International Space Station: Alenia Spazio and EADS Space Transportation sign €170 million contract

24 November 2004
International Space Station: Alenia Spazio and EADS Space Transportation
sign €170 million contract

In Turin today, a contract was signed between Alenia Spazio, a Finmeccanica
company, and EADS Space Transportation of Bremen for the engineering support
activities of the utilisation of the European elements of the International
Space Station.
The €170 million contract, signed by the Managing Director and CEO of Alenia
Spazio, Maurizio Tucci, and the President of EADS Space Transportation,
Josef Kind, covers the production of six ATV vehicles, one per year starting
in 2006.
The ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) is an expendable logistics vehicle to
supply the Space Station with fuel, air and water.Within the programme, the
Italian company, which completed and delivered the first unit called Jules
Verne last year, is responsible for the cargo module (Integrated Cargo
Carrier), that is the forward part of the vehicle equipped with attachments
for docking to the Station.


The signing of this contract further strengthens the co-operation between
EADS-ST and Alenia Spazio who are currently defining agreements for a Joint
Venture that will be the direct interface with European Space Agency for the
management of the industrial activities relative to the increased
utilisation of the International Space Station.
Those activities, which are expected to grow in the next two years with the
launch of the first ATV and the European laboratory COLUMBUS, will be
carried out with the contribution of the ALTEC centre in Turin which has the
advanced structures and know-how to provide specialist services in the
fields of logistics and astronaut and ground crew training.


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Jacques :-)

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