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Lockheed, rival granted $17.5 million extensions

Jim Erickson, Rocky Mountain News

Published March 28, 2006 at midnight

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NASA awarded Lockheed Martin and its rival, Northrop Grumman, an additional $17.5 million each Monday to complete design work for the crew exploration vehicle, a next-generation spacecraft to carry astronauts to the moon and ultimately Mars.

The contract extension will allow both aerospace companies more time to complete their designs, said NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries. The space agency is expected to select a winning concept in August.

Both Jefferson County-based Lockheed Martin Space Systems and Northrop Grumman received $28 million contracts from NASA last July to help the agency define and design the CEV.

The extension announced Monday, which will allow design work to continue through Aug. 31, brings total awards for each team to $45.5 million.

If the selection of a winner is delayed beyond August, there is the possibility of two additional two-month contract extensions - for $7 million apiece - to each contractor, Humphries said.

Lockheed Martin initially pursued concepts for a wedge-shaped CEV that would have looked a bit like a wingless space shuttle. But those plans were scrapped in September 2005, when NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said the agency wants the new craft to look like an oversized, bell-shaped Apollo capsule.

Houston would be the big winner of jobs and responsibilities if Lockheed Martin gets the multibillion-dollar contract to build the crew exploration vehicle.

The Houston area would gain 1,200 jobs. In the Denver area, Lockheed Martin would add at least 300 jobs involving mainly high-paid engineers.