Astrotech Facility on Contract for Upgrades Supporting New Customer Requirements
SPACEHAB, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SPAB), a leading provider of commercial space services, today announced that its Astrotech Space Operations subsidiary has won an additional fully funded task order under the recently awarded Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract. The Company will provide facilities and payload processing support for NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft, scheduled for launch mid-2008.
IBEX is the second mission competed and won by Astrotech, under a $35 million IDIQ contract awarded in June 2007, to provide facilities and payload processing support on several future NASA spacecraft missions. The IBEX satellite, whose key mission partners are NASA, Southwest Research Institute, and Orbital Sciences Corporation, will orbit the Earth every eight days to make the first comprehensive map of the boundary between our solar system and interstellar space. Mission managers affirm that measuring this interstellar interaction is important for understanding the Earth’s protection from galactic cosmic rays – energetic particles from beyond the solar system – that could pose health risks to future astronauts exploring deep space.
In other Astrotech news, Astrotech has been contracted by NASA, in the amount of over $750,000, to add a laminar flow enclosure to one of its Titusville, Florida facilities. While Astrotech’s processing facilities are already certified to a stringent Class 100,000 air cleanliness level, the specialized enclosure will be an additional and effective means of achieving an even higher class of particle free environment for the NASA customer’s critical payload which will require a more highly controlled, contamination free environment.
From Titusville, Florida, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California and the Sea Launch Home Port facilities in California, Astrotech provides all support necessary for government and commercial customers to successfully process their satellite hardware for launch, including advance planning; use of unique facilities; and spacecraft checkout, encapsulation, fueling, transport, and remote control through launch.
About SPACEHAB, Incorporated
Incorporated in 1984, SPACEHAB (www.spacehab.com) is a leading provider of commercial space products and services to NASA, international space agencies and universities, Department of Defense, and private customers worldwide. The Company offers end-to-end space access solutions, space systems development, mission integration and pre-launch processing facilities and services, and large-scale government program support services.
The statements in this document may contain forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, trends, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from the forward-looking statement. These factors include, but are not limited to, continued government support and funding for key space programs, product performance and market acceptance of products and services, as well as other risk factors and business considerations described in the company’s Securities & Exchange Commission filings including the annual report on Form 10-K. Any forward-looking statements in this document should be evaluated in light of these important risk factors. The Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
