SpaceX lands second military contract

[Buster's Uncle]

SpaceX lands second military contract
Orlando Sentinel
By Marco Santana • March 15, 2017, 10:10 AM



A SpaceX Falcon9 rocket blasts off Sunday, Feb. 19, 2017 from the Kennedy Space Center. Pad39A was the launch site of a rocket that carried the first U.S. astronauts to the moon. It was also the site of the last space shuttle mission in 2011. (Red Huber / TNS)



Two space giants with ties to Central Florida have landed work with the U.S. Air Force.

The Department of Defense announced late Tuesday that it had awarded contracts to SpaceX and Lockheed Martin’s Space Systems Co.

The nearly $97 million SpaceX deal will require the company to provide the launch vehicle for an operation that hopes to send a GPS satellite into orbit by April 30, 2019. The announcement said that two companies vied for the contract.

It’s the second contract SpaceX has landed with the U.S. Air Force, with the last being in April.

That contract essentially ended United Launch Alliance’s informal exclusivity on military contracts.

In a statement, SpaceX president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell said the company was proud to have been selected.

“We appreciate the confidence that the U.S. Air Force has placed in our company and we look forward to working together towards the successful launch of another GPS-III mission,” she said.

SpaceX made one of two bids for the latest deal.

Most of the preparation work will be done at the company’s Hawthorne, Calif., headquarters with launch operations expected at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Florida’s Space Coast.

SpaceX has been competing with Lockheed Martin’s and Boeing’s United Launch Alliance for launch contracts.

Lockheed Martin, which has two of its major facilities in Orlando, landed a modification to a previously secured contract.

The modification adds $15 million to an agreement that will add cyber-related capabilities to the ground system of the Air Force’s “space-based infrared system.”

Lockheed’s Sunnyvale, Calif., facilities will handle most of the work.

The contracts, while not putting a major financial dent into the billion-dollar industry, potentially represent an uptick in the region’s space industry.

Florida has been launching rockets for decades and, after a five-year lull following the shuttle program’s deactivation, it has been the location for increased activity as SpaceX and United Launch Alliance have jumped into what has been called a new space race.


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