Barbara Selby
  Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                            
  November 22, 1991
  (Phone:  703/557-5609)
  
  Rick Mould
  University of Alabama-Huntsville
  (Phone:  205/895-6414)
  
  RELEASE:  91-194
  
  EER SYSTEMS SELECTED FOR FOLLOW-ON CONSORT LAUNCHES
  
       The University of Alabama in Hunstville's Consortium 
  for Materials Development in Space (UAH CMDS), a NASA Center 
  for the Commercial Development of Space, has selected EER 
  Systems Corp., Vienna, Va., to provide the vehicle, launch 
  and recovery services for the next series of Consort 
  suborbital rocket missions.
  
       The UAH CMDS will contract for three launches over the 
  next 3 years, commencing with Consort 5, projected for late 
  1992.  The agreement also includes an option for four 
  additional missions.
  
       The Consort flight program is funded by NASA's Office 
  of Commercial Programs as part of its space transportation 
  augmentation effort.  The cost of the Consort series is 
  approximately $2 million for each flight.
  
       Using its Starfire 1 rocket, EER will continue 
  launching the Consort missions from White Sands Missile 
  Range, N.M.  The two-stage, 52-foot tall vehicle achieves an 
  altitude of about 200 miles and provides experiments with 6 
  to 8 minutes of weightlessness.  The Starfire rocket 
  assembly includes the first stage motor built by Thiokol 
  Corp., Huntsville; a second stage sustainer supplied by 
  Bristol Aerospace of Canada and an S-19 guidance package 
  from SAAB of Sweden.
  
       On Nov. 16, EER successfully conducted the Consort 4 
  mission when the Starfire boosted a payload of nine 
  materials science and biotechnology experiments to an 
  altitude of 185 miles, providing them with 7 minutes of 
  microgravity.
  
                            -end-