Gen. Shelton Fires Back At SpaceX Chief Musk

摘要

The head of U.S. Air Force Space Command has a response to Space Exploration Technologies Corp. Chief Executive Elon Musk, who, during a spirited March 7 U.S. Senate hearing, asked why if SpaceX's rockets "are good enough for NASA, are they not good enough for the Air Force?" "I'll tell you why," Gen. William Shelton said during a National Space Club Florida Committee luncheon speech in Cape Canaveral, Fla., March 11. "At about $1.5 billion - and sometimes higher - national security payloads have to get there. We have to make sure we've done due diligence on the part of the government to make sure that that rocket is going to deliver safely and reliably," Shelton said. SpaceX, along with Orbital Sciences Corp. and ATK, are going through a rigorous certification process that will enable them to compete with United Launch Alliance to fly major military payloads.