USA was established in August 1995 as joint venture of Rockwell International and Lockheed Martin, primarily to support operations of the Space Shuttle.
Efforts under the Space Program Operations Contract included work and support for mission design and planning; software development and integration; astronaut and flight controller training; system integration; flight operations; vehicle processing, launch and recovery; vehicle sustaining engineering; flight crew equipment processing; and Space Shuttle and International Space Station-related support to the Constellation Program.
In November 2010, United Space Alliance was selected by NASA for consideration for potential contract awards for heavy lift launch vehicle system concepts, and propulsion technologies.
[8] The efforts of USA's management to identify new post-Shuttle business opportunities were ultimately not successful, and its owners Boeing and Lockheed Martin decided to wind down the joint venture.
However, USA announced that it would continue to operate in an administrative business capacity to manage government contract close-out requirements.