“This is the first wave of center assignments for getting Constellation rolling,” said Jeff Hanley, NASA’s Constellation program manager, referring to its announcement last Monday about the roles of its 10 regional field centers on the development of the Crew Exploration Vehicle. Constellation is the multibillion-dollar effort of the agency to  build the CEV, launchers and landing spacecraft needed to put U.S. astronauts on the Moon by 2020.

Overall responsibility for the CEV remains at (1) Johnson Space Center in Houston, but there are other centers joining forces to make Constellation successful.

On top of the list is the (2) Glenn Research Center in Cleveland that has the responsibility of developing the CEV Service Module. (3) Ames Research Center in California, is going to be responsible for developing the CEV's thermal protection system, while neighbor (4) Dryden Flight Research Center has been assigned the task of flight testing the CEV's launch abort system.

Langley engineers from (5) Langley Research Center in Hampton will oversee and conduct independent analysis if the CEV prime contractor’s development of a launch abort system. (6) Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., is leading development of the Crew Launch Vehicle, with (7) Stennis Space Center in Mississippi responsible for testing engines for both the crew launcher and an unmanned heavy-lift launcher.

The chosen launch site, (8) Kennedy Space Center will host NASA’s Ground Operations Project. Communications, navigation and avionics work is under (9) Goddard Space Flight Center while responsible for all of the agency’s robotic landers of late, the (10) Jet Propulsion Laboratory will lend its expertise in robotic surface operations to the NASA’s human exploration efforts.