NASA signed a $1.8 billion contract with Alliant Techsystems (ATK) for the design, development, testing and evaluation of the first stage of the Ares 1 and Ares 5 launch vehicles, the organizations announced.

In December 2005 NASA named ATK the prime contractor to design and develop the Ares 1 first stage. The contract includes delivery of five ground static test motors, two ground vibration test articles and four flight test stages, including one for the Ares 1-X test flight. The multi-year development contract extends through June 2013 and includes flight tests beginning in 2009. Follow-on human flights are scheduled for no later than 2014, and production hardware for those flights will be developed under a separate contract expected after 2010.

The two-stage Ares 1 rocket will transport the Orion crew exploration vehicle to low Earth orbit. The first stage will consist of a five-segment solid rocket booster based on the four-segment design used for the space shuttle. ATK will draw on hardware, facilities and manufacturing equipment qualified for human-rated solid rocket boosters in the development of the new booster.

Ares 5 will be used to launch a variety of science and exploration payloads as well as key components needed to travel to the moon and later to Mars. The heavy-lift vehicle is projected to use five RS-68 liquid-oxygen, liquid-hydrogen engines mounted below a larger version of the shuttle’s external tank and two five-segment, solid-propellant rocket boosters for the first stage.