Work on the Orion crew capsule has proceeded despite a few turbulent months of NASA budget issues, a Lockheed Martin official said Wednesday.
The Orion capsule received a huge potential boost Wednesday when a Senate subcommittee approved adding $3 billion to NASA’s budget to support development of Orion and a heavy-lift rocket to take the capsule into deep space.
That’s a far cry from February, when President Barack Obama proposed canceling the Constellation program, of which Orion is a part. Obama revived the spacecraft in April as a “lifeboat” for the international space station.
Then there was a squabble between NASA and Colorado-based Lockheed Martin Space Systems about Lockheed’s financial liability if the Orion contract is terminated.
That dispute has been resolved, in part thanks to a payment of about $400 million from NASA but mostly because of Lockheed and its subcontractors tightening their belts, including transferring or laying off about 300 Orion workers.
“We assume we won’t be canceled,” Larry Price, Lockheed’s deputy Orion manager, said Wednesday before the subcommittee’s action was known. “You have to be nimble. You don’t know what will happen in the economy.”
Of the additional $3 billion, Orion would receive $1.1 billion. The full Senate will take up NASA’s budget today.
Price said it’s important that the work continues to flow and to not let the projected launch date of 2015 slip.
“We’re building the first interplanetary human spacecraft,” Price said.
The back shields and heat shield are being built at Lockheed’s Waterton Canyon facility, which is where the environmental testing will be done.
Price said it’s important to focus on the work of making a versatile spacecraft that will be used for 30 to 40 years, and constructing it so it can evolve as needs demand.
Ann Schrader: 303-954-1967 or aschrader@denverpost.com.
