NASA Extends Space Shuttle Main Engine Contract

Aug. 2, 2007

Katherine Trinidad
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-3749
katherine.trinidad@xxxxxxxx

Steve Roy
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
steven.e.roy@xxxxxxxx

CONTRACT RELEASE: C07-034

NASA EXTENDS SPACE SHUTTLE MAIN ENGINE CONTRACT

WASHINGTON - NASA has signed a $975 million contract extension with
Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne Inc., of Canoga Park, Calif., to
maintain the agency's fleet of space shuttle main engines until the
orbiter is retired in 2010.

The contract began on April 1, 2006. It is scheduled to conclude
Sept.
30, 2010. The $975 million contract extension brings the total value
of the cost-plus-award/incentive fee contract to slightly more than
$2.05 billion.

Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne supports the Shuttle Propulsion Office
at
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.; the Space
Shuttle Program Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston; and
the Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in
Washington. The contract includes maintenance and refurbishment of
existing shuttle main engines at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

Each space shuttle is powered by three of the sophisticated engines,
the world's only reusable rocket engines. During launch, each of the
7,750-pound engines burns liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, fed from
the shuttle's external tank. Each engine generates approximately
400,000 pounds of thrust, which works with the shuttle's twin solid
rocket boosters to power the spacecraft to orbit.

For more information about NASA's Space Shuttle Program, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle


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