Exploration Launch Systems facility to be built by Boeing in Florida

Posted by John McHale
TITUSVILLE, Fla., 2 June 2011. Boeing [NYSE: BA] officials announced that the company is opening an Exploration Launch Systems Engineering and Integration office to be located in Titusville, Fla., to support NASA's next launch system, currently being researched.
The new facility will aid Boeing's work on the Upper Stage Production and Instrument Unit Avionics contracts at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
"This new Boeing office near NASA's Kennedy Space Center expands our capability to execute our current upper stage production and instrument unit avionics contracts, as well as continue our support of NASA as it lays the groundwork for development of heavy-lift launch vehicle concepts," says Jim Chilton, Exploration Launch Systems vice president for Boeing. "We plan to ensure critical skills and capabilities are retained to provide a smooth workforce transition from the space shuttle program that builds on accomplishments and investments made to date."
Boeing officials completed trade studies and cost and schedule analysis, which they then submitted to NASA so agency experts can evaluate the heavy-lift launch vehicle system concepts, propulsion technologies, and affordability that Boeing is proposing.