Michoud Getting New Contractor
By Frank Morring, Jr.
Jacobs Technology will take over from Lockheed Martin as support and facilities operations contractor at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, marking a major change as the space agency moves toward the post-shuttle era.
Lockheed Martin had held the contract along with the prime contract to build the space shuttle external tanks in the government-owned facility. But with the shuttle program coming to an end, NASA won't be buying more of the big aluminum-lithium tanks.
Under the three-year contract, Jacobs has the potential to earn $120.49 million in the year that began May 1, $40.11 million in the second year and $42.16 million in the third. Once tank work at the 2.2 million-square-foot facility ends, the plant will shift to manufacturing the Orion crew exploration vehicle and components for the Ares I crew launch vehicle.
NASA tells Congress it will cost an additional $4.7 billion to add three shuttle missions to its manifest and continue flying between the planned end of the program after 2010 to late 2012. To fly 13 more missions to maintain U.S. human access to space until the Orion/Ares I stack is ready would require another $14 billion, NASA says.
At the end of April, the shuttle program stopped maintaining the option of continuing shuttle operations, triggering a round of contractor work force reductions that will reach about 900 by the end of September as the agency no longer has a need for the parts they manufacture. Of that number, some 400 will be layoffs, another 350 will be jobs trimmed through attrition, and the remainder will be "badge changes" where workers take different jobs in the program, NASA says.
Meanwhile, the agency says its March 2015 initial operational capability for the Orion/Ares I stack will not have all of the capability needed for Orion to operate at the International Space Station. That "full operational capability" won't come until 2016, when the Orion will be able to deliver crew to the station and stay there for as long as 180 day as a rescue vehicle.
Michoud Assembly Facility photo: Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company
