TEAMING FOR EXPLORATION

A multibillion-dollar NASA contracting effort, the largest since the Apollo, shuttle and space station developments, is formally underway with the release of the draft request for proposals for the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) to replace the shuttle and eventually return astronauts to the Moon as a stepping-stone to Mars.

With guidance from the draft request for proposals (RFP) now in hand, contractors are beginning a flurry of activity to posture for formal bids and to align their earlier in-house concepts with major new exploration program specifics, including strong guidelines on managing cost and risk.

And Lockheed Martin will announce this week that it is teaming with EADS Space Transportation for the CEV contract.

Should this team win, Europe's largest aerospace contractor would be in line for a key role in developing a replacement for the shuttle and renewed human operations on the lunar surface.

Northrop Grumman and Boeing last week formalized their draft CEV teaming agreement and will announce additional partners in the coming weeks to compete head-to-head against the Lockheed Martin group including EADS.

The Northrop Grumman/Boeing team will also include international participants, says Doug Young, director of Space Systems for Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems. But the team is not yet ready to announce which companies--domestic or foreign--will also be involved.

Under Lockheed Martin's team, EADS would specifically play an important role in development of a CEV autonomous docking system "and the long-duration module, an astronaut habitat on the Moon," said Cleon Lacefield, Lockheed Martin vice president and CEV program manager.

Lockheed Martin will also announce this week that its other CEV team members are Orbital Sciences, United Space Alliance, Hamilton Sundstrand and Honeywell.

As the space program's major new contracting effort gets underway, the U.S. Government Accountability Office warned that NASA's contractor management skills remain "high-risk." This is a stark warning by the GAO to NASA as it enters a major new human flight program, while also returning the existing one to operation after the tragic Columbia accident.