USA Ready to Launch its Future in Huntsville
With a rocketry tradition that began with legendary space industry pioneer Wernher Von Braun and his team of German designers, the Huntsville, Alabama aerospace community has made significant contributions to the history of space exploration. With new launch vehicles now being developed, Huntsville again is getting set to play a key role in writing the next chapter of space history, and United Space Alliance’s Huntsville Capability Center team plans to contribute to that story.
“If you are in the space business, Huntsville is a very exciting place to be right now,” said Kim Doering, Vice President for the Huntsville Capability Center. “There are numerous ways for a company like USA to play a role in literally launching the next great space adventure.”
Huntsville is home to both the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and the U.S. Army base at Redstone Arsenal, the Army’s center for missile and rocket programs for more than 60 years. Before Marshall was established, Von Braun and his team performed much of their early rocketry work for the U.S. at Redstone Arsenal, including the launch of America’s first Earth satellite, Explorer 1. Now, Redstone Arsenal is open to more than a dozen tenants, including the Aviation and Missile Command, the Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center, the Space and Missile Defense Command, the Missile Defense Agency and the Army Materiel Command.
MSFC was established in 1960 and now manages NASA programs and activities equating to $2.5 billion of the agency’s annual budget. The MSFC community counts as one of its crowning achievements the development of the massive Saturn V rocket that transported Americans to the moon. From the lessons learned during the Apollo program, MSFC led the design of the Space Shuttle’s Main Engines (SSME), External Tank (ET) and Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB). Today, MSFC’s scientists and engineers are preparing for NASA’s future missions to the moon and beyond by designing and building the Ares launch vehicles.
Currently, USA’s team in Huntsville consists of 110 employees and 40 subcontractors that provide support to the Space Shuttle Program, the International Space Station Program and the Constellation Program.
The Program Integration team in Huntsville provides systems engineering and integration expertise to MSFC’s Propulsion Systems Engineering and Integration, Reusable Solid Rocket Booster (RSRB), SSME and ET organizations and to the Deputy Shuttle Program Manager’s Office. Their work includes integration and systems engineering; technical panel leadership and support; imagery and photo analysis following launch; configuration management; systems safety and hazard analysis; requirements management; information integration; and business systems support.
“Our role in Huntsville is to fully integrate the MSFC propulsion elements into the Shuttle program,” said Jeff Hixson, Director of MSFC Shuttle Program Integration. “We review the propulsion elements design changes, requirement changes, performance and nonconformances for integrated or downstream impacts not only to other propulsion elements, but to any and all parts of the Shuttle system. This is our contribution to ensure flight safety.
“Program Integration is one of the largest USA organizations in Huntsville. We are the face of USA at MSFC and have strived to provide exceptional products and services. We feel that our performance with the local customer can and will influence USA’s future at MSFC.”
The USA SRB group in Huntsville provides a direct customer interface with the RSRB Project Office and the Engineering Directorate at MSFC. The team also performs configuration management/integration, engineering analysis and test and evaluation. The group has unique capabilities used in support of the SRB project, including work cells for the application and removal of SRB Thermal Protection Systems (TPS), and for paints and coatings as well as aero-thermal testing capabilities at the NASA MSFC Hot Gas Test Facility.
“USA has had a long, productive partnership with the NASA Materials and Processes team at MSFC,” said Keith Bates, Director of Design Engineering for Huntsville Operations. “We are excited to be working with NASA on research, development and testing of TPS materials that will help us journey to the moon and Mars.”
The Huntsville Operations Integration team provides technical and administrative support to MSFC’s Shuttle Transition and Retirement office and provides configuration management expertise to the Ares I Project offices through a contract with COLSA Corporation, a Huntsville-based technology services company.
“The members of the Huntsville Operations Integration team have a long successful history of providing outstanding support to the MSFC Shuttle customer,” said Lionel Nave, Director of Operations Integration. “Many of those customers that we supported on Shuttle in the past are now working on the Constellation Program in various capacities. We believe that we can build on that successful past performance with those customers, to enhance our ability to gain additional new business for USA here at MSFC, either through our Blanket Purchase Agreement (an agreement with NASA that facilitates USA’s rapid response to MSFC’s support needs), the Space Program Operations Contract or by winning one or more of the competitive procurements coming up at Marshall in FY 09 and 10.”
The Huntsville team also includes Operations Engineering, Systems and Requirements Integration, Shuttle Element Hardware Integration, Information Management, Business Management and Business Development Support.
Doeing said the pride of the Huntsville team is very apparent.
“We may be a small site compared to Houston and Florida, but we believe our contributions today are laying the foundation for USA’s growth in Huntsville, and there is a lot of opportunity for growth,” she said.
The mix of defense and space technology development in Huntsville has created a business environment that is expanding, one that Doering hopes will lead to USA’s growth in the community.
“There is a lot of work that could align well with our core capabilities both on the NASA and DOD sides,” Doering said.
“I encounter a great deal of interest as I go around and discuss potential business ventures with other industry leaders because of our performance on the Space Shuttle Program and our expertise in space operations.
Read more from this issue
Go to Previous Company Newsletters
Terms & ConditionsPrivacy Statement
Site Map
Home
©2010 United Space Alliance, LLC.
All rights reserved.