Re:I agree with the poster... (Score 3, Interesting)

Not true, one of the main conditions on most planes built is that they have to look cool. If a design will you give you X amounts more lift, but makes the plane look terrible, the "sexy" looking design will win out. The stealth fighter had to be black, even though that is not the most condusive colour for stealth activities. Also, Boeings design for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) was ripped on because it wasn't as sexy as Lockheed's. This isn't the only reason Lockheed won out, but it was a contributing factor. And anything that can help land a $200 billion contract does come into play. Especially when the people handing out these contracts don't understand 90 % of the technical differences between the two rockets, but can look at both of them and decide which one looks better.