Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne to Help United Launch Alliance Design and Develop Emergency Detection System for Human Spaceflight Missions

CANOGA PARK, Calif., May 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne received a $1.8 million contract from United Launch Alliance to help design and develop an Emergency Detection System (EDS) for human spaceflights to be proposed for Atlas V and Delta IV launch vehicles.  The EDS is part of NASA's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program, which aims to stimulate efforts within the private sector to develop, demonstrate and accelerate human spaceflight capabilities.  Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) company.

"Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is honored to support United Launch Alliance and NASA in the new initiative that focuses on commercial access to space," said Tim Leonard, CCDev program manager, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.  "We are confident our technologies will help NASA achieve its goal for this important endeavor because Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne has a track record of 100 percent mission success in human spaceflights."

The EDS will be designed to monitor critical launch vehicle and spaceflight systems, and to issue status, warning and abort information to the crew during their mission to low-Earth orbit.  It is also being designed to trigger the Launch Abort System during an emergency to carry astronauts to safety.  The contract runs to December 2010.  

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Inc., a part of Pratt & Whitney, is a preferred provider of high-value propulsion, power, energy and innovative system solutions used in a wide variety of government and commercial applications, including the main engines for the space shuttle, Atlas and Delta launch vehicles, missile defense systems and advanced hypersonic engines.  For more information about Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, go to www.prattwhitneyrocketdyne.com.

Pratt & Whitney is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of aircraft engines, space propulsion systems and industrial gas turbines. United Technologies, based in Hartford, Conn., is a diversified company providing high technology products and services to the global aerospace and commercial building industries.

SOURCE Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne

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