ATK Successfully Tests Orion Launch Abort System Attitude Control Motor

Launch Abort System Designed for Unmatched Crew Safety

ATK's Successful Test in Elkton, Maryland Is a Key Milestone in Development of Orion Spacecraft

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK) performed a ground test of a full-scale attitude control motor (ACM) for the launch abort system (LAS) of NASA's Orion crew exploration vehicle. The test was conducted at ATK's facility in Elkton, Md. on Dec. 15.

"The ACM test is a major accomplishment for the ATK, Lockheed Martin and the NASA LAS team. We demonstrated a critical technology capability that will enhance crew safety and mission success," said Bart Olson, Vice President and General Manager, ATK Tactical Propulsion and Controls. "This successful milestone brings Constellation another step closer to flight ready status and demonstrates progress toward improved flight safety for astronauts that is at the core of Constellation Program success.

Early indications are that the Demonstration Motor 1 (DM-1) test was successful and engineers are now analyzing the detailed results. This was the sixth in a series of ground tests of Orion's attitude control motor system, validating that the thruster system performs as designed.

ATK's attitude control motor provides steering for the Orion launch abort system which is designed to safely lift and steer the Orion crew module away from the Ares crew launch vehicle in the event of an emergency.

ATK's attitude control motor consists of a solid propellant gas generator, with eight proportional valves equally spaced around the circumference of the three-foot diameter motor. In combination, the valves can exert up to 7,000 pounds of steering force to the vehicle in any direction upon command from the crew module. The valves are controlled by a redundant power and control system.

ATK is under contract to Lockheed Martin, NASA's prime contractor for Orion, to develop the attitude control motor and provide motors for Orion's development test flights and human rated flights. ATK is also the prime contractor for Ares I first stage.

Video, photographs and additional information on the ACM program can be found at:

http://www.atk.com/Customer_Solutions_MissionSystems/cs_ms_sp_acm.asp

ATK is a premier aerospace and defense company with more than 18,000 employees in 22 states, Puerto Rico and internationally, and revenues of approximately $4.8 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, 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:

    Rod Gibbons                               Jeff Huebschen
    Phone:  410-864-3942                      Phone:  952-351-2929
    E-mail:  rod.gibbons@atk.com              E-mail:  jeff.huebschen@atk.com

ATK Propulsion and Composite Technologies Key to Successful Delta II Launch

ATK Supports NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) Satellite

ATK Approaching 20 Years of Support for Delta II Missions

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK) played a key role in the successful launch of United Launch Alliance's Delta II rocket today from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., carrying the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite for NASA. The company provided solid rocket boosters and the composite payload fairing.

ATK manufactured the three, 40-inch-diameter Graphite Epoxy Motors (GEM), which are strap-on boosters that ignited with the Delta II first-stage main engine at liftoff. The boosters provided 336,000 pounds of maximum thrust helping carry the WISE satellite to its required orbit.

ATK manufactured the GEM-40 motors at its facility in Magna, Utah, continuing a tradition of flight support for Delta II missions that began in 1990. The composite cases for the GEM-40 boosters were produced at ATK's Clearfield, Utah, facility and are made of graphite epoxy material using an automated filament winding process the company developed and refined through its 50-year heritage in composite manufacturing.

The 10-foot diameter composite payload fairing, encapsulating the payload, was fabricated by ATK's Iuka, Miss., facility. The fairing was produced using advanced composite hand layup manufacturing, machining and inspection techniques. This was the 19th ATK-built fairing flown on a Delta II mission.

In addition, ATK Mission Operations in Pasadena, Calif., provided mission planning, sequence generation, and Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) ground station scheduling support for the mission. ATK's flight controllers provided real-time monitoring and command during prelaunch, launch and post launch and will continue for the duration of the mission. WISE is the 5th mission ATK's flight controllers support.

WISE is an infrared space telescope like two currently orbiting missions, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the Herschel Space Observatory, a European Space Agency mission with important NASA participation. But, unlike these missions, WISE will survey the entire sky. Millions of images from the survey will serve as rough maps for other observatories, such as Spitzer and NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope, guiding them to intriguing targets.

The Jet Propulsion Lab manages the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The principal investigator, Edward Wright, is at UCLA. The mission was competitively selected under NASA's Explorers Program managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The science instrument was built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory, Logan, Utah, and the spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. Science operations and data processing take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. More information is online at http://www.nasa.gov/wise and http://wise.astro.ucla.edu.

ATK is a premier aerospace and defense company with more than 18,000 employees in 22 states, Puerto Rico and internationally, and revenues of approximately $4.8 billion. News and information can be found on the Internet at www.atk.com.

SOURCE: ATK

Web site: http://www.atk.com/

ATK Successfully Ground Tests New CASTOR® 30 Upper Stage Solid Rocket Motor

Motor will be used for NASA Commercial and Government Launch Vehicles

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK) successfully tested its newly developed CASTOR® 30 upper stage solid rocket motor today at the U.S. Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) in Tennessee.

The test was a significant milestone for ATK, which developed the motor using internal research and development funding. The CASTOR 30 fills a key position in the company's "Family of Motors" product line concept. This concept provides a set of fully developed rocket motors to the market place that have been specifically selected to satisfy the maximum number of current and future military and commercial customer missions.

A version of this motor is being used by Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) in its Taurus®( )II medium-class launch vehicle. It is slated to perform commercial cargo re-supply missions to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA, to be demonstrated under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program for later delivery missions to the ISS under the Commercial Resupply Services contract. A slightly modified version of the CASTOR 30 is also being used as the basis for the third stage of the U.S. Air Force Large Class (92-inch) Stage (LCS) program. Other potential applications have also been identified.

'This was an important test for ATK today," said Scott Lehr, ATK vice president and general manager of Strategic and Commercial Systems. "The CASTOR 30 solid rocket motor offers a number of low-cost, high-performance features and fills a niche in the market that will make it an important part of ATK's future solid rocket motor business. We see this as an important addition to our Family of Motors product portfolio."

The CASTOR 30 is designed to ignite at altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet. In order to accurately test the motor performance the static fire was conducted at AEDC using a vacuum chamber specially designed to simulate upper atmospheric conditions. All channels of data were collected which will allow ATK to validate their predictive models. The motor utilized a prototype version of a newly developed Electromagnetic (EM) Thrust Vector Control (TVC) system, manufactured by Moog Inc, to provide nozzle steering. This system, once qualified, will also have applications across multiple solid rocket motor product lines.

ATK is a premier aerospace and defense company with more than 18,000 employees in 22 states, Puerto Rico and internationally, and revenues of approximately $4.8 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: the development of new rocket motors, changes in governmental spending, 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:

Trina Patterson                    Jeff Huebschen
Phone: 801-699-0943                Phone:  952-351-2929
E-mail: trina.patterson@atk.com    E-mail: jeff.huebschen@atk.com

SOURCE: ATK

Web site: http://www.atk.com/

SOURCE: ATK

Web site: http://www.atk.com/