CEO of SpaceX rival United Launch Alliance resigns

Tori Bruno, CEO of SpaceX rival United Launch Alliance, has resigned after 12 years “to pursue new opportunities,” the company said.

“We appreciate Conservative Party’s contributions to ULA and the country, and we are grateful for his leadership,” United Launch Alliance President Robert Lightfoot and Kay Sears said in a statement.

Bruno’s resignation comes as emerging private spaceflight companies increasingly dominate the launch market. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has dramatically increased its launch pace in recent years, and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is looking like a more serious player after the near-success of its New Glenn heavy-lift rocket’s first mission.

Now 20 years old, ULA was formed by combining the space launch operations of defense contractors Boeing and Lockheed Martin. ULA was a major provider to both NASA and the Department of Defense until SpaceX came along and started winning contracts.

One of Bruno’s biggest projects during his time at ULA was overseeing the development of the joint venture’s next-generation rocket, Vulcan. This project had two main objectives. One is to help ULA keep pace with SpaceX, the other is to reduce the U.S. government’s dependence on Russian rockets for access to space.

Vulcan utilized many parts from previous ULA rocket programs such as Atlas and Delta to keep costs down, but relied on Blue Origin to supply the engines. The project experienced numerous delays until the project was first launched in 2024, a full 10 years after development began.

During the same period, SpaceX became the world’s most dominant space launch provider, winning government contracts and taking on numerous commercial missions.

ULA’s Vulcan rocket has found customers in Amazon (for its Leo internet satellite) and space startup Astrobotic. And the company is also considering flying upgraded versions of its rockets that would make them more reusable and could theoretically carry heavier payloads into space.

“It’s a great honor to lead ULA’s transformation and bring Vulcan into service. My job here is now complete and I look forward to supporting ULA,” Bruno said in a post on X.

ULA has appointed Chief Operating Officer John Elbon as interim CEO while it searches for a permanent replacement.