Boeing is to build a launcher-manufacturing plant at Decatur, Alabama, which will be used either to assemble Delta 4 boosters, should the company win the US Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle contract in 1998, or to complement manufacturing of the Delta 3 fleet. Alabama-based H&H Consolidated has been awarded a $25 million contract from NASA to operate and maintain the agency's Wallops Island flight and launch centre in Virginia. Orbital Sciences has been awarded an $11 million contract by NASA and the US Air Force to design, develop and qualify a new low-cost, liquid-propellant upper stage which will be used on Minuteman boosters and X-vehicles.
Source: Flight International
