FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SPACEHAB's
ASTROTECH SELLS SOUNDING ROCKET ASSETS
Sale Sharpens Focus On Core Business
August
2, 2001, Washington, D.C. - SPACEHAB, Inc. (NASDAQ/NMS: SPAB), a leading provider of commercial
space services, today announced that its Astrotech Space Operations unit has
sold the assets of its Oriole sounding rocket program and related property
to DTI Associates, Inc., of Arlington, Virginia. The sale, effective July
26, turns over all physical and intellectual property assets of Astrotech's
sounding rocket program, including the design of the Oriole rocket, except
for those required for Astrotech to fulfill the terms of an agreement with
an existing customer.
"As we've been reporting throughout the year, we are focusing on our core business and operating profitability," said SPACEHAB President and Chief Operating Officer Michael A. Kearney. "This sale supports these objectives and contributes to our goal of improving our cash position."
Astrotech successfully completed a demonstration launch of the Oriole suborbital launch vehicle on July 7, 2000, at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Astrotech developed the Oriole as a next-generation sounding rocket for launching scientific and commercial payloads and as a target vehicle for Theater Missile Defense system testing. The Oriole is the first privately developed sounding rocket in U.S. history and the first new suborbital launch system developed in the last 25 years. "We proved last summer that our Oriole rocket system performs even better than we expected," said Astrotech Senior Vice President and General Manager John B. Satrom, "and we're happy to provide DTI an outstanding asset."
Astrotech will fulfill the terms of a Memorandum of Agreement with the University of Queensland in Australia to provide payload integration and launch services for two Terrier-Orion sounding rocket launches scheduled for October at Australia's Woomera range. These rockets will launch scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) technology demonstration payloads for the HYSHOT Project. In conjunction with this launch activity, SPACEHAB subsidiary Space Media, Inc., will help develop unique multimedia courseware with University of Queensland faculty members on the benefits and prospects for scramjet technology. Space Media will employ this courseware in its STARS Academy global education program, supported by the United Nations.
Astrotech is on schedule to complete a $30 million expansion of its Titusville payload processing facility in mid-October, in support of the first launches of the Boeing Delta IV and the Lockheed Martin Atlas V expendable launch vehicles in early 2002. Astrotech's long-term contracts with Boeing and Lockheed Martin to process satellites for launch from Florida now represent $89.2 million in guaranteed minimum revenue for the company through 2010.
Since its establishment in 1981, Astrotech has been at the forefront of the commercial space industry. SPACEHAB acquired the company in 1997. Astrotech provides commercial satellite processing services for expendable launch vehicle programs. Astrotech owns and operates payload processing facilities in Titusville, Florida, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California; it also provides processing services for the Sea Launch program at the Home Port in Long Beach, California.
Founded in 1984, with more than $100 million in annual revenue, SPACEHAB, Inc., is a leading provider of commercial space services. The company develops, owns, and operates habitat and laboratory modules and cargo carriers aboard NASA's Space Shuttles. It also supports astronaut training and configuration management 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 California and Florida. SPACEHAB's newest strategic growth initiative, Space Media, Inc.™, brings space into homes and classrooms worldwide with television and Internet broadcasting from the International Space Station, interactive education programs through STARS Academy (www.starsacademy.com), and space merchandise from The Space Store (www.thespacestore.com).
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, contact:
Linda Billings
Director of Communications
SPACEHAB, Inc. - Washington Office
Phone 202/488-3500 x. 201
Fax 202/488-8251
billings@hqspacehab.com