Have you or Cowing attacked Orbital's activities in the past?

Also, I am confused: Was this threat delivered to MSNBC and NASA Watch or just to Cowing's NASAWatch?

I would think that if there is nothing to the story, as Orbital's council seems to imply, that the best way for Orbital to debunk it would be to ignore it and then for Orbital and NASA to sort out the mission problems and launch the spacecraft successfully...Or if need be, Orbital could ask NASA to issue a joint press release clarifying the problems that are holding up the launch of the DART spacecraft.

It sounds like empty bluster to me unless there is something really unusual going on with Orbital that is in some way put at risk by the delay of this mission. (For example: Are there negotiations for the sale of Orbital to another company or something else big going on behind the scenes? Would a delay such as this threaten a deal like that in some way? Is there some Critical contract negotiations going on that are threatened? Something else?).

It really seems like an over-reaction on Orbitals part unless there is more to this story...

Scott Evil