NASA Names Space Station Contractors

McDonnell Douglas, Rockwell International’s Rocketdyne Division, Boeing and General Electric have been selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to negotiate space station construction contracts that may be worth up to $6.5 billion, the space agency said today.

Andrew Stofan, the assistant administrator in charge of the space station, said these contracts would provide 12,000 jobs “spread all over the United States.” But a breakdown of jobs distribution showed a majority would go to California, Texas, Alabama and Pennsylvania.

Selected were:

--McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co. of Houston for a $1.9-billion contract to develop the framework, propulsion, navigation, communication and two air locks for the space station. The contract will be managed by the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

--Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell International for design and manufacture of the power production, control and distribution system. The work is valued at $1.6 billion and will be performed at Canoga Park under the direction of the Lewis Research Center in Ohio.

--Boeing Aerospace Co. in Huntsville, Ala., for $750 million to develop the space station modules. The work will be managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville.

--General Electric of Valley Forge, Pa., and East Windsor, N.J., for development and manufacture of a satellite servicing system that will include a robotics system. The value is estimated at $800 million and the work will be managed by the Goddard Space Center in suburban Washington.

$14.6-Billion Effort

Under options available in the space station plans, the four contracts could last 10 years and be worth $6.5 billion.

The space station, scheduled for completion in the mid-1990s, is expected to eventually cost at least $14.6 billion. It is to be built in Earth orbit and will be able to permanently house crews of astronauts transported to the station by the space shuttle.

McDonnell Douglas won the contract over Rockwell International Corp. of Downey, while Boeing won over Martin Marietta Corp. of New Orleans. There were no other bidders for the other contracts.

Major McDonnell Douglas subcontractors are IBM, Houston and Owego, N.Y.; Lockheed Missiles & Space Co., Houston and Sunnyvale, Calif.; RCA Corp., Camden, N.J.; Honeywell, Clearwater, Fla., and Astron, Carpinteria, Calif.

Rocketdyne’s subcontractors are Ford Aerospace and Communications Corp., Palo Alto; Harris Corp., Melbourne, Fla.; Garrett Corp., Tempe, Ariz.; General Dynamics Corp., San Diego, and Lockheed Missiles & Space Co., Sunnyvale.

Boeing’s subcontractors are Teledyne Brown Engineering, Huntsville, Ala.; Lockheed Missiles & Space Co., Sunnyvale; Hamilton Standard, Windsor Locks, Conn.; Garrett Airesearch, Torrance; Grumman Aerospace Co., Houston; ILC Space Systems, Houston, and Fairchild-Weston Systems, Syossett, N.Y.

General Electric’s major subcontractor is TRW Corp., Redondo Beach.