The Space Shuttle is set to retire by 2010 and NASA is seeking a CEV to pass the Space Shuttle's baton to. Two teams, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman/Boeing, are up for the picking. Both have already submitted their respective proposals and are tight-lipped about it.

"We’re clearly in a competition. I don’t feel it’s the right time to be coming out with a lot of details about how we plan to tackle the job," said Doug Young, Vice President and CEV Program Manager at Northrop Grumman.

As expected both teams are claiming that they are what NASA is looking for and are not afraid to let their competition have some dose of trash (or space) talking.

"We think we are offering NASA a really good team," said Art Stephenson, Sector Vice President, Space Exploration Systems, Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems. "Our proposal is focused on what’s the best answer for the taxpayer and for NASA." While on the other camp, John Karas, Vice President of Space Exploration for Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company declares, "Everything except the shape [of CEV] is brand new. It’s not your daddy’s Oldsmobile."

NASA keeps mum about the issue by saying that they are currently evaluating proposals and plan to down select and award the Phase 2 contract in the August/Spetember time frame. "All other information is competition sensitive and will not be provided at this time," said Michael Braukus, a NASA Headquarters spokesman.