Media stories keep yapping about the moon lander. But, they're ignoring the launch vehicle.
An automated lander about half the size of an office cubicle with a few experiments on it is pretty cool. But it's not really that extraordinary.
The Vulcan launch vehicle, however, is a big deal. And the fact that it worked on its first launch - and on the first attempt of its first launch - is significant. This is an entirely new launch vehicle. The upper stage borrows some technologies from the old Centaur. And the solid rocket motors are essentially the same as what was used on Atlas V.
But the rest of the whole rocket is completely new design - brand new first stage structure, payload fairing and accommodations, and new US made engines. And it all worked the first time.
It provides direct competition to Falcon 9. No other US lifter was in the Falcon 9 class until now. Blue Origin will be next. But, they're slower to the gate than ULA was.
Further, ULA plans to certify Vulcan for national security launches by the book instead of suing the government for the rights to launch like Elon did.
If ULA can hammer costs down to where they can compete with SpaceX, this will be better for everyone.
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