Washington, D.C.—July 22, 2014 –The United States Air Force has awarded a five year IDIQ contract opportunity to SSL under the Hosted Payload Solutions Program (HoPs) in order to facilitate the placement of payloads designed for Geostationary (GEO) and Low-Earth (LEO) orbit. NanoRacks is pleased to be one of the SSL LEO team services providers, utilizing its External Payload Platform as a test-bed for sensors and advanced electronics, located outside the International Space Station.

NanoRacks is unique in its ability to access the International Space Station (ISS) in a timely and cost efficient manner for commercial and government customers. The Company is able to offer hosted solutions without use of a satellite, thereby assuring the payload developers top priority for their payloads and mission objectives. “For us,” explained Michael D. Johnson, NanoRacks’ Chief Technology Officer, “our customers are not ‘secondary;’ their payloads are driving the mission. That makes a big difference. Our customers pick the launch schedule and we work with NASA to give the customers exactly what they need.”

“The U.S. Air Force is making a statement that the new chapter of hosted payloads is not limited to satellites but includes the creative use of all American space assets, including ISS,” said NanoRacks’ CEO Jeffrey Manber. “We are pleased to be part of a great team and this new chapter in U.S. Government procurement.” To find out more about the NanoRacks External Payload Platform, click here.

About NanoRacks, LLC

NanoRacks LLC was formed in 2009 to provide commercial hardware and services for the U.S. National Laboratory onboard the International Space Station via a Space Act Agreement with NASA. The Company is unique in owning and marketing its own family of research equipment, both inside and external to the Space Station, and in providing low-cost, high quality services to Station customers. To date, NanoRacks has deployed over 200 payloads on Space Station. The Company’s current signed customer pipeline of over 150 payloads, including those from DLR, NASA, US Government Agencies, Planet Labs, Space Florida, NCESSE, pharmaceutical drug companies, and organizations in Vietnam, UK, Romania and Israel, has propelled NanoRacks into a leadership position in understanding the emerging commercial market for low-earth orbit utilization. For more information visit nanoracks.com and follow @nanoracks on Twitter.