Stephanie Schierholz/Grey Hautaluoma
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-4997/0668
stephanie.schierholz@nasa.gov, grey.hautaluoma@nasa.gov

Lynnette Madison
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
lynnette.b.madison@nasa.gov

CONTRACT RELEASE: C08-014

NASA AWARDS CONTRACTS FOR DESIGN STUDY OF LUNAR LANDING CRAFT

HOUSTON - NASA's Constellation Program has selected five space-related
companies to receive contract awards for a 210-day study to
independently evaluate NASA's in-house design concept for a lunar
lander that will deliver four astronauts to the surface of the moon
by 2020.

The awards total approximately $1.5 million, with a maximum individual
award of $350,000. The study recommendations will be used to increase
the technical maturity of the existing design in preparation for the
development of vehicle requirements.

The Constellation Program is building NASA's next generation fleet of
spacecraft -- including the Ares I and Ares V rockets, the Orion crew
capsule and the Altair lunar lander -- to send humans beyond low
Earth orbit and back to the moon. NASA plans to establish a human
outpost on the moon through a successive series of lunar missions.

"These studies will provide valuable input for developing a sound set
of requirements for the Altair lunar lander," said Jeff Hanley, the
Constellation Program manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center in
Houston. "Industry collaboration will provide insight for our
planning and early design efforts for the spacecraft."

The selected companies are Andrews Space of Seattle, The Boeing Co. of
Houston, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company of Denver, Northrop
Grumman Corporation of El Segundo, Calif., and Odyssey Space Research
of Houston.

The companies will evaluate the current in-house design, propose
safety improvements and recommend industry-government partnering
arrangements.

The Constellation Program is based at Johnson and manages the Altair
Project for NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate,
Washington.

For more information about NASA's Constellation Program, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/constellation