Mar 16, 2007- Congresswoman Kaptur Announces NASA Award to Plum Brook Station in Sandusky

Congresswoman Kaptur, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, saidPlum Brook will be the site for integrated vertical tests of NASA'sfully-assembled new spacecraft, Orion, whose mission will be to explore Earth'sMoon and the planet Mars.

The contract will be carried out by the Glenn ResearchCenter, which last yearwas awarded the design of the service module component of the crew explorationvehicle (CEV), the next generation space vehicle. Testing and work on theproject will be done at the agency's Plum Brook Station in Sandusky.

"I am pleased to announce that Plum Brook will play an essential role in theOrion project," said Congresswoman Kaptur. "This is what we have been hopingfor all along-a renewed sense of purpose for Plum Brook and new opportunity fortechnological expertise here in Northern Ohio.Ohio's richlegacy in space and space exploration is enhanced with this great news fromNASA for our region."

Congresswoman Kaptur said the NASA contract is the result of coordinatedeffort and teamwork by local, state and federal agencies as well as the privatesector. Congresswoman Kaptur, who sits on the Defense Subcommittee ofAppropriations, said she has met several times with NASA officials and othersto promote Plum Brook as a testing site.

"It only makes sense to take advantage of your strengths," Kaptur said."Plum Brook is a national asset, and we are excited that it is being recognizedagain by the NASA leadership."

NASA scientists envision the Orion crew capsule as the successor to thespace shuttle, with its maiden launch set for no later than 2014 and its flightmoon mission no later than 2020. Orion will be capable of carrying both crewand cargo to the International Space Station. It will be able to rendezvouswith a lunar landing module and an Earth departure stage in low-Earth orbit tocarry crews to the moon and eventually to Mars-bound vehicles assembled inlow-Earth orbit. Orion will be the Earth entry vehicle for lunar and Marsreturns. Orion's design will borrow its shape from the capsules of the past,but takes advantage of 21st century technology in computers, electronics, lifesupport, propulsion and heat protection systems.

For more on Orion itself: NASA