Aerojet Engines Support STS-127 Delivery of Kibo Laboratory Components to the International Space Station
Aerojet, a GenCorp (NYSE:GY) company, announced today that its engines will support Space Shuttle Endeavour’s mission to the International Space Station. Aerojet engines are used for on-orbit operations, space station reboost and during landing.
On this 16-day mission, the STS-127 crew will deliver the final components of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kibo laboratory to the Station. This is the Shuttle’s 29th trip to the Station and the 127th Space Shuttle flight.
STS-127 Mission Specialist Timothy Kopra will remain at the Station as the flight engineer, and science officer and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata will return to Earth.
Aerojet’s Orbital Maneuvering Engines, 38 primary and six Vernier thrusters on each Orbiter, as well as gas generators supporting the Auxiliary Power Units, have flown on every Shuttle mission since its launch inception in 1981. This technology is critical to the Shuttle’s maneuvering abilities, the external tank separation, control of the entry vehicle and de-orbit efforts. “Aerojet is proud to provide propulsion enabling completion of Kibo’s permanent hardware installation,” said Aerojet’s Business Development Manager, Olwen Morgan. Aerojet engines and thrusters are also planned for use on Orion and Ares — the new human space flight programs under development at NASA.
Aerojet is a world-recognized aerospace and defense leader principally serving the missile and space propulsion, defense and armaments markets. GenCorp is a leading technology-based manufacturer of aerospace and defense products and systems with a real estate segment that includes activities related to the entitlement, sale, and leasing of the company’s excess real estate assets. Additional information about Aerojet and GenCorp can be obtained by visiting the companies’ Web sites at http://www.aerojet.com/ and http://www.gencorp.com/.
Source: Aerojet
CONTACT: Glenn Mahone, +1-202-302-9941, Glenn.Mahone@Aerojet.com, or Kristin Conner, +1-916-355-2143, Kristin.Conner@Aerojet.com, both of Aerojet
