Jennifer McCarter
Headquarters, Washington DC                         July 7, 1998
(Phone: 202/358-1639)

John Ira Petty
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
(Phone: 281/483-2530)

RELEASE:  c98-h

NASA AWARDS MORE SHUTTLE WORK TO USA

     NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, has modified its
contract with United Space Alliance (USA) of Houston to include
more than $900 million in work on the Space Shuttle's solid rocket
booster and other shuttle elements.

     USA is the prime contractor for the space shuttle fleet
operations.  This $919.5 million cost-plus-award-fee/incentive-fee
contract modification includes work previously performed under
three separate NASA contracts:  work on the boosters performed by
USBI at Kennedy Space Center in Florida; design and production of
primary shuttle avionics software by Lockheed Martin in Houston;
and processing of flight crew equipment, including space suits,
personal equipment and tools, performed by Boeing Aerospace
Operations in Houston.

     The new work comes under Phase 2 of NASA's space flight
operations contract with USA.  Under Phase 1 of the contract,
NASA consolidated operations of 12 separate contracts under USA.
Phase 2 will consolidate an additional 16 contracts as part of a
continuing NASA effort to transfer day-to-day shuttle operations
from government employees to private companies.

     The performance period under Phase 2 runs through Sept. 30, 2002.

                             -end-