Cites Facilities, Expertise, Past Performance

The long list of companies vying for a piece of NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Service (COTS) program added another well-known name Thursday, as Spacehab, Inc. officially threw its hat into the ring. The company is competing for the opportunity to serve as NASA's supplier of commercial International Space Station logistics services.

"NASA is seeking a commercial service to provide cargo transportation to and from the International Space Station, and we have been doing a major part of that job for the past decade," said Spacehab President and CEO Michael E. Kearney. "I am confident our proven expertise and established infrastructure in this area, and the versatility that our approach provides, give us an advantage in this competition."

To win a COTS contract, Spacehab is banking on its hands-on experience in architecting, defining, developing and operating commercial space flight asset services. As commercial payload service supplier to the space shuttle program and commercial cargo service provider to both the space station Mir and the International Space Station programs, Spacehab has a unique understanding of the challenges inherent in commercial crew and cargo services.

Also, as a participant in a number of applicable NASA space architecture studies including Alternate Access to Station, Orbital Space Plane, and NASA's Lunar Exploration System of Systems, Spacehab has been involved in major NASA cargo transportation system trade studies that drive out optimum solutions.

While responding to NASA's COTS proposal as a prime team member, Spacehab is supporting alternate team proposals in a subcontractor role.

"Regardless of which teams are selected to support this demonstration, Spacehab expects to benefit from this availability of commercial services since we know best the space market and how to develop that market," added Kearney. "When a commercial service to low earth orbit is established, our unique payload processing facilities, our cargo processing expertise, and our knowledge of supporting humans in space will be key to accomplishing any commercial space activities on the International Space Station."

As Aero-News reported earlier this month, the deadline for proposal submission to NASA is March 3, 2006 with one or more awards expected to be announced in May 2006. Several other companies -- such as SpaceX, t/Space, SpaceDev, Constellation Services International, AirLaunch LLC, SpaceHab, Andrews Space, Rocketplane Ltd., Universal Space Lines and Bigelow Aerospace all competing for prime and/or subcontractor accounts.

NASA states he objective of the spaceflight capability demonstrations is to stimulate commercial enterprises in space and lead to innovative, cost effective access to low-Earth orbit.

Should its bid be accepted, Spacehab says it will commence development of its COTS solution, demonstrating its capability to rendezvous and dock with the International Space Station to dispose of, or return, needed equipment and supplies.

FMI: www.spacehab.com