Falcon design contract

New Orleans plant in running for rocket contract
The Associated Press
9/22/2004, 7:59 a.m. CT
[EXCERPT]

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Lockheed Martin Space Systems has reached
the second round of competition to build a new generation
of satellite rockets for the Air Force.

The contract could keep Lockheed's Michoud plant in New
Orleans busy after work ends on the external tanks for the
space shuttle at the end of the decade.

The federal Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency granted
design contracts to Lockheed and three other companies for
the Falcon Small Launch Vehicle, a two-stage rocket that
will carry lightweight satellites into orbit for the military.

Other contractors winning design contract were Airlaunch LLC
of Reno, Nev.; Microcosm Inc. of El Segundo, Calif.; and Space
Exploration Technologies, also of El Segundo.

Work on the $11.7 million design contract will occur during
the next 10 months at the Michoud plant, which has made the
space shuttle's external fuel tank since the 1970s. But that
work is scheduled to end when NASA completes construction of
the international space station and retires the aging shuttle
fleet.

If the Falcon rocket proves viable, the Air Force could order
as many as 20 a year for 20 years, beginning around 2010, said
Bob Simms, manager of the Falcon program for Lockheed.

(Allen Thomson) wrote:
The contract could keep Lockheed's Michoud plant in New
Orleans busy after work ends on the external tanks for the
space shuttle at the end of the decade.

hm? I though Michoud was goverment owned / contractor operated.

D.
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