Company to Develop Commercial Transportation Spacecraft to Advance On-Orbit Manufacturing
Houston, Texas, June 19, 2007 – SPACEHAB, Incorporated (NASDAQ: SPAB), a leading provider of commercial space services, today announced the signing of a Space Act Agreement with NASA to facilitate the Company’s development of a commercial transportation system capable of ferrying pre- manufactured cargo and manufacturing equipment to low-Earth orbit.
Execution of this agreement allows SPACEHAB to develop a highly reliable, low risk, up-mass alternative system for cargo delivery to space and complements its recently announced plans to manufacture biomedical and advanced materials on the International Space Station (ISS). SPACEHAB’s technical approach utilizes existing flight-proven hardware, significantly reducing technical risk and development costs.
“It is in SPACEHAB’s best interest to ensure access to space using proven commercial components to fill the gap between the Space Shuttle retirement in 2010 and the time when other transportation, NASA or commercial, becomes available,” said SPACEHAB CEO, Thomas B. Pickens, III.
Through this Space Act Agreement, NASA will assist by providing projected requirements of the ISS for cargo transportation services and requirements for vehicles visiting the ISS. Although the agreement does not provide for government funding, SPACEHAB expects to access private capital to fund both space access and manufacturing requirements.
“In order to capitalize on the opportunities that SPACEHAB has identified, reliable and affordable access to and from space is critical. It has become eminently clear that we need to utilize every avenue, partnership, and means possible to get us and our customers on orbit and to this valuable ‘destination’,” said Pickens. “The ISS is already in a configuration that is equipped to support manufacturing and SPACEHAB is committed to minimize any delay in the pursuit of opportunities that hold such great promise to ultimately save and enhance lives on earth,” Pickens concluded.
Capitalizing on SPACEHAB’s 23-years of proven experience in sending over a thousand experiments to space, coupled with the utilization of existing and proven hardware components, the transportation system is planned for completion in time for a mission scheduled as early as 2009.
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.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Eva-Marie deCardenas
Corporate Marketing and Communications
SPACEHAB, Inc.
713.558.5071
edecardenas@spacehab.com
