Spacehab, the private company that provides pressurised modules for the Space Shuttle, has almost doubled in size by acquiring a leading company supporting NASA's Shuttle programme.
Houston-based Johnson Engineering manages spacewalking training operations at NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center, Texas, as well as supporting the International Space Station.
Spacehab's new president, David Rossi, who has already completed other strategic partnerships, says Johnson provides his company with an increasingly core business covering all aspects of supporting manned spaceflight operations. Further acquisitions are expected.
Meanwhile, Spacehab and Daimler-Benz Aerospace Space Systems (Dasa) have formed a partnership to offer suborbital microgravity research flights to com- mercial customers and agencies in the USA and South-East Asia.
DASA will supply microgravity research modules and Mini Texus, Texus and Maxus sounding rockets, which have been supplying a microgravity research service for European customers, operating from the Kiruna launch centre in Sweden. Spacehab will concentrate on marketing the international service.
Spacehab has also formed a joint venture with Newfoundland's Guigne Technologies to market a microgravity processing plant for operation on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station.
Source: Flight International
