Orbital Sciences Corp. wins $187M NASA contract

Dulles-based Orbital Sciences Corp., a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corp., has been awarded a $187 million NASA contract to design living quarters for the Lunar Gateway mini space station. 

The Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) design will be inspired by Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft, which delivers supplies, equipment and experiments to the International Space Station. It’s part of NASA’s Artemis program. A successor to the Apollo moon landing program of the 1960s and ’70s, Artemis will see NASA land the first woman and the next man on the moon by 2024.

“The success of our Cygnus spacecraft and its active production line helps to enable Northrop Grumman to deliver the HALO module,” Steve Krein, Northrop Grumman vice president of civil and commercial satellites, said in a statement. “HALO is an essential element in NASA’s long-term exploration of deep space, and our HALO program team will continue its work in building and delivering this module in partnership with NASA.”

The HALO spacecraft will serve as a crew habitat and a docking hub for spacecrafts traveling between the Earth and the moon, with three docking ports.

“This contract award is another significant milestone in our plan to build robust and sustainable lunar operations,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement. “The Gateway is a key component of NASA’s long-term Artemis architecture and the HALO capability furthers our plans for human exploration at the moon in preparation for future human missions to Mars.”

With more than 90,000 employees, Northrop Grumman recently made the Fortune 500 list again in 2020.

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.