June 7 (UPI) — NASA has awarded major contracts to a half-dozen companies that will provide liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen to support operations at agency centers and facilities across the United States, the space agency announced Thursday.
While not the most high-profile part of the space program, scientists would not be able to do the work they need without access to large quantities of critical gases.
“The raw materials will support current and future aerospace flight, simulation, research, development, testing and other operations at the following NASA centers and facilities,” the government said in a statement.
NASA will use nearly 657 tons, or nearly 30.4 million gallons, of liquid nitrogen for pressurization, cooling and other functions, and 243,000 tons, or about 2.1 million gallons, of liquid oxygen, which is mostly used as an oxidizer in cryogenic engines.
Air Products and Chemicals Inc. of Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Linde Inc. of Danbury, Connecticut, were among the biggest contract winners, raising $36.9 million and $42.2 million, respectively. Messer LLC, of Bridgewater, NJ, was the biggest winner with $62.3 million.
Airgas USA with operations in Georgia and Oklahoma also received nearly $10 million dollars between the two locations.
Although much less visible, Thursday’s announcement of the gas contracts came against the backdrop of much bigger space news.
The Boeing Starliner spacecraft docked with the International Space Station Thursday afternoon following a June 5 launch from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The launch had been scrubbed several times and the vessel had to stop before docking due to some technical issues.
“As Starliner approached the space station, five response control system thrusters failed in flight,” according to the NASA Starliner mission website. “Mission teams conducted a series of hot-fire tests that re-engaged four of the thrusters while the crew manually controlled the spacecraft at the station’s 200-meter hold point.”
Finally, the Starliner docked with the ISS and shortly afterwards the Starship astronauts made their way through an open hatch to the orbital and were greeted by the crew members already on board. This was the first crewed flight for the Boeing Starliner spacecraft.
