NASA late this afternoon will announce the winning bidder for a multibillion-dollar project to build a new Apollo-style capsule spacecraft for missions to the International Space Station, the moon, Mars and other destinations.
The companies vying for the Crew Exploration Vehicle contract are Lockheed Martin and a Northrop Grumman-Boeing team.
The announcement will come at 4 p.m. and a news conference will be broadcast on NASA TV at that time.
The new spaceship will replace NASA's space shuttle orbiter as the nation's vehicle for transporting astronauts. The orbiter fleet is to be retired no later than Sept. 30, 2010, and the new ship is supposed to be ready to fly no later than 2014.
The spacecraft will be able to ferry crews of six to the station and up to four astronauts on missions to the moon and Mars.
NASA intends to purchase crew transportation and space freighter services from private companies after the shuttle fleet is retired. However, the new craft will be capable of docking at the station in case private industry fails to develop a spaceship that can safely and reliably do the job.
Two companies -- SpaceX of El Segundo, Calif., and Rocketplane-Kistler of Oklahoma City, Okla. -- recently were selected to share a $500 million contract aimed at developing and demonstrating the capability to launch crews and cargo to the outpost.
IMAGE NOTE: Click to enlarge the NASA artist's concept of the Crew Exploration Vehicle approaching the International Space Station.
No comments:
Post a Comment