Date: July 28th 2006

July 28, 2006

Grey Hautaluoma Headquarters, Washington 202-358-0668

George H Diller Kennedy Space Center, Fla 321-867-2468

CONTRACT RELEASE: C06-042

NASA AWARDS LAUNCH SERVICES FOR LUNAR MISSION

NASA announced today the award of launch services for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission to Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services Inc of Littleton, Colo The total cost of launch services for NASA, which includes spacecraft processing, and associated mission integration services such as telemetry support and mission-unique items is $136 2 million dollars

The spacecraft are scheduled for launch aboard an Atlas V 401 rocket from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station during a launch window that opens on Oct 31, 2008 The launch service was awarded in support of the NASA Launch Services Program office at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla

The orbiter will spend a year mapping the moon from an average altitude of approximately 30 miles It will carry six instruments and one technology demonstration to perform investigations specifically targeted for preparing for future human exploration The instruments are provided by various organizations throughout the United States, and one is from Russia

The mission is also carrying a secondary payload called Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite Its goals are to confirm the presence or absence of water ice at the moon's south pole NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md , manages the orbiter project, and the agency's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif , manages the sensing satellite project

Principal work for tank manufacturing of the Atlas V first stage booster will occur at the Lockheed Martin facilities in Waterton, Colo ; tank fabrication for the Centaur upper stage will occur at the Lockheed facilities in San Diego; assembly and testing of the launch vehicle components will occur at the Lockheed aeronautics plant in Denver

The fabrication and assembly of the payload fairing, the interstate and its associated adapter will be performed by Lockheed in Harlingen, Texas

The launch services for the LRO/LCROSS were acquired under the existing NASA Launch Services indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract using a launch service task order procedure

For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

http://www nasa gov/home

-end-

To subscribe to the list, send a message to: hqnews-subscribe@mediaservices nasa gov To remove your address from the list, send a message to: hqnews-unsubscribe@mediaservices nasa gov

The following information is a reminder of your current mailing list subscription:

You are subscribed to the following list: [list_name]

using the following email: BULK_EMAIL

You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by visiting the following URL:

http://www aus-city com/cgi-bin/dada/mail cgi/u/[list]/

If the above URL is inoperable, make sure that you have copied the entire address Some mail readers will wrap a long URL and thus break this automatic unsubscribe mechanism

You may also change your subscription by visiting this list's main screen:

http://www aus-city com/cgi-bin/dada/mail cgi/list/[list]

If you're still having trouble, please contact the list owner at: