How will ShuttleCom’s plan save NASA any money?
As part of the Agreement, the fee that NASA pays ShuttleCom for each mission is guarantee to be reduced by approximately 5.5% per year for 10 years after a transitional period. Plus ShuttleCom must hit a certain flight rate or the lease agreement will be open for re-bidding. As an example, if the initial fee was $300M per flight, at the end of 10 years the fee would only be $170M per flight. Q: Hasn’t NASA-Michoud already shut down the ET production?A: Yes. Lockheed-Martin has already held a ceremony to celebrate the last ET, but then recalled the employees to build a tank for STS-135. As the Shuttle program comes to an end, more employees will find other jobs and will make the transition more difficult and expensive. As a result, it may now take over 24 months to produce the next two tanks. This is part of the transitional period where the Shuttle may not be able to fly for lack of ET’s.
