This
story was updated at 6:25 p.m. EDT.
WASHINGTON -
NASA has selected Lockheed Martin as the prime contractor to design, develop
and build the Orion
Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), the planned replacement
for the space shuttle that
will become the backbone of the agency's human spaceflight program. Lockheed
Martin beat out a rival bid from Northrop Grumman and Boeing to win a contract
NASA said would be potentially worth $8.15 billion.
NASA made
the long-awaited announcement Aug. 31, ending an intense
competition whose roots go back to 2004, when U.S. President
George W. Bush called for the development of a CEV to replace the
space shuttle and eventually carry astronauts to the Moon.
"The competition
was fierce and the proposals were strong," Doug Cooke, NASA deputy associate
administrator for exploration systems, said during an Aug. 31 press conference
announcing the selection. NASA Administrator Mike Griffin briefed industry CEOs
on the decision at approximately 2:30 p.m. that day.
Joanne
Maguire, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. in
Denver, said company employees were "humbled and excited" by the award. "Work
already is under way and we are fully focused on the vital tasks that lie ahead
to meet NASA's requirements for the program," she said in an Aug. 31 news
release.
Lockheed
Martin's stock, which opened the day at $81.85 a share and spent the morning
trending downward, abruptly began rising just after 1:30 p.m. The stock closed
at $82.60 a share, then rose in after-hours trading to $84.10.
Northrop
Grumman's stock, meanwhile, had been climbing throughout the morning until just
after 12:00 p.m., when the advance turned into a mild retreat. North Grumman
opened at $66.84 and closed at $66.81, then dropped to $65.40 in after-hours
trading.
"Clearly,
Northrop Grumman is disappointed by today's announcement," Northrop Grumman
spokesman Randy Belote said in an Aug. 31 telephone interview. "Orion is,
however, merely the first of many significant space systems required to enable
routine human space exploration beyond low Earth orbit. Northrop Grumman and
its teammates are already helping NASA define the requirements for future
elements and Northrop Grumman fully expects to play a significant role in the
development and production of those systems."
NASA said
in an Aug. 31 press release -- that went out even before the winner was
announced during the press conference at agency headquarters -- that the initial
contract is structured into separate schedules for design, development, testing
and evaluation (DDT&E). The contract for the initial part of the project,
known as Schedule A, is slated to start Sept. 8 and run through Sept. 7, 2013.
Agency officials said that initial part of the contract would be worth $3.9
billion.
The
contract also contains options for production of additional spacecraft and
sustaining engineering.
If fully
exercised, the options contained in Schedule B would be worth another $3.5
billion. The options for sustaining engineering contained in Schedule C could
be worth as much as $750 million.
NASA said
manufacturing and integration of the vehicle components will take place at
contractor facilities across the country.
Lockheed
Martin will perform the majority of the Orion vehicle engineering work at
NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, and complete
final assembly of the vehicle at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla. All 10 NASA
centers will provide technical and engineering support to the project.
Lockheed
Martin Space Systems announced
earlier this year that if it won CEV, it would run the program from
Houston, bringing 1,200 new jobs to the area.
Lockheed
Martin has long dominated NASA's robotic planetary spacecraft business and now
has the opportunity to do the same in human
spaceflight.
Lockheed
Martin's major Orion teammates include: United Space Alliance of Houston, the
joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing that operates the space shuttle;
Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va.; Honeywell Defense and Space Electronics
Systems, Minneapolis; and Hamilton Sundstrand of Windsor Locks, Conn.
NASA said
post-development spacecraft delivery orders could begin as early as Sept. 8,
2009, and run through Sept. 7, 2019, if all options are exercised. The agency
said the estimated value of those orders will be negotiated based on future
manifest requirements and knowledge gained through the DDT&E process.
Sustaining
engineering work will be assigned through task orders. That work is expected to
occur from Sept. 8, 2009, through Sept. 7, 2019.
"During
DDT&E, NASA will use an end-item cost-plus-award-fee incentive contract.
This makes the award fee subject to final determination after the contractor
has demonstrated that it meets the technical, cost, and schedule requirements
of the contract," the agency said in its release.
Orion will
be capable of transporting four crew members for lunar missions and later
supporting crew transfers for Mars missions, NASA said. Orion also will be able
to carry up to six crew members to and from the international space station.
The first
Orion launch with humans on board is planned for no later than 2014. A human
Moon landing is expected to occur no later than 2020, the agency said.
Caras
"Skip" Hatfield, NASA's Orion project manager, said that the current plan for
the spacecraft's landing includes a primary land-based touchdown, with a water
landing as a back-up option. But that decision is not finalized at this point,
he said. "We're assessing and making sure that's the right answer," he said.
Hatfield
said NASA is still determining what portions of the Orion spacecraft will be
reusable, but noted that the heat shield that protects the vehicle during
atmospheric re-entry will always be replaced after each flight.
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