participating in 

the helium bottle anomalies? 

General HYTEN. Yes, the USG and Aerospace Corporation team has been participating in the helium bottle anomaly as part of the new entrant certification process. 

As noted above, the USG and Aerospace Corporation team was instrumental in 

identification of a potential root cause of the helium bottle anomaly and the subsequent development of the follow-on inspection acceptance criteria. 

QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY MR. BROOKS 

Mr. BROOKS. Has SpaceX received any sole-sourced missions from the Air Force, 

NASA or any other U.S. Department or Agency? If so, please explain? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. The DSCOVR and STP–2 missions were designated as Evolved 

Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) New Entrant missions, and were contracted 

under the U.S. Air Force IDIQ contract called Orbital/Suborbital Program (OSP–3), 

which is managed out of Kirtland Air Force Base. The OSP–3 program is a competed contract vehicle. The Air Force selected SpaceX, Orbital-ATK, with its 

Minotaur family, and Lockheed Martin’s Athena vehicle as eligible competitors for 

launches under this program. The Air Force released the OSP–3 Request for Proposals (RFP) under solicitation FA8818–12–R–2006 on May 11, 2012 for the IDIQ 

and for two task orders to be ordered under the IDIQ: DSCOVR and STP–2. Accord-
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ing to Aviation Week (Dec. 10, 2012), Orbital offered a bid, as did SpaceX. SpaceX 

successfully launched the DSCOVR satellite on a Falcon 9 in February 2015; STP– 

2 is currently scheduled for launch in 2016 on a Falcon Heavy. 

Mr. BROOKS. SpaceX claimed in its testimony that with the Falcon 9 Heavy, it 

has the capability to perform all missions in the national mission model. In 2014, 

SpaceX stated ‘‘With the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy, SpaceX will be able to execute 100 percent of the DOD’s launch requirements with two launch vehicle configurations.’’ Please describe the performance capability (in lbs) of Falcon 9 Heavy direct 

inject to Geosynchronous Orbit. How will the upper stage handle the long on-orbit 

coast required for this mission? What is the longest coast performed to date by the 

upper stage? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. The baseline Falcon Heavy is capable of launching just over 

18,000lbm direct to Geostationary orbit using a three upper stage burn mission profile. The mission profile includes a five hour and 14 minute long coast between the 

second and third burn. While the longest coast SpaceX has performed to date is only 

three hours, development of a ‘‘long coast kit’’ is planned for Falcon Heavy to enable 

the direct to GEO mission profile with low risk. The mass budgeted for this long 

coast kit is not to exceed 3000lbm, resulting in Falcon Heavy performance greater 

than 15,000lbm direct to GEO. This capability exceeds the most strenuous capability 

required by the Air Force of 13,770lbm direct to GEO thus allowing Falcon 9 and 

Falcon Heavy to address 100% of the DOD’s launch requirements. 

Mr. BROOKS. SpaceX stated in 2014 their Falcon 9 heavy ‘‘while being the most 

powerful launch vehicle in the world—twice the capability of the Delta IV Heavy.’’ 

Please clarify this statement in regards to the National Security Space. What is the 

Falcon Heavy lift capability for National Security Space Geosynchronous Orbit missions? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Falcon Heavy lift capability for national security space geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) is 41,570 lb (18,856 kg). 

Mr. BROOKS. SpaceX stated that the Falcon Heavy was delayed due to internal 

priorities. Given that SpaceX has stated that its overall goal is to get to Mars and 

other planets, what confidence can SpaceX provide to National Security Space customers that their priorities will not be delayed due to SpaceX internal decisions. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. SpaceX and the Air Force have been focused on EELV certification of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle. We anticipate certification no later than June 

2015. SpaceX has submitted its EELV certification statement of intent for the Falcon Heavy. Critically, our top priority is providing the most reliable launch services 

in the world to our customers. SpaceX’s commitment to national security space 

launch is evidenced by the self- funded effort to date associated with meeting EELV 

requirements, including launch vehicle certification, and the development of vehicles 

capable of performing all EELV missions. SpaceX will fulfill contractual obligations 

for national security space launch customers, as with our NASA and commercial 

customers. SpaceX regularly conducts U.S. Government missions, including several 

U.S. Government missions this year, for both NASA and the U.S. Air Force. Falcon 

Heavy is under contract for launch in 2016 for the U.S Air Force, as well as a number of commercial customers. As a result, SpaceX is manufacturing, qualifying, and 

demonstrating the vehicle prior to these launch dates. 

