VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc reportedly made a $2 billion offer to United Launch Alliance, the prime spacecraft launch service provider of Pentagon jointly owned by Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp.

An unmanned Delta 4 rocket blasted off from Florida on Wednesday to deliver the ninth of 12 next-generation Global Positioning System satellites into orbit.

For months, a powerful U.S. senator has been pushing for details of a murky deal under which a Russian manufacturer supplies the rocket engines used to launch America’s spy satellites into space.

The U.S. drive to end its reliance on Russian rocket motors got a boost this week when Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos unveiled a new engine project, but officials and industry insiders say it will take years and hundreds of millions of dollars to develop a locally built alternative.

After announcing via press conference that its Falcon 9 rocket has successfully made a soft landing in the ocean, Elon Musk expressed his desire for Space X and other private companies to join the bidding for military rocket launch contracts.