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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SPACEHAB RECEIVES $6 MILLION CONTRACT TO BUILD MAJOR MUSEUM EXHIBIT IN CHINA;
Company Expanding Into New Market

Washington, D.C., September 5, 2000 - SPACEHAB, Inc. (NASDAQ/NMS: SPAB), a leading provider of commercial space services, announced today that it is further diversifying its line of products and services with a $6 million contract to build a major exhibit for a new science and technology museum in China.

SPACEHAB's Engineering Services unit has signed a contract with the municipal government of Shanghai, China, to fabricate and install an Earth Exploration exhibit for the city's new Shanghai ScienceLand science and technology museum, a $180 million project, now under construction. SPACEHAB's participation in ScienceLand's current construction activity is phase one of a planned two-phase project.

SPACEHAB Engineering Services supports the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory and Space Vehicle Mockup Facility, both used for astronaut training, at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Engineering Services also builds full-scale flight mockups and trainers for these facilities. Building on these core competencies, Engineering Services has been designing and fabricating museum exhibits and displays for a number of customers, including Disneyland, Moody Gardens (Galveston, Texas), and Space Center Houston. The Shanghai ScienceLand project represents the largest contract obtained by Engineering Services to date with a customer other than NASA.

"With this contract, SPACEHAB is building on its considerable expertise in space-related engineering and design and expanding into a new and growing global market," said SPACEHAB Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Shelley A. Harrison.

Shanghai ScienceLand officials are in discussions with SPACEHAB's Space Media™, Inc., subsidiary regarding the possibility of obtaining television and Internet downlinks from SPACEHAB's Enterprise™ space station habitat. Planned for launch in early 2003, Enterprise will be the world's first commercial real estate in space. Enterprise will house a TV and Internet broadcasting studio, and Space Media is developing and marketing programming to be provided from this facility.

SPACEHAB's contract with Shanghai ScienceLand is an outgrowth of a 1999 trade mission to China led by the City of Houston and including SPACEHAB officials. Following the Houston delegation's visit, officials of ScienceLand and the City of Shanghai visited Houston, and SPACEHAB Engineering Services subsequently was invited to submit a proposal for ScienceLand's Earth Exploration exhibit.

The 21,000-square-foot Earth Exploration exhibit that SPACEHAB is developing will feature static and dynamic models and interactive multimedia displays. Exhibit highlights include an earthquake simulation, a "floating" globe with a star field, gems and minerals displays, and sections on natural resources production, undersea geology, and plate tectonics.

The municipal government of Shanghai is developing Shanghai ScienceLand as a national showcase, a center for popular science education, and a major tourist attraction. The museum is located in Shanghai's Pudong New Area, a high-technology industrial zone on the outskirts of the city.

According to the Association of Science and Technology Centers in Washington, D.C., more than 400 science centers and museums are now open worldwide.

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 and 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™, a subsidiary), will bring space into homes and classrooms worldwide with television and Internet broadcasting from the International Space Station.

Linda Billings
Director of Communications
SPACEHAB, Inc.
202/488-3500; toll-free 888/647-9543
billings@hqspacehab.com

• Over 21,000 square feet of space on two floors.

• Located in the Heaven and Earth Hall.

• Scheduled completion date April 2001.

• Key exhibits:

  • Crust Room: dynamic multimedia exhibits illustrating plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanic activity.

  • Mineral Resource Room: dynamic exhibits, models, specimens relating to the formation of minerals, the use of Earth resources, the formation of petroleum and the exploitation of ores.

  • "Earthquake Escape," a simulation: a multimedia "earthquake platform" including a simulated city where visitors can experience earthquakes.

  • Physical geography of Shanghai: display of the city's geology, topography, and landforms and changes that have occurred over the past 10,000 years.

• 96,000 square meters of space, $180 million project.

• Phase One opening in April 2001.

• Five major halls: Heaven and Earth, Life, Wisdom, Creativity, Future (plus one temporary exhibition hall).

• Located in Pudong New Area, presently home to four national development zones: the Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone, Zhangjiang High-Tech Park, Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone, and Jinqiao Export Processing Zone.