Pratt & Whitney Powers Discovery

Three Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME) successfully powered the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery on Mission STS-128 to deliver extra supplies and equipment to support a six-person crew onboard the International Space Station. The SSME is the world's only fully reusable high performance rocket engine rated for human space flight. Discovery was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on 30th August. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a unit of United Technologies Corp. (UTX - Analyst Report).

Discovery's main payload is the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, which is carrying extra supplies and equipment to help establish a six-astronaut crew capacity on the space station. The payload includes science and storage racks, a treadmill and a crew quarter.

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Inc., a part of Pratt & Whitney, is a preferred provider of high-value propulsion, power, energy and innovative system solutions used in a wide variety of government and commercial applications, including the main engines for space shuttles, Atlas and Delta launch vehicles, missile defense systems and advanced hypersonic engines.

Pratt & Whitney is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of aircraft engines, space propulsion systems and industrial gas turbines. United Technologies, based in Hartford, Connecticut, is a diversified company providing high technology products and services to the global aerospace and commercial building industries. Its major competitors include General Electric Co. (GE - Analyst Report) and Boeing Co. (BA - Analyst Report). We currently have a Neutral recommendation on the stock.

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