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With shuttle’s end, space firms feeling their way

By Stephen Singer

 |  Associated Press  

  April 30, 2012

Less than a year after NASA ended its shuttle program, players in America’s space business are casting around for new direction. United Technologies Corp. is the most recent company to announce it will sharply scale back its role in space exploration. It’s selling Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a manufacturer of rocket engines and liquid-propulsion systems that it’s owned for seven years. The sale of Rocketdyne and other businesses are intended to raise $3 billion to finance United Technologies’ purchase of aerospace parts maker Goodrich Corp.

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