Middletown, Ohio Aeronca Facility awarded $12 million contract

Magellan Aerospace Corp, a Canadian Manufacturer of aerospace technology, has signed a $12 million contract with NASA to develop and produce heat shields for NASA’s new spacecraft called Orion. The shields will be produced in Middletown, Ohio Aeronca facility that is located adjacent to the Middletown Municipal Airport.

The Middletown, Ohio Aeronca facility has been in Middletown since 1940 and was used mainly during WW II to produce over 17,000 airplanes. Aeronca also worked on building most of the entire outer surface of the spacecraft used in the Apollo Missions. Now their next new job will help build the Orion Spacecraft. The Orion spacecraft is expected to make its debut launch sometime after the 2011. The Orion project is aimed at returning human exploration to the Moon and in later years to Mars.

Read more on our Aeronca Heat Shield Story