NASA awarded a contract to Lockheed Martin Corp. to lead the design, development and construction of the agency’s next-generation crew vehicle, NASA announced Aug. 31.

Lockheed Martin will be the prime contractor in the effort to build Orion, a reusable Apollo-style capsule that will be capable of carrying four crewmembers to the moon or six to the International Space Station. The first manned launch is planned for no later than 2014 with the first manned lunar mission scheduled for no later than 2020.

The first stage of the contract, valued at $3.9 billion, covers design, development, testing and evaluation of the vehicle and runs through Sept. 7, 2013. The second stage of the contract calls for the construction of vehicles and could be worth up to an additional $3.5 billion for Lockheed Martin. Support work under the contract will be assigned through task orders and could begin as early as September 2009. If all options are exercised, support work would extend through Sept. 7, 2019, and could be worth up to $750 million.

Lockheed Martin’s team includes Honeywell, Orbital Sciences Corp., United Space Alliance and Hamilton Sundstrand. Lockheed Martin was selected for the contract over a team led by Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp.