"KST's selection by NASA to participate in this study is significant because it underscores our company's mission to commercially provide the lowest cost, most reliable and most responsive transportation to our customer's orbits," said Bob Davis, KST president/chief executive officer.

KST is a commercial reusable space transportation systems development and operations company, which was founded in 1993 by Michael Kelly and Michael Gallo. The company is located at the San Bernardino International Airport, the former Norton Air Force Base, in San Bernardino.

KST is one of five companies NASA selected for the one-year study contracts. The others are: Boeing Information, Space, and Defense Systems, Seal Beach, Calif.; Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, Colo.; Orbital Sciences Corporation, Dulles, Va.; and Space Access, LLC, Palmdale, Calif. The study contracts involve different numbers of tasks and range in value from $1-2 million each.

According to NASA, "The industry-led studies will provide information to support future policy decisions determining if the Space Shuttle system should be replaced; if so, when; if not, what upgrade strategy is required to continue safe and affordable Space Shuttle flight.

"The studies will assess architectures that offer potential cost savings, including future scenarios that keep the Space Shuttle operational until 2020 and replace the Space Shuttle when cost-effective, and will develop an architecture that assumes NASA's current funding level for space transportation. These studies will identify the government marginal investment necessary for the commercial launch industry to meet NASA's launch requirements."

KST's program manager for the contract is Jim Hollopeter. The company has selected the following firms to be on KST's contractor team for this submittal: Eclipse Space Lines, a KST affiliate also located in San Bernardino, Calif.; TRW Strategic Systems Division with offices located in San Bernardino, Calif.; the Advanced Systems Technology Unit of Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems & Architectures Sector., Pico Rivera, Calif.; ECON Inc., Los Angeles; and Raven Aerospace, Houston, Texas.

According to Hollopeter, "The KST team of aerospace experts, along with our talented subcontractors, are very pleased to have been selected by NASA to perform this important study to develop requirements for a next generation of space launch vehicles.

"As part of this contract, we look forward to supplying NASA with information on KST's Tow Launch Technology and our economical and operationally efficient Astroliner reusable launch vehicle, " he said.

"KST's Tow Launch Technology, coupled with the Astroliner's reusability, lowers cost and increases flexibility well beyond that for fixed-site, expendable or weight-limited airborne launch systems," noted Hollopeter.

The company currently is developing the Astroliner, a reusable aerospace plane, which will begin commercial operations by mid-2002. As KST's flagship vehicle, the piloted Astroliner will provide a cargo delivery service, ranging from deploying satellites to ultimately enabling the general public to travel in space.

KST has an $89 million contract with Motorola Inc. to launch 20 communications satellites into orbit for Iridium, a satellite-based, global personal communications system which Motorola has developed. With the patented KST Tow Launch Technology, the company will use a modified Boeing 747 to tow the Astroliner from conventional airports anywhere around the globe to its "launch site" at 20,000 feet of altitude.

KST's technological innovation was recognized yesterday (Sept. 17) by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), which presented KST with a Roland Tibbetts award for being a 'model of technology excellence.'

Firms competing for the award were involved with the SBA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. Judging was based on the economic impact of their technological innovations and overall business achievements.

KST was bestowed the honor for successfully demonstrating its Tow Launch Technology. Robert Keltner served as KST's SBIR program manager.

Last December through February, KST successfully demonstrated its Tow Launch Technology during all six flight demonstrations conducted with NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center and the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force in Edwards, Calif., under a SBIR contract awarded by the Air Force Research Laboratory.

In his commentary at the awards presentation in Washington DC, SBA senior official Terry Bibbens said, "The Kelly Space & Technology Inc. Tow Launch Technology is one of the most promising approaches for reducing the launch cost of sub-orbital and orbital payloads."