BOEING HOPING TO CATCH WORK WITH EVENTUAL SHUTTLE CONTRACTOR.

Byline: Sean Griffin Scripps-McClatchy Western Service

Boeing still hopes to have a piece of the next-generation space shuttle. But it will be, perhaps, a smaller piece than many were expecting.

Boeing and McDonnell Douglas joined forces in November 1994 in the first phase of the three-phase project: coming up with design concepts for an economical, reusable replacement for the space shuttle.

But two weeks ago, when the deadline arrived for submitting proposals for Phase 2 - building prototypes - Boeing's name was nowhere to be found. In July the National Aeronautics and Space Administration will select one contractor to build two prototype shuttles.

A report in Monday's Wall Street Journal quoted unnamed sources saying that Boeing lacked faith in McDonnell Douglas' design.

But Elliot Pulham, a spokesman in Boeing's Missiles & Space Division in Kent, said Boeing and McDonnell Douglas never had an agreement to work together beyond Phase 1.

``We feel we do some things so well and so uniquely that we think whoever wins this will want us as a subcontractor,'' Pulham said.

Rather than ``hitch our wagon to any one competitor'' - which would give it one chance in three of getting a piece of the action - Pulham said Boeing can enhance its position by offering itself as a subcontractor to all three bidders: McDonnell Douglas, Rockwell and Lockheed Martin.

``We think that's a good position for us,'' Pulham said.

The space shuttle, using technology that is nearly 20 years old, has been criticized as a costly, inefficient way to place objects in orbit.

Confined to low-altitude orbits, the shuttle alone is incapable of placing satellites in high, geosynchronous orbits - which means they orbit at the same pace as the planet rotates - fixing them above the same point on Earth's surface. In fact, Boeing markets a product known as the Inertial Upper Stage, a booster that lifts satellite payloads from the shuttle to higher, more useful altitudes.

The McDonnell Douglas/Boeing team had talked about building a shuttle system that would operate more like an airline - spending much of its time off the ground.

Boeing has expertise in two areas that would be useful in the shuttle.

The first is to build a shuttle ``that operates more like a jetliner and less like a rocket - with reasonable operation costs; predictable, reliable, economical.''

The other is in using high-tech plastics - usually a carbon fiber/epoxy hybrid - which, when baked, are as strong as aluminum but far lighter.

Boeing makes composite parts for aircraft at its Frederickson plant and at the Developmental Center in Seattle.