Boeing Selected to Build NASA's Upper Stage for Ares I

Boeing Selected to Build NASA's Upper Stage for Ares I
ST. LOUIS, Aug. 28, 2007 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has been awarded a
NASA contract valued at approximately $514.7 million to produce the upper
stage of the Ares I crew launch vehicle. This element provides the
navigation, guidance, control and propulsion required for the ascent of the
second-stage Ares I into low-Earth orbit.

The Ares I launches the Orion crew exploration vehicle, which will be joined
with other elements of NASA's Constellation program to help propel
astronauts to the moon by 2020.

"Boeing will apply its best practices in program management and Lean
manufacturing principles from across the company to ensure that we produce
the safest, lowest-cost and most reliable upper stage for NASA," said Roger
A. Krone, president of Network and Space Systems, Boeing Integrated Defense
Systems. "The Boeing team has an experienced and highly skilled workforce
that is ready to get started on this exciting new mission for our customer
and our nation."

Boeing will produce from two to six upper stages per year during regular
production, depending on NASA requirements. The initial phase of the
contract calls for several flight-test production units. If all options of
the cost-plus performance contract are exercised through 2017, Boeing could
produce as many as 23 upper stages.

"The Boeing team is honored to be selected as NASA's Ares I Upper Stage
production partner and to be part of the Constellation team," said Brewster
Shaw, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space Exploration. "We
have a proven team that is eager to help NASA and the nation write the next
chapter in the history of human space exploration."

Under the contract, Boeing will employ up to several hundred technical
support personnel at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
The Center has responsibility for the design of the Ares I, with Boeing
providing production engineering support. Boeing also expects to employ up
to several hundred production support personnel at NASA's Michoud Assembly
Facility in New Orleans, where the upper stage will be assembled.

"The Boeing team will be innovative in our production practices, gained from
our extensive experience as the largest aerospace manufacturing company in
the world," said Jim Chilton, vice president of Boeing Exploration Launch
Systems and program manager of Ares I Upper Stage production.


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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.nl


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