Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has hired two veteran aerospace industry managers to lead the company’s efforts to provide integration and production support for NASA’s Ares I Instrument Unit contract for the Ares I Launch Vehicle. Read more
Reynolds, Smith and Hills Inc. has been selected by NASA to design the emergency egress system for the next-generation Orion space exploration vehicle that is expected to launch in 2014 from the Kennedy Space Center. The value of the contract was not disclosed. The new escape system will allow astronauts to travel safely across the [...]
NASA has selected proposals for future lunar science activities and established two new programs that will enhance research made possible by the Vision for Space Exploration. The proposals and programs are part of an effort by NASA to develop new opportunities to conduct important science investigations during the planned renewal of human exploration of the [...]
If all goes as planned, part of the international space station will host research experiments from outsiders after it’s completed in three years, NASA officials said Monday. NASA is in talks with several government agencies, most notably the National Institutes of Health, and private businesses that want to conduct research in the microgravity laboratory orbiting [...]
Textron Defense Systems, an operating unit of Textron Systems Corporation, a Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT) company, announced that it has been awarded a $24 million contract, which includes all options, by the NASA Ames Research Center to develop alternate heat shield materials for the Orion crew exploration spacecraft. Awarded on May 4, 2007, this contract will [...]
NASA has authorized a contract with a maximum value of $16.7 million with Alcoa North American Rolled Products of Bettendorf, Iowa, to supply aluminum lithium plates and metal ingots for early development of the Ares I crew launch vehicles upper stage. The firm fixed-price contract has a period of performance through Aug. 5, 2008. Ares [...]
Before NASA’s new spacecraft, Orion, carries the next generation of explorers into space, it first will make a shorter journey to the world’s largest vacuum chamber. In this massive, cathedral-like structure, it must endure a variety of rigorous challenges. Called the Space Power Facility, the vacuum chamber resides at NASA Glenn Research Center’s Plum Brook [...]
This journey begins soon with the development of a new spaceship. Building on the best of Apollo and shuttle technology, NASA is creating a 21st century exploration system that will be affordable, reliable, versatile and safe. The centerpiece of the system is a new spacecraft named Orion that is designed to carry four astronauts to [...]
The first round of the expected fight between congressional supporters of NASA’s space exploration programs and the advocates of more terrestrially focused efforts was won easily by the earth science enthusiasts. But the upcoming rounds might get a bit tougher. Cuts in manned space activities in the omnibus fiscal 2007 appropriations continuing resolution and recent [...]
Establishing an industrial base on the moon and exploring farther into the solar system are the kind of plans NASA needs to inspire a new generation and ensure the space program’s future, the agency’s second-in-command said Monday in Denver. Shana Dale, NASA deputy administrator, spoke to representatives of Colorado’s aerospace industry and research organizations who [...]