Posted on: 2:30 pm, February 24, 2014, by Beth Jett, updated on: 04:37am, February 25, 2014

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) This week, Marshall Space Flight Center will host its first Small Business Alliance meeting of the new year.

About 450 representatives of large and small businesses will be at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center to talk about opportunities for work coming up to support Marshall.

Already, Marshall is making a big difference for small businesses supporting the Space Launch System project.

North Alabama engineers are putting together another key piece of the Space Launch System.

Teledyne Brown Engineering secured a $60 million contract with NASA to build the Launch Vehicle Stages Adapter, which connects the Orion capsule to the core stage.

It electrically connects the two so that they can command and control back and forth, said Dan Jett, project manager for the LVSA program. Then it also protects the delicate avionics that are in the propulsion system from the severe launch environments.

As it turns out, the adapter is also protecting small businesses around north Alabama.

The project means a big boost to at least seven small companies, allowing them to expand their work force and expertise.

Were very excited about this growth opportunity for us, said Jami Peyton, a spokeswoman for Canvas Inc. Its seven new jobs, new positions for us.

Excerpt from:

North Alabama Small Businesses Get Big Boost from SLS Adapter Program