ATK gets $57 million deal

A contract for ATK to supply a second stage motor for a commercial space-launch vehicle will keep people working in the company's Utah facilities, a spokeswoman said Monday. ATK announced it was awarded a $57 million contract to provide the Castor® 30XL, an upgraded second stage motor for Orbital Science Corporation's Taurus® II commercial launch vehicle, which will supply cargo for NASA to the International Space Station.

Work on that motor system has already been performed at ATK's Promontory facility, according to spokeswoman Trina Patterson. ATK has suffered about 2,100 layoffs in Utah in the past two years as the space shuttle program is replaced, including 134 jobs lost at the start of April. ATK made motors for the space shuttles.

The new contract will not allow the company to rehire employees who had been laid off, Pattrerson said, "but it will sustain jobs in the current program." Ogden Standard-Examiner