Court dismisses injunction on purchase of Russian rocket engines

Ars Technica : In response to its lawsuit against the US Air Force’s contract with United Launch Alliance, on 30 April SpaceX received an injunction against ULA’s purchase of engines from the Russian company NGO Energomash. On 8 May the court dismissed the injunction in response to receiving documents and statements from the Departments of State, Treasury, and Commerce. SpaceX had argued that because NGO Energomash is state owned, purchases of its RD-180 engines could be considered payments to Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian space program. Rogozin is one of the people included in the sanctions in Executive Order 13 661—issued in response to the Russia–Ukraine crisis—so such purchases would seem to violate the order. The court decided that because the government agencies did not currently view the sanctions as applying in that manner, it could not continue the injunction.