A major Lehigh Valley gas manufacturing company has been awarded a number of significant contracts by NASA.
Air Products announced Monday in a release that it has received several supply contracts from NASA, which total over $130 million.
Under one public contract, the company will supply liquid hydrogen to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and the nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
This multi-year contract is already in effect and has a maximum value of around $75 million.
Under another contract, valued at over $57 million, Air Products will also supply liquid hydrogen to other NASA facilities including the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, and the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.
Liquid hydrogen is combined with liquid oxygen as a fuel in cryogenic rocket engines.
In October 2022, Air Products was one of three companies selected to supply NASA with gaseous and liquid helium for use at the agency’s facilities, under a $149 million contract..
The helium was required to support the International Space Station along with the super-heavy lift Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft that form NASA’s Artemis program, which plans to return humans to the moon.
Air Products said in the release that its working relationship with NASA began in 1957.
The company said it has continually supplied the U.S. Space Program and the agency with liquid hydrogen and other industrial gases, and also maintains a long-term relationship with NASA’s engine testing program.
(Original air-date: 3/29/23)
