United Launch Alliance (ULA) has selected Hensel Phelps Construction Co. of Orlando, Fla., to draw up plans for modifying the company’s Atlas 5 launch pads in Florida to support crew-carrying launches of the rocket, ULA announced Nov. 7.
Boeing Space Exploration of Houston and Sierra Nevada Space Systems of Louisville, Colo., both intend to use Atlas 5 to launch the crew taxis they are developing with financial help from NASA.
ULA plans to spend the next 21 months working with Hensel Phelps to develop requirements and cost and schedule projections for modifying Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41. Hensel Phelps managed the original Atlas 5 pad construction at Cape Canaveral and at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
