Northrop, Others Win NASA Contracts

NASA gave 11 companies separate contracts worth a combined total of as much as $54 million to study concepts for manned missions to the moon and new space vehicles.

The United States is beginning to plan a return to manned lunar exploration for the first time in three decades under a policy announced by President Bush in January.

Bush said the U.S. would reallocate $11 billion in existing funds and add $1 billion in new money over five years to pay for robotic and manned trips to the moon as a step toward a journey to Mars.

Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin Corp., Chicago- based Boeing Co. and Century City-based Northrop Grumman Corp., the top three U.S. defense contractors, each received contracts worth as much as $6 million to study new types of space vehicles and concepts for human missions to the moon.