NASA To Build Space Ship to Mars in New Orleans – Orion
The route to the moon and perhaps to Mars now goes through New Orleans — and the detour couldn’t come at a better time in the city’s struggle to rebuild its shattered economy after Hurricane Katrina. Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin will build the Orion crew module at the 43-acre plant in Michoud. Chicago-based Boeing Co. will be building the $1.13 billion upper stage of the Ares I launch rocket and the rocket’s $799.5 million navigation and control system there.
The outlook is much brighter now that three contracts associated with NASA’s Constellation program have landed this year and last at Michoud. James Bray, director of Lockheed Martin’s Orion project at Michoud, called the facility “a sleeping giant” for the New Orleans economy. The first test flight of Orion will occur in 2014, and astronauts could return to the moon by late 2019 or 2020 with possible later missions to Mars, NASA says.
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