Northrop Grumman
Makes the solid rocket boosters for SLS and Vulcan, flies Cygnus cargo ships, and built the Webb telescope.
- Founded
- 1994
- Headquarters
- Falls Church, Virginia
- Machines in the atlas
- 4
Northrop Grumman took its name in 1994, when Northrop bought Grumman. Its 2018 purchase of Orbital ATK brought the Cygnus cargo ship and the solid-rocket business whose predecessor, ATK Thiokol, built the Space Shuttle’s solid rocket motors. Each SLS launch uses two of its five-segment boosters, made in Utah; Vulcan uses its smaller GEM 63XL boosters.
The company was NASA’s main industrial contractor for the James Webb Space Telescope, and its Cygnus spacecraft carry cargo to the Space Station. It was also building the HALO habitat module for the lunar Gateway; after NASA turned its Moon plans toward a surface base in 2026, HALO’s power and avionics hardware is being reused for three lunar-surface technology demonstrations.
Money from NASA
| Contract | Value | Year |
|---|---|---|
| SLS Booster Production and Operations Contract (letter contract in 2020, made final in 2021) | $3.2 billion | 2021 |
| Commercial Resupply Services: first Cygnus cargo contract, eight flights (awarded to Orbital Sciences) | $1.9 billion | 2008 |
What it builds
Stories that involve Northrop Grumman
6 more stories
Sources
- Space Launch System Solid Rocket Booster NASA
- Webb FAQs NASA
- NASA Provides Updates on Moon Base Cargo Landers, Tech Demonstrations NASA, August 4, 2026
- NASA’s Management of the Space Launch System Booster and Engine Contracts (IG-23-015) NASA Office of Inspector General, May 25, 2023
- Commercial Orbital Transportation Services: A New Era in Spaceflight (NASA SP-2014-617) NASA, 2014
- Northrop Grumman Corporation Form 10-K for 2025 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (company filing), January 27, 2026