Houston, Texas (May 24, 2006) - SPACEHAB, Incorporated (NASDAQ: SPAB), a leading provider of commercial space services, announced today that its Astrotech Space Operations subsidiary has been awarded a new contract by The Boeing Company to provide payload processing services. The satellite will be processed at Astrotech’s spacecraft processing campus at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
“We are pleased to be supporting a new mission for Boeing, a valued customer that has received benefit from our growing list of capabilities and services over the years,” stated Jim Royston, Senior Vice President of Astrotech. “We look forward to assisting the entire team in their spacecraft processing, fueling, encapsulation, and logistics needs.”
In related satellite processing news, Astrotech’s Florida Spacecraft Processing Facility held a ribbon cutting ceremony to unveil its new horizontal laminar flow system. This ultra clean room capability provides customers a satellite processing environment that exceeds the most stringent contamination requirements. NASA presented Astrotech with an award, recognizing the Company for its professionalism and customer service in designing, developing, and certifying the world-class clean facility.
The new cleanroom system, suitable for wafer and chip processing, was recently put to the test when wildfires broke out in the surrounding area causing interstate and roadway closures. Astrotech’s system was able to withstand the excessive smoke, maintain appropriate particulate count levels, and keep the processing of NASA’s STEREO satellite on schedule. STEREO, an observatory designed to provide a unique and revolutionary view of the sun-earth system, arrived at the Astrotech site on May 5 and is schedule to launch this summer.
