Beth Dickey/Melissa Mathews
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2087/1272
beth.dickey-1@nasa.gov, melissa.mathews-1@nasa.gov

Kim Newton
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
kimberly.d.newton@nasa.gov

CONTRACT RELEASE: C07-40

NASA SELECTS ARES I UPPER STAGE PRODUCTION CONTRACTOR

WASHINGTON - NASA on Tuesday selected The Boeing Co., Huntsville,
Ala., as the contractor to provide manufacturing support for design
and construction of the upper stage of the Ares I rocket. Ares I will
launch astronauts to the International Space Station and eventually
help return humans to the moon.

Boeing will provide support to a NASA-led design team during the
design phase and will be responsible for production of the Ares I
upper stage. Boeing will manufacture a ground test article, three
flight test units and six production flight units to support NASA's
flight manifest through 2016. Final assembly of the upper stage will
take place at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.

The contract type is cost-plus-award-fee and the period of performance
is Sept. 1, 2007, through Dec. 31, 2016. The estimated contract value
for design team support and the manufacture of the test units and six
production flight units is $514.7 million. The selection resulted
from a full and open competition.

Ares I is an in-line, two-stage rocket that will carry to low Earth
orbit the crew exploration vehicle Orion, which will succeed the
space shuttle as NASA's primary vehicle for human exploration in the
next decade. The Ares I upper stage, with an engine and an avionics
unit procured separately, will provide the navigation, guidance,
control and propulsion required for the second stage of the rocket's
ascent. The Ares I first stage will consist of a five-segment solid
rocket booster and motor similar to those used on the space shuttle.
The second, or upper, stage will consist of a J-2X main engine, a
fuel tank for liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellants, and
associated avionics.

The Ares I upper stage development is managed by NASA's Marshall Space
Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., for NASA's Constellation Program.

For information about NASA's Constellation Program, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/constellation