+ 1970 News Releases (7.6 Mb PDF file) - NASA

N, .TIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
MANNEDSPACECRAFT ,_Houson
CENTER
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483-5111 May 12, 1970
RELEASED BY NASA HEADQUARTERS
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration selected two
aerospace industrial firms today for final negotiations of parallel
ll-month contracts for definition and preliminary design_ studies of
a reusable space shuttle vehicle for possible future space flight
missions.
Fixed priced contracts will be negotiated with McDonnell-
Douglas Corp._ St. Louis, and North _nerican Rockwell Corp._ Space
Division_ Downey_ Calif. valued at approximately $8 million each.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., will
manage the McDonnell-Douglas work; the North American Rockwell
contract will be managed by the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center_
Houston. Four firms submitted proposals for the studies.
The two-stage_ space shuttle vehicle will transport crew,
passengers and cargo from Earth to near space and back. It will
be used for logistics missions such as the delivery of propellants
and supplies to a space station or another orbiting vehicle; for the
delivery of propulsive stages and payloads and for the placement_
maintenance and retrieval of experimental modules and satellites. It
may also be used for short duration special purpose space flight missions,
including rescue operations.
The space shuttle will reduce significantly space operational costs
through vehicle reuse and payload simplification; provide a commercial
airline type environment for crew and passengers; provide a high launch
rate capacity; and extend the technology of space transportation systems
including a land landing capability. The vertical take-off_ horizontallanding
shuttle could be in operation by 1977 or 1978.
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