In a terse statement, United Launch Alliance (ULA), the joint space venture of Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), announced last month that “after nearly 12 years leading United Launch Alliance (ULA), current ULA President and CEO Tory Bruno has resigned to pursue another opportunity.”
No explanation was given for the departure, with ULA simply expressing gratitude to Bruno for his “service to ULA and the country,” before proceeding to name former Chief Operating Officer John Elbon as his interim replacement. (The lack of a permanent replacement waiting in the wings speaks to the unexpectedness of Bruno’s departure.)
Space investors didn’t have to wait long, however, for the mystery to be solved and the new era to begin. In a tweet even more laconic than ULA’s, but significantly happier, Blue Origin announced on Dec. 26 that it has hired Bruno to head its “newly formed National Security Group.”
Investors will recall that ULA and Blue Origin started out as the best of friends. In 2018, when Blue Origin was still finding its footing as a rocket company, still experimenting with uncrewed launches of its tiny New Shepard rocket, ULA threw the company a lifeline: Despite being aware that Blue intended to build larger rockets, and perhaps one day compete with it, ULA nevertheless hired Blue Origin to provide the engines for its new Vulcan Centaur rocket.
Why did ULA take this risk? As space reporter Christian Davenport points out in Rocket Dreams, his latest book on the U.S. space industry, Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos never explicitly promised not to use New Glenn to compete with ULA; but he did imply it: ULA execs “were heartened to hear that [Bezos] would not compete against them for Pentagon launch contracts, ULA’s main source of revenue.”
Flash forward seven years, and in April 2025, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket won approximately 18% of the funds awarded under the Pentagon’s NSSL-3 launch contracts — at the same time as ULA’s awards were reduced.
ULA management was reportedly “angry and disappointed” when Bezos reneged on (what they presumably believed was) the deal he had made with ULA. One shudders to think what the reaction will be to Blue Origin’s latest news.
In poaching Tory Bruno from ULA, Blue Origin deprived one of its biggest rivals of the leader who developed Vulcan Centaur, who laid out ULA’s (as yet unfulfilled) plans to develop reusable rockets, and who set the company’s direction for the last dozen years. For most of its time as an independent company, Bruno personified ULA, promoting the company and its accomplishments daily on X. His leaving not only creates a leadership vacuum at ULA, but also gives Blue a PR coup by depriving the company of its most recognized personality.
Worse, the fact that Bruno seems to prefer playing second fiddle to Blue Origin head Dave Limp over running the show at ULA speaks volumes to Bruno’s opinion of which company has the brightest prospects. ULA’s problems ramping up its Vulcan Centaur launch cadence are well publicized. Plans to launch the rocket 20 times in 2025 ended not with a bang, but a whimper, last week, with just one Vulcan launch in the entire year.
In contrast, Blue Origin is ascendant, first succeeding on its inaugural New Glenn flight back in January 2025, then landing successfully on its second attempt to close out the year. If there’s any company on Earth that deserves the title of “the next SpaceX” at this point, it’s much more likely to be Blue Origin than ULA.
If there’s any consolation for ULA fans — or for investors in ULA’s parent companies, Boeing and Lockheed Martin — it may be this: For the last couple of years, Blue Origin has been actively bidding to buy ULA. And with ULA now weakened by the loss of its CEO, Blue Origin may finally get its chance to acquire its long-desired prize.
Should that be the way things play out, ULA may still have a chance to get Tory Bruno back.
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Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Boeing. The Motley Fool recommends Lockheed Martin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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