spacetoday.net: NASA accelerates CEV procurement

Posted: Tue, Jun 14, 2005, 8:37 AM ET (1237 GMT)
Lockheed Martin CEV concepts (LM)

NASA made its strongest statement to date that it plans to accelerate the development of the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) when it awarded study contracts Monday to two teams. NASA said it selected proposals from Lockheed Martin and a Northrop Grumman-Boeing team to develop the CEV, a new manned spacecraft that will be used to ferry crews to low Earth orbit and, later, to the Moon and beyond. The two teams were the only ones belied to have submitted CEV proposals to NASA. The two "Phase 1" teams will now work to refine their concepts; no value of the study contracts for this work was announced. NASA previously planned to have a "flyoff" of two vehicle designs in 2008 before selecting a vehicle to go into full development, but in a statement Monday NASA said that plans to make the "Phase 2 down-selection" in 2006. New NASA administrator Michael Griffin has previously stated his desire to accelerate CEV development so that the vehicle can enter service around the time the shuttle is retired in 2010.