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For Immediate Release:
SPACEHAB JOINS DAIMLER-BENZ AEROSPACE TO PROVIDE
MICROGRAVITY FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES ON SOUNDING ROCKETS
Vienna, VA, July 9, 1998 — The
world's leading provider of commercial flight opportunities on
board the Space Shuttle and Europe's leading provider of launch
opportunities on sub-orbital rockets have agreed to pool their
expertise and begin marketing microgravity flight opportunities
to customers in the United States and the Pacific Rim.
SPACEHAB, Inc., (Nasdaq: SPAB) and Daimler-Benz Aerospace AG (DASA)
agreed June 18 jointly to develop the market for sub-orbital,
or sounding, rocket flights for U.S. and Asian researchers and
industrial customers looking to benefit from research performed
in the microgravity environment of space.
Under the agreement, which was signed in Bremen, Germany, SPACEHAB
will take the initiative to develop the market for the utilization
of the microgravity research modules built by DASA's Space Infrastructure
Unit. The modules will be launched aboard commercially produced
sounding rockets, which can provide as much as 18 minutes of microgravity
during parabolic flight.
The partnering arrangement "is yet another step in establishing
our full-range of microgravity services for commercial and civil
customers," said SPACEHAB President and Chief Operating Officer
David A. Rossi. "By providing U.S. and Asian customers easy access
to microgravity flight opportunities, SPACEHAB hopes to facilitate
research into and manufacturing of advanced materials, new pharmaceuticals
and more efficient semiconductor thin-films," Rossi said.
"We are extremely interested in providing, on a commercial basis,
our proven products and services to the user community of America
and the Pacific Rim" said Dr. Stefan Graul, Vice President Orbital
Infrastructure of DASA's Space Infrastructure Unit. "We have more
than 25 years of experience in this particular field of business
and are determined to offer our reliable services also outside
of Europe" Graul said.
SPACEHAB, Inc., with its ASTROTECH subsidiary, is the world's
leading provider of commercial payload processing services for
both astronaut-tended and unmanned payloads. SPACEHAB is the first
company to commercially develop, own and operate habitable modules
that provide space-based laboratory facilities and logistics resupply
aboard the U.S. Space Shuttles to support the people living and
working in space.
DASA has been the leading provider of commercial flight opportunities
on its industrialized sounding rocket programs for more than 25
years. DASA's Space Infrastructure Business Unit currently markets
three sizes of sub-orbital rockets for use in microgravity research:
the Mini TEXUS, TEXUS and MAXUS. In addition, DASA also develops
the scientific payload to be used for the microgravity experiments
and has a wide range of modules available for re-use.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Anne F. Eisele, Director
Corporate Communications
Phone: (703) 821-3000, Ext. 201
Eisele@hqspacehab.com |
SPACEHAB, Inc.
1595 Spring Hill Road, Suite 360
Vienna, Virginia 22182 USA
Phone: (703) 821-3000
Fax: 703-288-1650
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Holger Voege Daimler-Benz Aerospace 011-49-421-539-5220 holger.voege@RI.DASA.de |
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