Aerojet Engines Maneuver Discovery's Docking to International Space Station

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Feb. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aerojet, a GenCorp (NYSE: GY) company, announced today that its engines contributed to Space Shuttle Discovery's (STS-133) on-orbit operations and successful docking to the International Space Station (ISS). Discovery lifted off Feb. 24 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and docked with the ISS on Saturday.

On this 35th shuttle mission to the ISS, Discovery is delivering the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) to the space station as well as supplies for the crew. The PMM will provide additional storage for the station crew and for experiments that will be conducted inside it. Two spacewalks are planned for the STS-133 mission.

Aerojet manufactured the Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) engines and the Reaction Control System (RCS) thrusters, each having flown on every shuttle mission since its launch inception in 1981, as well as gas generators supporting the Auxiliary Power Units. The two OMS engines are used to place the shuttle into orbit and return it to earth. The 38 primary and six Vernier RCS thrusters are used for attitude control during flight operations such as payload insertions and ISS docking.

Discovery's arrival at the ISS marks the first and only time that all of the visiting vehicles (Soyuz, Progress, Japan's Konoutori2 HTV, Europe's Johannes Kepler ATV and Discovery) are on station at the same time. Including Discovery's engines, thrusters and gas generators, 32 engines on the HTV and four on the ATV, Aerojet provides a remarkable 85 propulsive elements on station.

"Aerojet celebrates Discovery's last planned flight," said Vice President, Space and Launch Systems, Julie Van Kleeck. "The Space Shuttle's presence in the line-up of the visiting vehicles completes a historic event."

Aerojet is a world-recognized aerospace and defense leader principally serving the missile and space propulsion, defense and armaments markets. GenCorp is a leading technology-based manufacturer of aerospace and defense products and systems with a real estate segment that includes activities related to the entitlement, sale, and leasing of the company's excess real estate assets. Additional information about Aerojet and GenCorp can be obtained by visiting the companies' websites at http://www.Aerojet.com and http://www.GenCorp.com.

SOURCE Aerojet