NASA has issued a change order, effective Sept. 3, 2003,
to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) contract with
Northrop Grumman Space and Mission Systems Corporation, Space
Technology (NGST) in Redondo Beach, Calif. The change order
implements a re-plan to the JWST program to accommodate the
planned launch date of August 2011, which was announced
earlier this year.

The JWST contract was awarded to NGST on September 16, 2002.
The primary goal of JWST is to observe the early universe at
an age between one million and a few billion years. Under the
terms of the contract, NGST is responsible for final design,
fabrication, integration, and testing of the JWST observatory.
In addition, the contractor is responsible for launch
integration, on-orbit checkout and post-launch support. The
contract extends through launch plus one year.

Services will be performed at Northrop Grumman Space and
Mission Systems Corporation, Space Technology in Redondo
Beach, Calif. The contract type is cost-plus-incentive-
fee/award fee. The change order has a not-to-exceed amount of
$98 million.

More information about NASA and the James Webb Space Telescope
is available at:

http://www.nasa.gov

http://jwst.nasa.gov