SPACCE RACE A.V. HOPES TO WIN SPACECRAFT JOBS.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

PALMDALE - As NASA officials this week begin examining the proposals from aerospace industry teams vying to build America's next manned spacecraft, state and Antelope Valley officials are hoping some of the work comes to California.

Sometime this fall, NASA will select either a team led by Lockheed Martin or one led by Northrop Grumman, with Boeing as its major partner, to build the crew exploration vehicle, which looks like a larger version of the Apollo spacecraft that went to the moon in the 1960s and '70s.

Assemblywoman Sharon Runner, R-Lancaster, co-authored legislation to provide state tax credits for work on the CEV. She is now looking at trying to get those credits included into the governor's revised budget proposal in May.

``We have to have some real incentives to offer,'' Runner said. ``This way it comes sooner rather than later.''

The tax credit would be for 10 percent of an employee's wages and 10 percent for equipment purchased directly for the program.

The Lockheed Martin team has already announced it will assemble the spacecraft in Florida if it wins the contract. The Florida state government is putting up an incentive package valued at $45.5 million for the winning contractor team.

The Northrop Grumman-led team will not disclose its assembly site, saying that it would be premature to talk about proposal details.

California officials said they haven't given up on attracting work from either team. Incentive packages for both teams have been put together.

The details of those packages are not being disclosed, but officials said they include tax credits for research and development work, assistance with employee training, and information about local incentives, such as the Antelope Valley's enterprise zone, which provides tax credits on wages and equipment purchases for work done within the zone.

The state team that put together the CEV incentives supports the tax credit effort by Runner and co-author Assemblyman Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, said Eric Daniels, spokesman for the California Space Authority, which is coordinating the team's efforts.

``It looks promising,'' Daniels said.

Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford said he is optimistic that at least some work would be done in the Antelope Valley, even if the contract is won by Lockheed Martin.

``I think we do have a chance,'' Ledford said. ``We have the expertise here for some of the component manufacturing.''

Northrop Grumman has a strong California presence and has been enhancing its operations in Palmdale, Ledford said.

Some research and development work on the program will be done at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base.

Anticipated work at Dryden includes flight testing of a launch-abort system, drop tests of a subscale model to evaluate approach and landing technologies and procedures, and range safety analyses.

The planned spacecraft will transport up to six crew members to and from the International Space Station and up to four astronauts for moon missions, which the agency expects to start in 2018.

NASA estimates it will cost $104 billion to return astronauts to the moon by 2018. The Apollo program spent the equivalent of $165 billion in today's dollars from 1961 through the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969.

NASA referred to the new moon plan as ``Apollo on steroids.'' The plan calls for placing four astronauts on the moon's surface instead of two, as during the Apollo days. Astronauts will be able to stay on the moon's surface for four days to a week, compared with the three-day mission of Apollo 17.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Workers at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Texas assemble a mock-up of the planned crew exploration vehicle.

(2 -- color) An artist's conception shows the crew exploration vehicle landing on air bag cushions. The craft would take up to four astronauts on moon missions.

(3 -- color) A CEV scale model is being prepared for wind tunnel tests at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif.

(4 -- color) In an artist's conception, a crew exploration vehicle launches. The CEV will take astronauts to the International Space Station and to the moon.

NASA