McDonnell Wins NASA Contract for Rockets, Launch Systems

McDonnell Douglas Corp.’s Space and Defense System division has won a contract worth up to $500 million to provide rockets and launch services for as many as 14 unmanned NASA missions.

The contract won’t add jobs at McDonnell Douglas’ Huntington Beach facility, where 5,600 people now work, but will enable the Delta Rocket unit to maintain its existing level of employment, spokeswoman Anne C. Toulouse said.

The so-called Medium Light Expendable Launch Vehicle contract covers an eight-year period and guarantees five missions using McDonnell Douglas Delta rockets, built in Huntington Beach and Pueblo, Colo., and smaller Taurus rockets built by Orbital Sciences, a McDonnell Douglas subcontractor.

Up to nine additional missions can be added to the launch schedule, Toulouse said.

The first two missions, a Mars orbit and a scientific measurement of certain ultraviolet conditions in space, are scheduled for 1998. An unmanned Mars landing mission is to be launched in 1999. Other missions have not yet been scheduled, Toulouse said.