posted 08-15-2008 04:56 PM               

United Space Alliance Files Lawsuit Against ATK

United Space Alliance (USA), NASA's prime Space Shuttle contractor, filed a lawsuit in Brevard County Circuit Court in Florida today against Alliant Techsystems, Inc., and ATK Launch Systems, Inc., seeking damages for fraud and breach of contract, and seeking an injunction against further piracy of USA employees with skills essential to flying out the Space Shuttle manifest.

USA has been operating under a letter contract with ATK since 2006 for services supporting the design and development of NASA's Ares I first stage project. The Ares rocket is part of NASA's next phase of human exploration, known as Constellation, and is based on the use of Space Shuttle solid rocket boosters. The lawsuit is in response to ATK's failure to negotiate a long-term contract in good faith during the past two years. More importantly, ATK concurrently undertook an aggressive campaign to hire critically skilled USA employees, who have been performing specialized work in support of both the Ares and Space Shuttle programs in order to solely perform work on Ares.

"USA's number one priority is to continue to fly the Space Shuttle safely and successfully until it is retired. At the same time, we are fully committed to helping our customers bring the new Constellation elements online. It is essential to preserve and protect the skilled and experienced workforce that will be needed to accomplish both of these objectives, and to ensure that the transition of those critical skills to the new programs does not in any way jeopardize the current program," said Richard O. Covey, USA's Chief Executive Officer.

United Space Alliance is a world leader in space operations with extensive experience in all aspects of the field. Headquartered in Houston and employing 10,000 people in Texas, Florida and Alabama, USA is applying its broad range of capabilities to NASA's Space Shuttle, International Space Station and Constellation programs as well as to space operations customers in the commercial and international space industry sectors.

posted 09-19-2008 01:08 PM               

In a move that could upset NASA and its plans to hurry the Constellation moon rocket program, United Space Alliance, the main contractor at Kennedy Space Center, told its employees in a letter on Thursday that it will no longer be working on the Ares I rocket or Ares I-X test rocket from Sept 22.

"On Sunday, Sept. 21, United Space Alliance's letter contract with ATK for design and development work on Ares I and Ares I-X will expire," said a company circular. "USA has informed ATK that we do not intend to sign another letter contract extension, and, effective Monday, Sept. 22, USA will no longer have a contractual relationship with ATK for this work."

posted 09-19-2008 07:48 PM               

NASA contractors Alliant Techsystems, Inc., and United Space Alliance declared a week-long truce in their nasty contract battle that threatens NASA’s plans for the Constellation moon rocket program.

The truce means that USA workers will continue working on NASA's next generation Ares rocket and its Ares I-X test model for seven more days while the companies try to resolve their dispute.

"We are going to keep on doing what we have been doing," said USA spokeswoman Tracy Yeats.

posted 10-17-2008 08:38 AM               

ATK and USA announce agreement on Ares I subcontract work

Alliant Techsystems (NYSE:ATK) announced today that it reached an agreement with United Space Alliance (USA) to perform subcontractor support to ATK for NASA's Ares I launch vehicle. In December 2005, NASA named ATK as the prime contractor for the Ares I first stage and subsequently awarded a multi-year contract to the company for the design, development, test and evaluation phase of the program. Ares I is NASA's next-generation human space flight launch vehicle.

In its role as prime contractor ATK will continue to support NASA with overall requirements maturation, integration and establishment of interfaces within the first stage subsystems. ATK also will provide first stage and system level avionics, and coordinate a variety of supplier and subcontractor efforts for both the solid rocket segments and the new first stage assembly components.

USA's work scope includes engineering and analysis support to ensure space shuttle Solid Rocket Booster hardware meets the new Ares first stage requirements, refurbishment of Space Shuttle components and subsystems for the first stage, and procurement of several avionics and ordnance components. USA also has a role in the deceleration subsystem with the new parachutes design, development and testing. USA will provide skilled personnel to build up and integrate the new forward structures, designed by ATK.

"ATK has successfully supported NASA's efforts over the last two years by leading Ares I first stage Integrated Product Teams, and completing the first stage Preliminary Design Review with NASA this summer," said Michael Kahn, Executive Vice President and General Manager, ATK Launch Systems. "Now that we are approaching the next phase of the Ares I program we are pleased to have USA as our major subcontractor. This is the most effective team to ensure success and the best value for NASA."

"We look forward to being a key member of the ATK Ares I team," said Dick Covey, USA President and Chief Executive Officer. "The capabilities that USA brings to the team are rooted in our Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster heritage, in particular the skill of designing for operability. USA is fully committed to helping this team achieve maximum success for NASA's Constellation Program."

In summary remarks, Carl Marchetto, President of ATK Space Systems said, "The Ares I program is making consistent and dramatic progress. The Ares 1-X test flight and ground testing of the full scale five-segment booster for the operational vehicle scheduled for 2009, and a series of ground tests and flight tests over the next several years, will clearly demonstrate the program's critical capabilities for the future of U.S. space exploration."

United Space Alliance is a world leader in space operations with extensive experience in all aspects of the field. Headquartered in Houston, USA has 10,000 employees working in Texas, Florida and Alabama for NASA's Space Shuttle, International Space Station and Constellation programs as well as space operations customers in the commercial and international space industry sectors.