WHILE NATIONAL Aeronautics and Space Administration investigators search for causes behind the Feb. 1 shuttle disaster, officials at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Michoud Operations are wondering how to change course.

Roughly 95% of the New Orleans East facility's employees are dedicated to manufacturing work on the shuttle's mammoth external fuel tanks, which have been built here since the shuttle program began 30 years ago. The external tank contract was valued at approximately $7.7 billion from 1973 when the project began to 1999, according to Michoud. Michoud landed a $1.15 billion contract more than two years ago to build 35 external tanks through September 2006.

The external fuel tank is 15 stories tall, three stories in diameter, and weighs 1.6 million pounds when filled with 500,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen fuel. The tanks take 18 to 20 months to build, and are transported to NASA via ocean barge through the Gulf of Mexico.

The program's future is in doubt while investigators search for clues to explain why the shuttle broke apart over Texas and Louisiana as it returned to earth.

But the investigation shifted last Wednesday from the dislodged insulation foam from the shuttle's fuel tank to the heat and drag on the shuttle's left wing. NASA officials say they now do not believe the piece of lightweight foam was the root cause for the breakup of die shuttle.

Michoud officials hope ongoing work on composite structures will absorb any cuts to its 2,000-employee work force, said Dan Ferrari, manager of business development.

The Michoud facility recently won a $7 million contract with Lockheed Martin's aeronautics company in Fort Worth, Texas, to build composite parts for the joint strike fighter, a next-generation fighter jet that will replace the F-16 and F-18 fighter planes, Ferrari said.

Composites are known for their strength and fight weight. Michoud is in the development phase of the composites project, and, once completed, will work on composite engine parts for 3,000 airplanes, Ferrari said. But that project will employ a small portion of the Michoud staff, Ferrari said.

Lockheed Martin's work on new technology called "friction stir welding" has promise, with wide applications in other areas, Ferrari said. Workers weld airplane fuselages together as opposed to the traditional method of mechanically attaching them. The $5 million contract is with the University of New Orleans through NASA.

But any new developments would be years down the road, said Harry Wadsworth, spokesman for Lockheed Martin.

NASA had planned five additional space shuttle launches this year.

It's too early to predict if the company win lay off any employees, Wadsworth said, but none are planned. The company is continuing work on fuel tanks in progress, but has

stopped production in a few areas that center around the foam used to insulate die external fuel tank, Wadsworth said.

About 200 workers from that area have been reassigned to other departments. They are catching up on certification training or taking vacation or personal time, Wadsworth said.

The company's focus at this time is on die investigation rather than new business, Wadsworth said.

Lockheed Martin reported 2002 sales of $26.6 billion. The company's Space Systems division reported $7.4 billion in 2002 sales.

Tim Ryan, dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of

New Orleans, said that if Lockheed Martin is forced to make layoffs, welders with compatible skills could possibly find work with Bollinger Shipyards Inc. The Lockport, La.-based ship builder will need to fill thousands of jobs if it lands a contract with the U.S. military to build new catamarans.

Following the explosion of the space shutde Challenger in 1986, Michoud cut 2,000 jobs, Ryan said.

"The Challenger happened at the worst time for the local economy, (during) the collapse of the local oil and gas industry," Ryan said.

Columbia broke up just minutes before its scheduled arrival at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 1, killing all seven astronauts on board.