MANASSAS, VA--(MARKET WIRE)--Sep 2, 2008 -- Aurora Flight Sciences announced today that it has been awarded a contract from Orbital to build Minotaur IV Composite Structures.

Recognizing that Orbital's strategy was to develop the Minotaur IV Launch Vehicle at an affordable cost, Aurora plans to build the composite parts in its low-cost manufacturing facilities in West Virginia, where the company can provide a combination of lean manufacturing, low labor costs, and advanced processing methods in modern facilities, resulting in an economical acquisition cost for the Minotaur IV Composite Structures.

Source: Aurora Flight Sciences
(click to enlarge) Aurora Flight Sciences will design and manufacture composite structures for Orbital's Minotaur IV Launch Vehicle Program

Aurora is uniquely qualified to build the Minotaur IV Composite Structures for Orbital as proven with the design and manufacturing of NASA qualified spaceflight hardware which has flown on 28 space missions, including numerous human spaceflight experiments and safety critical flight hardware.

"Aurora is honored to have been selected by the Orbital to do this work," said Aurora Vice President of Aerostructures, Dan Brady. "We take great pride in our company's leading edge innovation, and our unique capabilities in composites manufacturing. We have a long history of working with Orbital and look forward to continuing that tradition."

The Minotaur IV space launch vehicle leverages the flight-proven heritage of Orbital's Minotaur, Pegasus, and Taurus space launch vehicles to provide an extremely cost-effective and capable space launch solution.

About Aurora Flight Sciences

Aurora Flight Sciences designs and builds robotic aircraft and other advanced aerospace vehicles for scientific and military applications. Aurora is headquartered in Manassas, VA and operates production plants in Clarksburg, WV and Columbus, MS and a Research and Development Center in Cambridge, MA. To view recent press releases and more about Aurora please visit our web site at www.aurora.aero.

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