Utahns get moon contract

NASA announced Thursday it has selected Lockheed Martin Corp. to build Orion, the space capsule that will return Americans to the moon. ATK Launch Systems Group, Brigham City, will construct part of it.

ATK will build Orion's Launch Abort System, including a solid-fuel rocket to power astronauts to safety if some failure causes a launch to abort after it begins.

The overall Lockheed contract is for seven years, starting Sept. 8. The dollar amount is $3.9 billion, but the breakdown for specific subsystems like the abort device has not been detailed yet.

The space agency also has "options for production of additional spacecraft and sustained engineering," which could amount to another $3.5 billion, the release says.

Orion, the name of the new class of space capsule, "will be capable of transporting four crew members for lunar missions and later supporting crew transfers for Mars missions," a NASA press release says. "Orion could also carry up to six crew members to and from the International Space Station."

In addition to the launch abort system, ATK is to build the first-stage solid fuel rocket that will help lift the assembly into space, NASA announced late late year. The second stage is liquid-fueled and will be built by a different team.

This rocket assembly is named Ares I. Ares is the Greek name for Mars.

A larger rocket, Ares V, "a heavy lift launch vehicle, will use five RS-68 liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen engines mounted below a larger version of the space shuttle's external tank, and two five-segment solid propellant rocket boosters (manufactured by ATK) for the first stage," says NASA.

Ares I will be designed to take more than 55,000 pounds to low orbit, while the lifting ability of Ares V is pegged at more than 286,000 pounds.

"This versatile system will be used to carry cargo and the components into orbit needed to go to the moon and later to Mars," says a NASA site on the Internet.

George Torres, spokesman for ATK, said, "NASA announced just last week that the first test launch (for Ares I) will be April '09."

Speaking by telephone from his office in Magna, Torres said the rockets will be built at ATK's Promontory Plant in Box Elder County.

ATK Launch Systems Group is "very pleased to be part of this team," Torres added. "It's really a big step forward for the nation's vision for space exploration."

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