Feb. 9, 2009

George H. Diller
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
george.h.diller@nasa.gov

Katherine Trinidad
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
katherine.trinidad@nasa.gov

CONTRACT RELEASE: C09-004

NASA AWARDS LAUNCH SERVICES FOR NUSTAR MISSION TO ORBITAL SCIENCES

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA has selected Orbital Sciences Corp., of
Dulles, Va., to launch the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or
NuSTAR, high energy X-ray telescope. The spacecraft will fly in 2011
aboard a Pegasus XL rocket from the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile
Defense Test Site located at the Pacific Ocean's Kwajalein Atoll.

The total cost of the NuSTAR launch services is approximately $36
million dollars. This estimated cost includes the task ordered launch
service for a Pegasus XL rocket, plus additional services under other
contracts for payload processing, launch vehicle integration, and
tracking, data and telemetry support.

NuSTAR will be the first focusing high energy X-ray telescope in
orbit. The telescope will conduct a census for black holes, map
radioactive material in young supernovae remnants, and study the
origins of cosmic rays and the extreme physics around collapsed
stars.

The California Institute of Technology leads the mission, which NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages. NASA's Launch Services Program at
Kennedy Space Center is responsible for launch vehicle program
management. NuSTAR is part of the Explorers Program that NASA's
Goddard Space Fight Center in Greenbelt, Md., manages.

For more information about NASA and its missions, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov