Date: July 17th 2007

July 16, 2007

Beth Dickey/Melissa Mathews Headquarters, Washington 202-358-2087/1272

Kim Newton Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala 256-544-0034

CONTRACT RELEASE: C07-030

NASA AWARDS UPPER STAGE ENGINE CONTRACT FOR ARES ROCKETS

WASHINGTON - NASA has signed a $1 2 billion contract with Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne Inc , of Canoga Park, Calif , for design, development, testing and evaluation of the J-2X engine that will power the upper stages of the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles

The contract includes ground and test flight engines It continues work that began on June 2, 2006, under a preliminary letter contract with Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne

NASA awarded the cost-plus-award fee contract to Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne on a sole-source basis, NASA determined that no other existing capability meets its architecture requirements and is able to be extended to future exploration missions to the moon and beyond

The contract performance period extends through Dec 31, 2012 Engines for operational missions will be purchased through a separate contract

The J-2X is an evolved version of two historic predecessors: the powerful J-2 engine that propelled the Apollo-era Saturn IB and Saturn V rockets, and the J-2S, a simplified version of the J-2 that was developed and tested in the early 1970s Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne designed and developed both the J-2 and the J-2S and has been responsible for producing, refurbishing and improving them The J-2X engine will incorporate significant upgrades to meet higher performance and reliability requirements for the Ares vehicles

Ares I is an in-line, two-stage rocket that will transport the Orion crew exploration vehicle to low Earth orbit Orion will accommodate as many as six astronauts The first stage will consist of a single reusable solid propellant rocket booster similar to those used on the space shuttle, with an additional fifth segment The second, or upper, stage will consist of a J-2X liquid oxygen- and liquid hydrogen-fueled main engine and a new upper stage fuel tank

Ares V will enable NASA to launch a variety of science and exploration payloads, as well as key components needed to go to the moon and later to Mars Ares V, a heavy lift launch vehicle, will use five RS-68 liquid oxygen- and liquid hydrogen-fueled engines mounted below a larger version of the space shuttle's external tank and two five-segment solid propellant rocket boosters for the first stage The upper stage will use the same J-2X engine as the Ares I

The J-2X upper stage engine is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala , for NASA's Constellation Program

For information about NASA's Constellation Program, visit:

http://www nasa gov/constellation

-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: example@example.com

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: