WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- NASA has given a contract potentially worth $8.1 billion to Maryland's Lockheed Martin Corp. to build a new generation of manned spacecraft.
The new spacecraft, called Orion, is to replace the space shuttle and eventually carry astronauts to the moon and maybe Mars, the space agency says.
Like Apollo and earlier spacecraft, Orion is to be perched on top of a rocket.
Lockheed beat a joint venture of Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp. for the contract.
Before the announcement, analysts said the deal was the Boeing team's to lose, The New York Times reported Friday. Lockheed usually builds unmanned rockets and has little experience with human spaceflight. By contrast, Boeing and Northrop built the space shuttles and Apollo vehicles.
The last time NASA awarded a manned spaceship contract to Lockheed was in 1996 for a space plane that was supposed to replace the space shuttle. NASA spent $912 million and plane was not built due to technical problems, the Times said.
