July 26, 2006

Dolores Beasley/Michael Braukus Headquarters, Washington Phone: 202-358-1753/1979

Bruce Buckingham Kennedy Space Center, Fla Phone: 321-867-2468

RELEASE: C06-041

NASA AWARDS CONTRACTS FOR CONSTELLATION PROGRAM STUDY

NASA has awarded a 90-day study contract to four space-related companies to separately examine long-term ground processing and infrastructure planning for the agency's Constellation Program

The contractor teams are expected to provide a wealth of knowledge and experience during the study phase to support ground systems and operations planning through 2030, including missions supporting the International Space Station, lunar exploration and Mars exploration

Contract awardees are: ATK Launch Systems Group, Corrine, Utah; Boeing Space Operations Co , Titusville, Fla ; Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Littleton, Colo , and United Space Alliance, Houston The awards are limited to $150,000 per contract

Study recommendations will be considered in NASA's Kennedy Space Center's planning for the Ares I crew launch vehicle, Ares V cargo launch vehicle operations and crew exploration vehicle processing The contracts, which should be completed in October, were awarded in response to the Constellation ground operations Broad Agency Announcement Request for Proposal issued in April

"NASA's intent is to include industry in our planning phase to get a broad perspective of ground operations, especially for the long-term," said Pepper Phillips, deputy director of the Constellation Project Office at Kennedy "These four companies will provide several possible solutions to the same challenges, which we expect to benefit our planning Selecting ground processing and launch concepts are long-term commitments and we want to consider all options "

For information about NASA's exploration efforts, visit:

http://www nasa gov/exploration

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