WASHINGTON, June 16 -- NASA will buy as many as 70 rockets from Boeing and Lockheed Martin over the next 10 years, the space agency announced today.
The contract, which has a potential value of up to $5 billion, calls for NASA to buy three Delta-family launch vehicles from Boeing and take options on five more rockets. The contract’s total immediate value to Seattle-based Boeing is approximately $417 million.
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"We’ve been a long-term partner with NASA," Boeing spokesman Walt Rice said. "This is a really big win for our Delta program."
Though the contract focuses on Boeing’s Delta rockets, an "on-ramp" clause allows NASA to purchase any launch vehicles developed by the companies over the life of the agreement.
Space workhorse
Boeing’s expendable, intermediate-range Delta 2 rockets -- which Rice called "our workhorse launch vehicle" -- are able to launch payloads ranging from 2,100 to 4,550 pounds (950 to 2,065 kilograms) into high or geosynchronous orbits. The next-generation Delta 3 and Delta 4 variants will launch larger payloads into orbits.
Lockheed Martin received what is called an "indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity" contract, meaning that NASA has named the company as a supplier of launch vehicles. The contract guarantees Lockheed Martin at least one launch over the 10-year lifetime. A spokesperson for Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin could not be reached for comment Friday.
The first scheduled launch for the vehicles covered by the contract is set for 2002, when a Boeing Delta 2 rocket will carry NASA’s Earth Observing System Chemistry mission (EOS CHEM) satellite into orbit. Future launches on the Delta vehicles, carrying the Deep Impact spacecraft, as well as the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging mission (MESSENGER) mission, are planned for 2004.
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