Sept 13, 2011

Candrea Thomas Kennedy Space Center, Fla 321-867-2468 candrea k thomas@nasa gov

Michael Braukus/J D Harrington Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1979/5241 michael j braukus@nasa gov/j d harrington@nasa gov

Trina Patterson ATK Aerospace Systems 801-699-0943 trina patterson@atk com

RELEASE: 11-300

NASA BEGINS COMMERCIAL PARTNERSHIP WITH ALLIANT TECHSYSTEMS

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla -- NASA and Alliant Techsystems (ATK) of Salt Lake City have agreed to collaborate on the development of the company's Liberty Launch System as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Development Round 2 activities

The unfunded Space Act Agreement (SAA) through NASA's Commercial Crew Program will allow the agency and ATK to review and discuss Liberty system requirements, safety and certification plans, computational models of rocket stage performance, and avionics architecture designs The agreement outlines key milestones including an Initial System Design review, during which ATK will present to NASA officials the Liberty systems level requirements, preliminary design, and certification process development

"This agreement will provide the opportunity to look at the Liberty system to understand its design solution and risks, its capabilities and how it could be used to fly our NASA crew," said Ed Mango, NASA's Commercial Crew Program manager The program is based at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida

NASA will provide feedback to ATK based on its human spaceflight experience for advancing crew transportation system capabilities and the agency's draft human certification requirements

"With this SAA we believe NASA will benefit from gaining insight into the various systems we are developing, and we can benefit from the feedback," said Kent Rominger, vice president, strategy and business development for ATK Aerospace "In the end, we hope to offer a commercial solution to NASA, the Department of Defense, and other commercial human spaceflight programs "

For information about NASA's Commercial Crew Program, visit:

http://www nasa gov/exploration/commercial/

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