United Launch Alliance Is Headquartered In Their State

Two Colorado congressmen ... Republicans Mike Coffman and Cory Gardner ... have called for an investigation of what they say is "an epidemic of anomalies that have occurred during SpaceX launches or launch attempts."

Their joint letter to NASA says that the anomalies are responsible for launch delays on the part of SpaceX. “Because the development of the vehicles and capsule in question were funded by NASA dollars, we request that you provide Congress with the information you have on the various aspects of risk and reliability from these programs, including contractual, management, technical, manufacturing, cost, schedule and safety,” the letter states.

The Denver Business Journal reports that launch rival United Launch Alliance is based in Centennial, CO. The letter follows by a month one from Arizona Republican Senator John McCain calling for an investigation about the use of Russian-made rocket engines by ULA, and how much the U.S. was paying for those engines.

Anyone who has followed any part of the space program knows that launch delays are common. NASA often had delays when attempting to launch a space shuttle or other rocket.

ULA recently won an $11 billion contract for launch services for U.S. military and intelligence missions. SpaceX filed a lawsuit seeking to void that contract and open it to competitive bidding. The company has recently attempted to amend the suit to include the allegations about pricing of Russian RD-180 rocket engines made by Senator McCain.

SpaceX is currently unable to bid on the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program because the Air Force reviews of its three qualifying launches have not been completed.

(SpaceX launch pictured in file photo)

FMI: www.spacex.com, www.nasa.gov