July 8, 2026

UM…: ULA’s last six Atlas Vs can’t launch anything besides Boeing’s Starliner.

There are six more Atlas Vs in ULA’s inventory to launch Boeing’s Starliner crew capsules to the International Space Station (ISS) under contract to NASA. But it is not certain today that Boeing will use all six of those Atlas Vs. Last year, NASA reduced the number of guaranteed missions in Boeing’s commercial crew contract from six to four after chronic delays in the program. The next Starliner flight will haul cargo to the ISS, expending one of the remaining Atlas Vs.

So what happens to the Atlas Vs left in ULA’s inventory if Boeing doesn’t need to use them all? One idea would be to repurpose the rockets for other missions, perhaps to add launch capacity for the Amazon Leo network. But there’s a catch.

The Starliner spacecraft flies in an exposed configuration during launch, meaning the launch last week was the last time an Atlas V will fly with a payload fairing. Even if Boeing gave up some of the Atlas Vs under its contractual control, ULA would not be able to easily retrofit any of the leftover Atlas Vs for other missions.

A ULA spokesperson confirmed to Ars that the payload fairing now in production for the company’s newer Vulcan rocket—the replacement for the Atlas V—is “not interchangeable” with the out-of-production Atlas fairing.

If — when? — NASA ditches Starliner, it has to be cheaper and smarter to fabricate new fairings than throw away a handful of perfectly good Atlas rockets, right?

Posted at 9:38 am by Stephen Green

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: I Keep Missing the ‘Cease’ Part of All These Ceasefires With Iran. “Iran is continuing its run as ‘The Country Least Likely to Stick to Any Agreements That Don’t Allow It to Be Unhinged.’ Not the most clever prize title, but one that Ayatollah Whomeverisincharge seems to really covet.”

Posted at 9:22 am by Stephen Green

CORN, POPPED:

But watch them turn on a dime again if they can’t threaten him into quitting:

Posted at 8:52 am by Glenn Reynolds

ANALYSIS: TRUE.

Mostly true, anyway: “His parents could’ve been much worse. They turned him in right away.”

Posted at 8:51 am by Stephen Green

THAT ABOUT SUMS IT UP: The Expert Class Created a Perfect System: They Accuse, They Censor, and They Never Have to Prove a Damn Thing. “A point of amusement for me a week back on Twitter/X was a situation surrounding a volcanoes enthusiast going off topic by asserting the European heat deaths were ‘blood on the hands of people behind Big Oil-funded lies’ – meaning industry deception campaigns, no doubt. The famous Tom Nelson replied by pointing out how there was no evidence to back up the claim. I’ve detailed that problem right here at GelbspanFiles since 2013. Meanwhile, an environmentalist decided to counter Tom with ‘proof’ that ‘deception campaigns’ happened by recommending him to read the ‘a bit dated’ Naomi Oreskes Merchants of Doubt book, implying the book compared Big Oil ‘misinformation mechanisms’ to ‘pro nuclear weapons / pro tobacco mechanisms.’ The comment there – likely well-intentioned and certainly believed by the person posting it – is a classic example of intellectual dishonesty – a person essentially lying to the public and to themself. I own a copy of that book, nowhere within it is evidence of skeptical climate scientists advocating use of nuclear weapons or even remotely being pro-tobacco. My response to that commenter was to read my SPM on Oreskes, to comprehend just how much disinformation Oreskes generates. But my recommendation goes much farther – the same basic accusation may end up in some form when the Supreme Court takes up a discussion about the Boulder v Suncor lawsuit.”

Much more at the link.

Posted at 8:36 am by Stephen Green

ALEX, I’LL TAKE “ARGUMENTS I’VE MADE SINCE I WAS A YOUNG AMERICAN” FOR $400: Don’t Lock Young Americans Into Social Security.

Rather than dragging younger workers through years of uncertain taxation, policymakers should give them a choice. Americans who are decades away from retirement should be allowed to opt out of Social Security and pursue retirement planning through private alternatives.

The freedom to decide how to spend and save one’s income is deeply ingrained in American culture. Some people rent apartments, rely on public transportation, and prioritize international travel. Others buy homes, raise families, and invest heavily in property or small businesses. The diversity of lifestyles that defines the United States is made possible by economic liberty.

Social Security’s mandatory payroll tax limits that liberty, particularly for younger generations who are unlikely to receive the same value from the program as their parents and grandparents. Every dollar directed to Social Security is a dollar that cannot be used to pay down debt, purchase a home, invest in education, build a business, or save independently for retirement.

Private retirement accounts also offer greater opportunities for long-term growth.

Virtually any growth would be an improvement.

Posted at 7:34 am by Stephen Green

BYRON YORK: Trump’s anti-communist manifesto. “Trump’s move wasn’t a complete surprise. After the June 23 Democratic primaries in New York — the one in which socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani emerged as a kingmaker by backing far-left candidates who upset progressive Democratic House incumbents — Trump quickly branded those far-left candidates as ‘communists,’ and not as socialists, as they styled themselves.”

To be fair, that’s because they are communists, and not socialists, as they style themselves.

Posted at 7:30 am by Glenn Reynolds

THIS:

Posted at 7:22 am by Glenn Reynolds

THEY SHOOT TESLAS, DON’T THEY?

One reason that might justify the headline is that Teslas are festooned with up to nine video cameras, but the article doesn’t explicitly mention them. It just refers to the “surveillance video” and “analyzing electronic evidence:”

Investigators said they identified Evans as the suspect after reviewing surveillance video, interviewing witnesses and analyzing electronic evidence. Evans was arrested last Wednesday in Stockton on a murder warrant.

Thus making the San Francisco Chronicle’s headline a variation on one of Rush Limbaugh’s bugaboos, spotting the DNC-MSM blaming SUVs rather than drunk drivers or illegal immigrants for a crime: “Pioneer Press reporting on her funeral, this was the headline: ‘St. Paul Teen Killed by SUV Remembered at Her Funeral.’ Killed by SUV. It’s an oldie but a goodie. These stories happened every day for a ten-year period starting in the late nineties.”

Posted at 7:14 am by Ed Driscoll