As the United States sets its sights on new challenges in space exploration, United Space Alliance (USA) signaled its commitment to those goals with the unveiling this week of a new corporate logo symbolizing the company's experience and innovation, and its focus on new horizons in the space industry.

The new logo retains the signature red, white and blue "USA" letters which have been part of the company's identity since the beginning, and which have come to be associated with a record of proven performance. However, the Space Shuttle Orbiter embedded in the "A" is replaced by a crescent representing new horizons for USA and its customers, along with a star representing the human ingenuity and innovation that will be required to reach those new horizons.

"We are intensely proud of our Space Shuttle heritage, and our top priority is completion of the remaining Shuttle missions safely and successfully," said Richard Covey, USA's Chief Executive Officer. "But our business focus extends beyond one vehicle. This aligns our brand with the new directions and future priorities of our customers."

As NASA's prime Space Shuttle contractor since 1996, USA is uniquely positioned to apply its broad experience and proven performance in space operations to the challenges and requirements that lie beyond Shuttle and the International Space Station.

"Going forward, our customers face tremendous challenges in bringing new systems on line that will operate safely, effectively and affordably. USA offers the operations experience and innovation needed to achieve their goals, and we look forward to being a part of that effort," Covey said.

The new logo is just one step in the process of USA's transformation from a single contract company to a business that competes successfully for multiple contracts in both government and commercial arenas -- a process that is well underway.

The company has already established subsidiary companies designed to compete in civil, commercial and international space operations markets.

USA is part of the Lockheed Martin team that is designing and developing the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle. The company is also working with Alliant Techsystems on the development and production of the Ares I rocket first stage.

Under USA's existing Space Program Operations Contract, more than 1,300 USA employees have contributed their skills and experience to a variety of projects related to NASA's Constellation Program. In addition, USA is playing a key role in planning and executing the first Ares I test flight, called Ares I-X, scheduled for next year from Kennedy Space Center.

USA has plans to compete for a number of future operations contracts with NASA as well as other customers.

Covey noted that the idea of setting new horizons is not new to USA employees. "With every mission we fly, we push the boundaries of our experience and knowledge to higher levels," he said, adding, "That experience and new knowledge is continuously reinvested in our ongoing efforts to advance and improve the state of space operations for our customers."

United Space Alliance is a world leader in space operations with extensive experience in virtually all aspects of the field. Headquartered in Houston with 10,000 employees working in Texas, Florida and Alabama, USA is applying its broad range of capabilities to NASA's Space Shuttle, International Space Station and Constellation programs as well as to space operations customers in the commercial and international space industry sectors.