Science

NASA announces Boeing is prime contractor for Ares 1 upper stage

by William Atkins

Wednesday, 29 August 2007

NASA announced on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 that Boeing will be the prime contractor to design and manufacture the Ares 1 upper stage launch vehicle, which will carry the Orion crew exploration vehicle (CEV) to low Earth orbit.

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This newly awarded Boeing contract is a critical part of the new Constellation program, which will replace the current Space Transportation System program and the space shuttle fleet. The contract goes through 2016 and includes the manufacture of six production units, with the option of another 12 units. Total potential value is up to $1.125 billion.

Beginning at 4 p.m. EDT, the announcement took place at a news conference at the NASA Headquarters James E. Webb Memorial Auditorium, 300 E Street, S.W., Washington, D.C.

The Ares 1 upper stage will provide the second stage navigation, guidance, control and propulsion for sending Ares 1 into space for the International Space Station, to the Moon, and eventually to Mars. The contract has already been signed in Huntsville, Alabama, at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

The two competing teams were ATK (called Team Ares, along with Lockheed Martin and Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne) and Boeing (along with Hamilton Sundstrand, Moog Inc., Northrop Grumman Corp., Orion Propulsion Inc., Summa Technology Inc., and United Space Alliance and the United Launch Alliance.)

Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems Doug Cooke; Constellation Program Manager Jeff Hanley, Ares Project Manager Steve Cook, and Upper Stage Element Manager Danny Davis announced the selection during the news conference.

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