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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday announced it has cleared Northrop Grumman's $7.8 billion purchase of defense and space contractor Orbital ATK. Orbital ATK will become Northrop Grumman's fourth business sector, named Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems. The other three are Aerospace Systems, Mission Systems and Technology Services. With the addition, Northrop Grumman's sales for 2018 should reach $30 billion. Blake Larson will serve as corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems. As a condition for the approval of the merger, the company will have to supply solid rocket motors "on a non-discriminatory basis under specified circumstances,"...

A freight train carrying segments of the space shuttle's solid rocket boosters derailed Wednesday after a recently repaired bridge collapsed over boggy ground, authorities said. Six people aboard the train were reported injured, one critically. Snip... NASA said it was not immediately known whether the equipment was damaged. But space agency spokesman Allard Beutel in Washington said the accident should not delay any shuttle launches. "It appears when the train got onto the trestle, the trestle just gave way and sank to the ground," said Mike Rudolphi, an official with the boosters' manufacturer who went to the wreck site....

Alliant Techsystems Inc. has been selected as the prime contractor for the first-stage propulsion system for a new NASA shuttle. Edina-based Alliant will design, develop, test and evaluate the system, which will use solid fuel instead of liquid fuel. Solid fuel is considered less volatile. The value of the new contract has not been set. Alliant (NYSE: ATK - News) also makes the solid-fuel rocket boosters for the shuttle. That deal brings the company $370 million annually. The shuttles are scheduled to be retired in 2010, but the solid-fuel boosters will be used on new replacement vehicles.