Boeing selects Augusta firm to build parts for spacecraft

An Augusta company that specializes in building parts for out-of-production aircraft and rockets has been awarded a contract by Boeing for a spacecraft it is building to shuttle people and cargo to the International Space Station.

In all, D-J Engineering is manufacturing eight different parts for the Crew Space Transportation-100 spacecraft that Boeing will provide to NASA as part of its Commercial Crew Program.

Ryan Hernandez, D-J’s vice president of engineering and technology, said parts that the privately held company is manufacturing for the spacecraft include the capsule door, the frame of the door and frangible joints – which allow stages of the rocket that propel the spacecraft to safely separate during flight.

In September 2014, NASA awarded Boeing a $4.2 billion contract to build the CST-100. Boeing will provide three of the spacecraft to NASA, which will be assembled at a Boeing facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

According to NASA, the spacecraft is expected to have its first piloted test flight to the space station in 2017.

Hernandez said D-J’s work on other rocket programs, including United Launch Alliance’s Delta IV and Boeing’s Space Launch System, provided an opening for D-J to win work on the CST-100.

“It definitely all started with Delta (rocket program),” he said, adding that the company’s work on the Delta program began more than 12 years ago.

Rockets and spacecraft work are one part of D-J’s business. It also engineers and manufactures parts for legacy – out-of-production – military aircraft as well as for commercial airliners and business jets that are under development.

For example, the company builds struts for the B-52 bomber and is making replacement telescoping ladders for pilots to climb in and out of the Air Force’s A-10 Thunderbolt jet, Hernandez said. Those airplanes are no longer being produced. It also did work on Bombardier’s now-paused Learjet 85 as well as Boeing’s 747-8 and 787, when those aircraft were in the development phase, he said.

The company also serves as an FAA repair station.

D-J was founded about 22 years ago by two Boeing engineers who later sold the company to current owner and president Rezaul Chowdhury. It has operations in Augusta and Conway Springs, which together employ 280 people, as well as manufacturing facilities in the Philippines and Newfoundland, Canada. Combined, D-J employs 400 people at the four sites.

This story was originally published May 13, 2015 at 7:59 AM with the headline "Boeing selects Augusta firm to build parts for spacecraft."