Mr. BROOKS. Given that SpaceX has delayed the Falcon Heavy due to internal priorities. Please provide the key milestones and specific dates between now and the 

launch date of Falcon Heavy. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Fabrication and qualification of the Falcon Heavy is currently underway. Reconfiguration of Launch Complex 39–A to support Falcon 9 and Falcon 

Heavy launches will be completed in the summer of 2015, and SpaceX will perform 

a Wet Dress Rehearsal of the Falcon Heavy in the fall. The self-funded demonstration flight of the Falcon Heavy is currently scheduled to occur late in 2015. 

Mr. BROOKS. SpaceX has repeatedly claimed to have self-funded its launch infrastructure at both the Cape and Vandenberg and by mid-2015, SpaceX will have two 

launch pads in Florida for geostationary orbit missions. When does SpaceX intend 

to have two launch pads in Florida for geostationary orbit missions? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. To date, SpaceX has self-funded its launch infrastructure. Currently, SpaceX maintains operational pads at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station 

(CCAFS) at Launch Complex 40 (LC–40) and Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) 

at Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC–4E). This summer, SpaceX will complete work 

on Launch Complex-39A (LC–39A) within NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) to 

support Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches. SpaceX expects to complete work on 

a fully commercial launch site in South Texas by the end of 2016, to support 

launches in 2017. Each of the Florida and Texas pads will be able to support 

launches to geostationary orbits. 
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Mr. BROOKS. SpaceX has made claims to bringing back the commercial launch 

market to the U.S. SpaceX also stated in 2014 that there is no conflict between U.S. 

Government National Security or NASA missions because ‘‘SpaceX prioritizes DOD 

and NASA missions over commercial missions.’’ How have SpaceX’s commercial customers de-conflicted their need for launches based on this policy? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. SpaceX has recaptured a substantial share of the commercial 

launch market—more than 50 percent of the world’s competed launches next year. 

Notably, prior to SpaceX’s entry into the commercial market, U.S. market share had 

dwindled to zero percent. Our chief competitors in the commercial arena have been 

Russian and European. There is no conflict between U.S. Government missions and 

commercial missions. SpaceX maintains a clear manifest policy that is part of each 

of our commercial contracts, which prioritizes U.S. Government missions. Moreover, 

SpaceX’s Air Force and NASA Cargo Resupply Services (CRS) contracts are rated 

either DO, DX, or in support of the International Space Station (ISS), meaning that 

SpaceX has a contractual legal right to prioritize these launches ahead of commercial missions, as necessary. SpaceX has invested internal funds in the development 

of additional launch infrastructure (i.e. the South Texas launch site) to eliminate 

manifest congestion and any schedule conflicts at the Federal Ranges. 

Mr. BROOKS. SpaceX has repeatedly made claims of their Heavy debut. In a 2011 

press release SpaceX said they would launch the Falcon Heavy in early 2013. Ms. 

Shotwell was quoted in 2014 claiming the Heavy would launch in March 2015, and 

during your recent testimony you stated ‘‘we did deemphasize the Falcon Heavy development after I made that remark because we wanted to focus on the single stick 

or the single core Falcon 9.’’ What year and month will the Falcon Heavy launch? 

How many launches of the Heavy in 2015? Is one of them self-funded, like SpaceX 

indicated in 2014? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. SpaceX has timed Falcon Heavy development and demonstration 

to precede our contractual obligations for the operational launch of the vehicle. The 

first launch contract for Falcon Heavy—for STP–2, an Air Force mission—was 

pushed back as a result of a delay with the Government’s COSMIC–2 payload. Accordingly, SpaceX was in a position to move back our self-funded demonstration 

flight of the Falcon Heavy, while focusing on EELV certification of the Falcon 9 

launch vehicle and other matters. SpaceX anticipates flying this demonstration 

flight in 2015. We have additional commercial Falcon Heavy flights under contract 

in 2016. 

Mr. BROOKS. SpaceX stated that it does not need any subsidies from the U.S. Government. To confirm, SpaceX, and its management, believes that the U.S. Government should not subsidize companies or use taxpayer money to provide subsidies 

that do not benefit all participants of an industry? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. The Government should not subsidize the fixed costs or business 

overhead of any one provider in a competitive procurement. As General Hyten recently testified before this Committee, such subsidies make it impossible to hold a 

fair competition, stating: ‘‘I don’t think you can have fair competition with that contract in place. There’ll have to be a change.’’ 

Mr. BROOKS. What condition is the booster in after recovery? The booster must 

fly at hypersonic velocities through its own Merlin exhaust, then again prior to 

landing. Please describe how the booster will be treated after exposure to this very 

harsh environment. Also please describe what refurbishment actions are included 

when recovering a booster? What reviews will SpaceX conduct to ensure readiness 

of the booster? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. SpaceX has not recovered a booster at this time; once we successfully perform recovery on an upcoming flight, we will analyze the booster and engines. We will then be able to fully ascertain its condition and next steps for refurbishment. 

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