Lockheed Martin announced today that if it wins a multibillion dollar contract to build the shuttle’s successor, the project’s central office will be in Houston, and not Jefferson County.
Houston will gain about 1,200 new jobs and employ roughly half of the project’s workforce if NASA selects Lockheed over a team led by Northrop Grumman and Boeing.
About 150 workers at Lockheed’s Space Systems unit in Jefferson County have been leading the company’s efforts on the contract, but Colorado is slated to gain only 300 new jobs if Lockheed wins.
“Houston is where it’s at,” said John Karas, vice president of space exploration for Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed
The jobs in Houston will include engineering, software development and testing. Texas is offering significant incentives to Lockheed for the jobs.
“They will be one of the largest incentive programs created by the state of Texas and certainly of the largest in the aerospace industry,” said Jim Reinhartsen, president of the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership
He wouldn’t disclose specifics about the package.
Lockheed announced last month that the final assembly of the crew exploration vehicle will be done in Florida after the state offered the company $45.5 million in incentives. Florida would gain up to 400 jobs.
Colorado, historically frugal when it comes to spending money to attract jobs, has offered $1.14 million in incentives for 300 engineering and research and development jobs.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is expected to select a winner by September.
The new vehicle, called CEV for short, would carry up to six crew members for trips to the international space station and up to four astronauts for trips to the moon.
The first CEV mission could come as early as 2012. The CEV project is part of NASA’s 13-year, $104 billion plan for sending humans back to the moon, with an eye on manned missions to Mars.
Andy Vuong can be reached at 303-820-1209 or avuong@denverpost.com
