NASA to Ask Bids on New Booster for Space Shuttle

WASHINGTON — NASA said Monday that it will ask contractors this summer to submit proposals for a $1.2-billion program to design and build an advanced space shuttle booster rocket in a government-owned plant.

Under the plan, the winning contractor will design, build and operate the plant. The rockets to be built there will be used by the shuttle program well into the next century.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration currently gets its shuttle rockets from a single private source, Morton Thiokol Inc., whose manufacturing facilities are in Utah. A government-owned plant would enable NASA to change contractors if it becomes dissatisfied.

The new booster will enable the shuttle to carry 12,000 more pounds of cargo to orbit than the current 65,000 pounds. That increase will be equivalent to 2.4 extra shuttle missions a year on a 14-flight schedule.

The overall cost for development and testing the booster is $1 billion. The facilities will be budgeted at $200 million to $300 million.

The site has not been announced, but NASA officials have told Congress the prime candidates are Bay St. Louis and Yellow Creek in Mississippi and an area near Cape Canaveral, Fla.