FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SPACEHAB'S
JOHNSON ENGINEERING SELLS FILTER MACHINING OPERATIONS
Sale Further Sharpens
Focus on Core Business
August
9, 2001, Washington, D.C. - SPACEHAB, Inc. (NASDAQ/NMS: SPAB), a leading provider of commercial
space services, today announced that its Johnson Engineering (JE) subsidiary
has sold its filter housing machining operations and technology to Clear Lake
Industries Holdings LLC (CLI), a company recently formed by W.T. (Tom) Short,
retired SPACEHAB Senior Vice President for JE.
"Organized to provide JE with rapid access to specialized machining capabilities, the operating unit has used its excess capacity to develop and market filter housings for the petrochemical and biotechnology industries," said SPACEHAB President and Chief Operating Officer Michael E. Kearney. "This transaction with CLI and the sale of our sounding rocket assets last month support our objectives of focusing on our core businesses, profitable operations, and improvement of our cash position."
CLI began operations on July 1. Approximately 30 JE employees have transferred to CLI, which has subleased office and shop space from JE at the original site of machining operations. JE and CLI are prepared to collaborate as the need arises.
Johnson Engineering brought
in more than $50 million of new business in SPACEHAB's third quarter 2001, including
a one-year extension of its contract with NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)
to provide astronaut training and other flight crew systems development services
(worth $42 million from May 1, 2001, to April 30, 2002) and a contract to continue
providing space station configuration management services to JSC (worth $10
million over the next two years). JE believes it is well positioned to win a
multi-year renewal of its crew training contract for the period starting May
1, 2002. JE's semiannual NASA contract performance scores have risen steadily
over the past three years; the unit is now ranked "excellent." NASA
most recently recognized JE for its outstanding work on space vehicle mockup
integration and upgrading.
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