SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY : McDonnell Douglas Space Station Work Secure, Manager Says

The new project manager for the space station project at McDonnell Douglas Space Systems Co. in Huntington Beach said the company has negotiated revised contracts with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and emerged relatively unscathed.

Larry P. Morata, a 31-year company veteran, was appointed last week to manage Space Systems’ $3.5 billion worth of contracts to build elements of NASA’s planned space station.

Morata said negotiation on the revisions took place this summer after Congress approved funding for a scaled-down design for the space station, which NASA estimates will cost $30 billion.

Rather than being assembled in space, the station will now be built in stages on the ground for at least $6 billion less than previously planned. Space Systems could have lost some of its contract work as a result of the redesign, but Morata said that the redesign mandated more work for the company in some respects--such as creating a pre-assembled superstructure for the station on the ground--and less work in other areas.

The length of the unit’s 10-year contract was spread out an additional 17 months. Morata said the company’s work force would be stable for the next several years, barring any future spending cuts.

The initial elements of the space station are scheduled to be launched in the latter half of 1995. Based on that schedule, Space Systems will design its part of the station through early 1993 and begin manufacturing hardware in 1993 and 1994, Morata said.

“We think our work will stay relatively stable in the next couple of years,” Morata said.

Morata replaces David C. Wensley as vice president and deputy general manager of the Space Station Division, which employs about 1,200 people in Huntington Beach and 600 in Houston.

Wensley will become vice president on special assignment to Ken Francis, president of Space Systems.