Sun, Mar 02, 2008
NASA has signed a $47.5 million
contract modification with Lockheed Martin, New Orleans, for space
shuttle external fuel tanks. The modification aligns and extends
all activities associated with the production contract to include
final assembly of one tank, partial manufacture of a tank and the
acquisition of the component parts for one additional tank to serve
as spares.
The modification supports the agency's priorities of safely
flying the space shuttle, completing construction of the
International Space Station and NASA's long-term plan to return
astronauts to the moon and beyond.
The cost plus award fee/incentive fee contract will conclude
Sept. 30, 2010, and brings the total value of the contract, awarded
in October 2000, to $2.93 billion. The contract calls for the
delivery of 18 external tanks to NASA.
Work will be performed at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in
New Orleans, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville,
Ala., and NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
Lockheed Martin builds, assembles and tests the space shuttle
external tanks for NASA at the Michoud facility. The external tank
holds the liquid hydrogen fuel and liquid oxygen for the shuttle's
three main engines. It is the largest single component of the space
shuttle and the only part of the shuttle that is not reused.
At 154 feet tall, the gigantic rust-colored tank is taller than
a 15-story building and as wide as a silo, with a diameter of about
27.5 feet. During launch, the tank acts as the structural backbone
for the shuttle orbiter and the solid rocket boosters attached to
it.
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