Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) has booked a $1.99 billion order from NASA to manufacture Orion spacecraft for an additional three human space exploration missions under the Artemis program.
The space agency placed the order under the $4.6 billion Orion Production and Operations Contract to procure vehicles for Artemis VI through VIII missions, Lockheed said Thursday.
The indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract includes a $2.7 billion initial order for three spacecraft for the Artemis III to V lunar missions to transport astronauts to the lunar surface.
NASA could order six additional Orion missions through the IDIQ in the future.
“We’re achieving substantial cost savings from Artemis III through Artemis VIII by extensive structure and system reuse and incorporating advanced digital design and manufacturing processes,” said Tonya Ladwig, Orion vice president and program manager at Lockheed’s space segment.
Lockheed has completed the construction of the Orion vehicle for the uncrewed Artemis I mission scheduled to launch on Nov. 14.
