NASA Selects Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle Prime Contractor

Hmmm. So LockMart gets the contract over Boeing? This is interesting because their first proposal was a lifting-body design that was nothing like the "Apollo on Steroids" design NASA later specified. Speaking of Apollo, Boeing absorbed Rockwell, which built the Apollo spacecraft, so if they were looking for a company that had "been there, done that" Boeing would have been the logical choice. I'll never figure out how these decisions are made - though it probably has at least as much to do with political power as it does technical expertice.

"NASA selected Thursday Lockheed Martin Corp., based in Bethesda, Md., as the prime contractor to design, develop, and build Orion, America's spacecraft for a new generation of explorers.

Orion will be capable of transporting four crewmembers for lunar missions and later supporting crew transfers for Mars missions. Orion could also carry up to six crew members to and from the International Space Station.

The first Orion launch with humans onboard is planned for no later than 2014, and for a human moon landing no later than 2020. Orion will form a key element of extending a sustained human presence beyond low-Earth orbit to advance commerce, science and national leadership."