WASHINGTON – NASA said Friday it awarded Lockheed Martin Corporation a $677.3 million contract to provide support for systems used in its new generation designed for human spaceflight.

NASA said the contract runs from January 1 through September 30, 2012 with one-year options that would extent the deal to 2014 and raise its total value to $977 million.

Under terms of agreement, Lockheed Martin will help NASA transition its operations from the Space Shuttle to the Constellation program.

That program includes the Ares rocket, which NASA intends to use for sending astronauts back to the moon.

NASA said most of the work, which includes support and development of avionics software, space station planning systems, and stimulator for crews and flight controllers, will be done at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.