SPACEHAB Receives $10.5 Million Follow-On Contract With Boeing for Space Cargo Services

SPACEHAB, Inc. , a
leading provider of commercial space services, today announced that it was
awarded a follow-on contract with The Boeing Company that expands the
companies’ existing collaboration in commercial space development.
Under this
agreement, SPACEHAB is providing Boeing $10.5 million in additional payload
accommodation services for an upcoming mission to the International Space
Station (ISS).

Boeing is NASA’s prime contractor for the ISS.
SPACEHAB’s new service
agreement with the company is a follow-on to an existing $5.1 million contract
with Boeing covering the provision of similar services for Shuttle mission
STS-102 (ISS assembly flight 5A.1), scheduled to launch in 2001.
This
contract was the first signed under a memorandum of understanding between the
two companies to jointly define ISS-related commercial initiatives that could
yield greater flexibility and lower costs for NASA.

To fulfill this new service agreement, SPACEHAB is providing a new
External Stowage Platform. Known as ESP2, this platform will be launched on
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Space Shuttle and deployed
from the Shuttle’s cargo bay to the ISS.
ESP2 will be transported to orbit on
Shuttle mission STS-114 (ISS utilization and logistics flight 1), scheduled to
launch in June 2002.
This mission will mark SPACEHAB’s first flight of a
deployable cargo carrier.
It also will mark the first-ever deployment of an
external cargo carrier from the Shuttle’s cargo bay to the ISS, according to
NASA’s current Shuttle launch plans.

“Demand for space station resupply and stowage capability should grow as
ISS assembly advances,” said SPACEHAB President David A. Rossi, “and we expect
that deployable cargo carriers will continue to play a vital role in ISS
operations.
We’re pleased to be expanding our partnership with Boeing in
providing commercial services to the ISS.”

The ESP2 will carry a complement of critical spare parts (termed orbital
replacement units, or ORUs, by NASA) to the ISS.
ESP2 will be deployed from
the Space Shuttle by the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (robotic arm)
and attached to the air lock of the ISS as a permanent spare-parts stowage
facility — a sort of depot in space.

The ESP2 is a modified version of SPACEHAB’s “generic” Integrated Cargo
Carrier (ICC), which has carried equipment and supplies on three Space Shuttle
missions to the ISS to date.
The ICC’s two primary components are an
unpressurized cargo pallet and a keel-yoke assembly that supports the pallet
in the Shuttle’s cargo bay.
SPACEHAB’s strategic partner Astrium GmbH is the
maker of the keel-yoke assembly and serves as SPACEHAB’s ICC mission
integration contractor.
The ESP2 includes a cargo pallet specially outfitted
with release mechanisms to permit ORU removal and replacement and cable
systems to provide power directly from the ISS to individual payloads.

ISS is now orbiting overhead — visible from Earth in the night sky, ISS
is the largest international space venture ever undertaken and a historic
joint effort of 16 countries.
When fully assembled in 2006, it will house a
crew of seven.
The pressurized living and working space aboard the completed
station will be more than 1,303 cubic meters (46,000 cubic feet).
The first
resident crew, Expedition One, is now onboard for a four-month stay.
The U.S.
Laboratory will be launched aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis in January 2001.

SPACEHAB is a leader in the business of space station resupply.
The
company’s “generic” ICC is booked to fly a fourth time on Shuttle mission STS-
102 (ISS assembly mission 5A.1), scheduled to launch in February 2001, and
again on STS-105 (ISS assembly mission 7A.1), scheduled to launch in June
2001.
SPACEHAB’s Research and Logistics Mission Support contract with NASA
contains options that allow the agency to book SPACEHAB modules and carriers
for flight on short notice.
SPACEHAB is offering other variations of its
generic ICC, including a vertical cargo carrier (ICC-V) and a shortened
carrier (ICC-Light).
The company stands ready to meet space station resupply
needs as ISS assembly and operation proceeds.

Founded in 1984, with more than $100 million in annual revenue, SPACEHAB,
Inc., is a leading provider of commercial space services.
The company is the
first to develop, own, and operate habitat modules and cargo carriers
providing laboratory facilities and resupply capabilities aboard NASA’s Space
Shuttles.
It also supports astronaut training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center
in Houston, builds space-flight trainers and mockups.
SPACEHAB’s Astrotech
subsidiary provides commercial satellite processing services at facilities in
Florida and California in support of a range of expendable launch vehicles,
including Lockheed Martin’s Atlas and Boeing’s Delta and Sea Launch rockets.
SPACEHAB’s newest strategic growth initiative, Space Media, Inc. (SMI(TM), a
subsidiary), will bring space into homes and classrooms worldwide with
television and Internet broadcasting from the International Space Station.

This release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to
certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those projected in such statements. Such risks and
uncertainties include, but are not limited to, whether the company will fully
realize the economic benefits under its NASA and other customer contracts, the
timing and mix of Space Shuttle missions, the successful development and
commercialization of new space assets, technological difficulties, product
demand, timing of new contracts, launches and business, market acceptance
risks, the effect of economic conditions, uncertainty in government funding,
the impact of competition, and other risks detailed in the Company’s
Securities and Exchange Commission filings.