Posted: Thu, Dec 23, 2004, 12:39 PM ET (1739 GMT)

The Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin a contract Monday for the launch of a reconnaissance satellite from the West Coast. The contract covers the launch of a National Reconnaissance Office satellite, designated only as mission NROL-29, on an Atlas 5 521 booster from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in 2006. Terms of the launch contract were not announced, but news reports estimate the value of the contract at around $150 million. Lockheed is the only company currently eligible for EELV contracts as Boeing remains suspended because of ethical improprieties during the initial EELV bidding phase in the late 1990s.