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Commercialization

CEV Announcement

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
August 30, 2006

NASA Announces Contractor for Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle

“NASA Exploration Systems’ managers will host a press conference at 4 p.m. EDT Thursday, Aug. 31, to announce the prime contractor to design, develop, and build Orion, America’s next human spacecraft..”

Editor’s 30 Aug 10:48 pm EDT note: According to an eyewitness, they are painting the grass green at the Northrop Grumman buildings in El Segundo. Apparently, this only happens on the eve of winning a very big contract so that a better TV backdrop is available. The last time this happened was when Northrop Grumman won the NPOESS contract.

Editor’s note: Well, we’re only hours away from NASA’s announcement of the CEV winner(s). Rumours, of course, are swirling about who might win. I’ve heard nothing (yet) which is remotely reliable about who might win. None the less, here is a compilation of what I have been hearing as to how the selection might be handled:

  1. Either Northrop Grumman/Boeing or Lockheed Martin will be picked for everything.
  2. Both companies will get a piece of the action either by:
    • Dividing things into a prime/subcontractor arrangement spread across the CEV command and service modules.
    • Select one contractor to develop the command module and the other to develop the service module.

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.