A Boeing CST-100 crew module docks at a Bigelow Aerospace space station. (Credit: Boeing)

CANOGA PARK, Calif. (NASA PR) — Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne has successfully completed a series of tests on a thruster destined for Boeing’s Commercial Space Transportation spacecraft, designated CST-100.

Boeing is one of several companies working to develop crew transportation capabilities under the Commercial Crew Development Round 2 agreement with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The goal of the program is to help spur innovation and development of safe, reliable and cost-effective spacecraft and launch vehicles capable of transporting astronauts to low Earth orbit and the International Space Station.
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X-51 Waverider

PRATT & WHITNEY ROCKETDYNE PRESS RELEASE

The U.S. Air Force X-51A WaveRider vehicle yesterday successfully made its first captive carry flight under the wing of a B-52 carry aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The X-51A is powered by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) company.

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Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne celebrated the opening of the new PoWeR Innovations Research facility on the campus of University of Alabama in Huntsville, Ala, on Dec. 9. The facility is part of a collaborative effort designed to develop new technologies and business strategies for both the company and the university. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) company.

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PRATT & WHITNEY ROCKETDYNE PRESS RELEASE

Using technology developed for the nation’s ballistic missile defense system, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne successfully completed hot-fire thruster tests demonstrating the ability of miniaturized thrusters to perform the descent and landing operation for a new generation of multi-use robotic lunar landers.  Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a United Technologies Corp. company.

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Falcon hypersonic technology vehicle (HTV)

PRATT & WHITNEY ROCKETDYNE PRESS RELEASE

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne has been awarded a 10-month contract by Lockheed Martin for preliminary design of the high speed accelerator for a turbine-based combined-cycle (TBCC) propulsion system, which could support flight up to Mach 6. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX).

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PWR Offers Shuttle Engine Alternative
Aviation Week

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) says it could rapidly stand up an expendable space shuttle main engine (SSME) if the Obama administration decides to use a shuttle-derived throwaway heavy lifter as an alternative to the Ares I crew launch vehicle.

The company has told a White House panel reviewing human spaceflight options that it could have a sufficient number of SSMEs ready within a year using a combination of leftovers from the shuttle program and newly-built engines. It has also proposed developing a modified, lower-cost SSME as a follow-on, PWR President Jim Maser said July 14 at a Space Foundation roundtable in Washington.

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PRESS RELEASE

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne’s PWR-9221FJ dual-mode ramjet engine successfully completed its first ground test at Mach 4 flight conditions at Arnold Engineering Development Center, Tullahoma, Tenn. A dual-mode ramjet engine is a key technology for developing reusable hypersonic vehicles. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX) company.

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Ares 1-X undergoing assembly

Pratt Rocketdyne taking technology from Cold War to moon
Journal Inquirer

In a space-age version of beating swords into plowshares, East Hartford-based Pratt & Whitney’s Rocketdyne division is working with NASA to convert Cold War rocket technology into the next-generation moon mission launch vehicle.

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PRESS RELEASE

In preparation for NASA’s first Ares I-X test flight in August, engineers from Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne have finished pressurizing and loading 1,423 pounds of propellants into heritage hardware from the Peacekeeper missile system that will be used to help return humans to the moon by 2020.

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PRESS RELEASE

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne completed a series of successful hot-fire tests for a propulsion system that could lead to increased mission capability and flexibility in sending humans to the moon, Mars and beyond. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) company.

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