OM wrote:
...Last week I spent a few days in Houstopolis, and managed to steak a
few minutes up at JSC. Over at Space Center Disney, they had an area
marked off for some speech the Governor was giving, and on display was
a model of Lockmart's dual-engine CEV concept, complete with LES. I'll
post a few of those picks later on in the week when time permits, but
what I'm curious about is what the Governor's speech was about. I've
found *nothing* on any of the Houston news sites, and nothing at all
on the AP wires. Anyone hear anything about this?

OM

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/space/4202788.html

Sept. 20, 2006, 9:55PM
Lockheed Martin gets grant to bring jobs to Houston

By ARMANDO VILLAFRANCA
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

Gov. Rick Perry announced today the award of a $7.5 million Texas
Enterprise Fund grant to Lockheed Martin Corp., which is developing and
building the successor to the space shuttle in Houston.

Perry said the grant was offered as an incentive for Lockheed Martin to
keep the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle project and the 1,000 jobs that
come with it in Houston.

"There are a number of states that have been more than aggressive in
putting their state tax dollars on the line to lure businesses out of
the state of Texas," Perry said at Space Center Houston.

Lockheed Martin won an $8 billion contact from NASA last month to build
Orion, NASA's next generation in space exploration. NASA envisions
using the spacecraft to return to the moon and establish a base there
for a mission to Mars.

Kathy Walt, Perry's spokeswoman, said the state was prepared to offer
the incentive to either Lockheed Martin or Northrup Grumman/Boeing,
which also was competing for the NASA contract.

Kenneth Reightler, Lockheed Martin Space Operations president, said
several factors went into play in choosing a site to design, develop
and build the spacecraft.

"The real deciding factor was the Texas Enterprise Fund, that really
made the difference in being able to make this a viable program to
bring the kind of people that we wanted to bring here and establish a
real headquarters here for this project," Reightler said.

Perry said the project will generate 1,000 new jobs with salaries of
about $65,000 to the region. Also, the project is expected to generate
$68 million for the state's economy.