FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SPACEHAB
AND ASTRIUM STRENGTHEN STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP;
European Company Investing $15.4 Million in SPACEHAB's Cargo Carrier Program
Washington, D.C., January 9, 2001 - SPACEHAB, Inc. (NASDAQ/NMS: SPAB), a leading provider of commercial space services, today announced that Astrium GmbH of Bremen, Germany, is significantly expanding its strategic partnership with the company through a sale-leaseback agreement for SPACEHAB's Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC) program worth $15.4 million in cash and services to SPACEHAB.
Under the agreement, SPACEHAB and Astrium have agreed to expand the ICC program to offer new versions of this flight-proven unpressurized payload carrier, which is designed to fly in the cargo bay of NASA's Space Shuttle. New variations of ICC services will include deployable and vertical cargo carriers. Future enhancements may also include an EXPRESS carrier, a propulsion pallet and a cryogenic carrier. The partners will continue to provide the basic ICC, which SPACEHAB has already flown on three Shuttle missions devoted to resupply of the International Space Station (ISS).
Formerly DaimlerChrysler Aerospace, Astrium purchased an 11.5 percent equity stake in SPACEHAB in fall 1999. With this latest investment in the ICC program, Astrium further augments the European company's strategic partnership with SPACEHAB: Astrium acquires equity in the ICC program, and SPACEHAB continues to manage the ICC program while increasing its cash flow.
Astrium, the ICC mission integration contractor, is the maker of the keel-yoke assembly that anchors the ICC in the Shuttle cargo bay. Josef Kind, President of Astrium's space infrastructure division and a member of SPACEHAB's board of directors, said that he is pleased to be expanding this external flight hardware program with SPACEHAB. "The ICC has already played a key role in ISS resupply, and we are confident that the program offers an affordable, quality solution for future unpressurized space station needs," said Kind.
Slated for its fourth flight to the ISS in March 2001, the ICC (http://www.spacehab.com/icc) is an externally mounted, unpressurized, aluminum flat-bed pallet, coupled with a keel-yoke assembly, that enhances the Space Shuttle's capability to store and transport cargo. With a carrying capacity of up to 6,000 pounds, the pallet can carry equipment and tools mounted on both top and bottom, offering easy deployment to the ISS by flight-suited astronauts.
With 7,500 employees in Germany, France, and Great Britain, Astrium is Europe's leading space company. A newly formed merger of Matra Marconi Space and the space divisions of DaimlerChrysler Aerospace, Astrium provides comprehensive and advanced solutions to satisfy all space needs in a timely, cost effective manner.
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.™, 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.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Linda Billings
Director of Communications
SPACEHAB, Inc.
202/488-3500; toll-free 888/647-9543
billings@hqspacehab.com