Posted 11/09/2004 05:23:00 PM by Douglas

Man, you know the X-prize guys are laughing their asses off at this one. Two of the biggest aerospace companies in the world are in such contest for the next generation of manned spacecraft, they're willing to swap jobs half-way through.

Defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. and Boeing Co., the world's largest aerospace company, said Tuesday they have drawn up a team to compete for NASA's Crew Exploration Vehicle and other components of Project Constellation, a planned architecture of human and robotic space systems that will allow astronauts to travel to and explore the moon, Mars and other parts of the solar system.

Under the agreement, Northrop Grumman will serve as the team's leader and prime contractor during the initial development phase of the CEV, known as Spiral 1. During this period, which will demonstrate the CEV's ability to operate safely with astronauts in low Earth orbit, Boeing will serve as Northrop Grumman's main partner and major subcontractor.

In later phases, NASA's focus will expand from operating the CEV in low Earth orbit to transporting astronauts to the moon and beyond. In Spiral 2, the prime contractor leadership role will shift to Boeing for new human lunar CEV transportation system components, with Northrop Grumman serving as Boeing's main partner and primary subcontractor.

Am I missing something? I know NASA has to share the love, but what do they gain by making one company the prime contractor for one phase, and another contractor prime for another? Doesn't that seem like a big fat waste of overhead?

The next time a manned spacecraft lands on another planet, on its side I'll bet you can see an American flag (probably with 60 stars by then), and the corporate logos of Boeing, Lockheed, and Grumman. But I can guarantee that a current lack of managers isn't the long pole in the tent.