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Airbus Attacked By French Lawmaker For Talking To SpaceX

schwit1 (797399) writes A French lawmaker lashed out at Airbus for daring to consider SpaceX as a possible launch option for a European communications satellite. "The senator, Alain Gournac, who is a veteran member of the French Parliamentary Space Group, said he had written French Economy and Industry Minister Emmanuel Macron to protest Airbus' negotiations with Hawthorne, California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp. for a late 2016 launch instead of contracting for a launch on a European Ariane 5 rocket. "The negotiations are all the more unacceptable given that, at the insistence of France, Europe has decided to adopt a policy of 'European preference' for its government launches," Gournac said. "This is called playing against your team, and it smacks of a provocation. It's an incredible situation that might lead customers to think we no longer have faith in Ariane 5 — and tomorrow, Ariane 6."

2 of 168 comments (clear)

  1. Surrender to SpaceX, France by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Hurry up and surrender so you can go back to eating cheese and drinking wine.

    It can't be any more humiliating than your quick surrender to Germany.

  2. Re:So it is official. by peragrin · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    The USA has launched more tonage and people into space. People by a massive number. Tonage is close.

    The French have had many launches though.

    --
    i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.