NBL Facility Is Where Astronauts Train For Weightless Operations

NASA has awarded a contract to Raytheon Technical Services of Webster, Texas, to operate, maintain and provide sustaining engineering at the Johnson Space Center's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory and Space Vehicle Mockup Facility in Houston. The contract has a maximum value of $119.9 million.

The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, or NBL, includes a large pool where astronauts use pressurized spacesuits to train for spacewalks. The NBL, which has underwater mockups of the space shuttle and International Space Station modules, simulates the weightless environment of space. The Space Vehicle Mockup Facility also is used to train astronauts for their missions. It includes full-scale simulators of the shuttle, station and Soyuz spacecraft. Both facilities are managed by Johnson's Mission Operations Directorate.

The contract's three-year base period is valued at $67.6 million with two one-year options totaling $52.3 million. The base period extends from Oct. 1, 2010, through Sept. 30, 2013. If both options are exercised the contract will extend through Sept. 30, 2015.

FMI: www.nasa.gov