The five-year contract went to NASA Glenn's Plum Brook station in Sandusky. Station Director David Stringer says the contract is good news for the region and the economy.
David Stringer: This is cutting edge work, and this is lots of cutting edge work. So there will certainly be jobs for folks both in Ohio and across the nation.
Most of the $63 million will go toward building up the station testing facility. The plan is to hire more workers at the 100-person site, but Stringer doesn't have a set number yet.
The Sandusky station will conduct testing and research on the upper portion of a new space shuttle, including how such things as temperature and electromagnetic forces affect the space craft. Once unmanned test flights are conducted, Stringer says, the new shuttle program - dubbed the Orion Project - should be ready to fly in 2015.
NASA has included the Plum Brook contract in its budget, but it has yet to be approved by Congress. Stringer says he expects that to happen in the next 30 to 60 days. Tasha Flournoy. 90.3.