Three Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME) successfully powered the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery on Mission STS-128 yesterday to deliver extra supplies and equipment to support a six-person crew onboard the International Space Station. The SSME is the world’s only fully reusable high performance rocket engine rated for human space flight. Discovery launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on the 30th flight to the space station. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX) company.
“The additional crew and supplies are extremely valuable to scientific research and discovery, and we’re proud to help NASA as it continues to expand the International Space Station,” said Jim Paulsen, SSME program manager, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. “The successful launch speaks volumes about our talented, dedicated work force.”
Discovery’s main payload is the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, which is carrying extra supplies and equipment to help establish a six-astronaut crew capacity on the space station. The payload includes science and storage racks, a treadmill and a crew quarter. In a series of spacewalks, astronauts will also remove and replace material processing equipment outside Columbus, the European Space Agency’s laboratory, and retrieve an empty ammonia tank assembly.
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Inc., a part of Pratt & Whitney, is a preferred provider of high-value propulsion, power, energy and innovative system solutions used in a wide variety of government and commercial applications, including the main engines for the space shuttle, Atlas and Delta launch vehicles, missile defense systems and advanced hypersonic engines.
Pratt & Whitney is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of aircraft engines, space propulsion systems and industrial gas turbines. United Technologies, based in Hartford, Conn., is a diversified company providing high technology products and services to the global aerospace and commercial building industries.
