Alleged Email Leak Shows ULA Plotting Against Elon Musk and SpaceX

[Elderberry]

Futurism by Victor Tangermann 8/25/2021

Did ULA really try to dig up dirt?

An alleged email leak appears to show the United Launch Alliance, a prominent SpaceX competitor, plotting to spread damaging conspiracy theories about SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

The authenticity of the emails has yet to be confirmed, though Ars Technica is reporting that they “appear to be legitimate.” ULA spokeswoman Jessica Rye told Ars Technica that “we will not comment at this time but are taking this alleged cyber crime seriously.”

“While we are continuing to thoroughly investigate, we have no evidence to suggest any ULA accounts or systems have been breached,” Rye added.

The emails, first surfaced by Backchannel — no, not Steven Levy’s Backchannel, but a just-launched Substack that only has two posts — show an apparent email conversation between ULA VP Robbie Sabethier and Hasan Solomon, a lobbyist at the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

In the email exchanges, Solomon and Sabethier appear to discuss a larger conspiracy theory about Musk, claiming that the billionaire was conspiring with former president Donald Trump and that Musk is a supporter of the Chinese Communist Party and its interests.

More: https://futurism.com/alleged-leak-ula-elon-musk

[EdinVA]

This goes on all the time... are we only upset because it is about musk?

[Kamaji]

I wasn't aware that Musk needed much help in spreading bizarre stories about himself.  He seems quite good at it all on his ownsome lonesome.

[Elderberry]

In leaked email, ULA official calls NASA leadership “incompetent”

ARS Technica by Eric Berger - 8/25/2021

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/08/in-leaked-email-ula-official-calls-nasa-leadership-incompetent/

In what appear to be legitimate emails from April and May, a senior official of the US rocket company United Launch Alliance (ULA) characterizes the leadership of NASA as "incompetent and unpredictable."

The statement was made in one of six emails leaked on a hacking forum on Tuesday evening. The leaked emails all involve correspondence between Robbie Sabathier, the vice president of government operations and strategic communications at ULA, and Hasan Solomon, a lobbyist at the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, a large aerospace union.

The emails make claims, some verifiable and some that seem to be wildly erroneous, about the relationship between NASA, the Trump administration, SpaceX founder Elon Musk, and China. The central argument put forth by ULA—a company whose launch business has been damaged by the rise of SpaceX—is that NASA, as led by Trump officials, favored SpaceX for political reasons.

"Large NASA taxpayer investments are being thrown away due to the cozy relationship established by Trump political hacks throughout NASA," Sabathier wrote on April 23. "The US Government’s deep space exploration program is at risk: This large program which is the baseline for deep space exploration is being threatened due to political favors being offered to Elon Musk."

In response to a question about the emails from Ars, a ULA spokeswoman, Jessica Rye, declined to comment about their content. "We will not comment at this time but are taking this alleged cyber crime seriously," Rye said. "While we are continuing to thoroughly investigate, we have no evidence to suggest any ULA accounts or systems have been breached."