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ATK Supports NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis Launch and Plays Critical Role in Hubble Servicing Mission

May 11, 2009

More Than 100 ATK Tools Vital in the Repair of the Hubble Space Telescope

MINNEAPOLIS, May 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Alliant Techsystem's Reusable Solid Rocket Motors (RSRM) ignited and sent NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis and its crew on their journey to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope. Those repairs will be aided by tools developed by ATK engineers in partnership with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

ATK's two solid rocket motors provided the main thrust at liftoff and carried the shuttle orbiter and its payload to an altitude of approximately 28 miles in two minutes of flight, producing the equivalent of 15 million horsepower.

After two minutes, 16 ATK booster separation motors (BSMs) - four on the forward skirt and four on the aft skirt of each booster - fired to jettison the boosters away from the shuttle orbiter and external tank, allowing the RSRMs to parachute back down through the Earth's atmosphere to be recovered and reused while Atlantis continued on its way to meet up with the Hubble Space Telescope.

ATK's participation in the fifth and final Hubble Servicing Mission started in the late 1990s with the design and fabrication of the all-composite optical bench for the third generation Wide Field Camera (WFC3) scientific instrument. Along with the bench, ATK designed and fabricated the internal flexible heat pipes that maintain the detectors at their nominal operating temperatures. A dedicated team of ATK engineers and designers assisted in the integration and testing of the instrument and provided 24/7 support for three thermal vacuum tests at Goddard Space Flight Center.

"On this historic mission, ATK is pleased to play a key role in the both the launch of STS-125 and the on-orbit repair of Hubble," said Blake Larson, ATK Space Systems president. "With this mission, Hubble will continue to rewrite astronomy text books for years to come."

In addition, ATK led a multi-contractor team in designing, manufacturing and testing the replacement electronics for the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) instrument. This critical instrument's composite optical bench was also fabricated by ATK.

Another new, exciting instrument to be added on this mission is the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS), which observes the light output from extremely faint, far-away quasars and measures changes in that light as it passes through the intervening gas between distant galaxies. In this way scientists will learn what that gas is made of, how it changes over time and how it affects the galaxies around it. ATK led the critical step of reworking and testing the original Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS) optical bench in order to mate it with the COS instrument.

As the final Hubble repairs begin, tools designed and built by ATK will enable astronauts to accomplish the delicate tasks of repairing and replacing Hubble components and sensitive scientific instruments in space during five planned spacewalks. ATK designed, manufactured, assembled and tested approximately 100 new tools for use on this Hubble Servicing Mission. In addition, ATK refurbished and re-qualified 32 tools built by ATK for previous servicing missions for use on this final Hubble mission

ATK's RSRMs and BSMs will be used for the remainder of the Space Shuttle program with upgraded versions being used on NASA's next-generation launch vehicle, Ares I. ATK is the prime contractor for the first stage of Ares I.

ATK is a premier aerospace and defense company with more than 19,000 employees in 22 states, Puerto Rico and internationally, and revenues in excess of $4.5 billion. News and information can be found on the Internet at www.atk.com.

Certain information discussed in this press release constitutes forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although ATK believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be achieved. Forward-looking information is subject to certain risks, trends and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Among those factors are: changes in governmental spending, anomalies that may occur during missions, budgetary policies and product sourcing strategies; the company's competitive environment; the terms and timing of awards and contracts; and economic conditions. ATK undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. For further information on factors that could impact ATK, and statements contained herein, please refer to ATK's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

    Media Contact:                            Investor Contact:

    George Torres                             Jeff Huebschen
    Phone:  801-699-2637                      Phone:  952-351-2929
    E-mail:  george.torres@atk.com            E-mail:  jeff.huebschen@atk.com