An artist's concept of the SPACEHAB module aboard space shuttle Atlantis. Photo: NASA

SPACEHAB, Inc. has announced that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) added $21.6 million to the company's REALMS contract to perform the next resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

This Space Shuttle mission designated STS-106 and slated for launch in August, will use SPACEHAB's Logistics Double Module (LDM) and Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC) to ferry vital supplies to the ISS. SPACEHAB's carriers are needed to stock the ISS with food, equipment, and spare parts for the first permanent crew that is scheduled to arrive in October.

"This mission provides the foundation for continuous habitation of the ISS later this year," said SPACEHAB President David A. Rossi.

"As a leader in space commerce, we are pleased to play an important role in expanding human presence in orbit. The ISS will be a unique laboratory of the 21st century, benefiting everyone on Earth through advances in biomedicine, pharmacology, and other life sciences research."

The STS-106 mission will be the second resupply mission for SPACEHAB in calendar year 2000. SPACEHAB already is under contract to perform a resupply mission to the ISS scheduled to launch on April 24. The company will be flying an LDM and an ICC on this mission.

"With the space shuttle fleet back in operation and this second mission to the ISS in August, SPACEHAB should be profitable in our fourth quarter (ending June 30, 2000)", stated Rossi.

SPACEHAB's LDM adds 2200 cubic feet of pressurized volume to the space shuttle, more than quadrupling the living and working area for the astronauts onboard. Up to 10,000 pounds of supplies can be packed into the LDM for delivery to the ISS through a pressurized access tunnel connecting the LDM to the Space Shuttle's primary crew quarters.

The ICC, a flat-bed pallet mounted in the Shuttle cargo bay over the LDM access tunnel, enables SPACEHAB to transport equipment and spare parts that need to be attached to the outside of the ISS by astronauts on several space walks.

Both missions will carry SPACEHAB Oceaneering Space Systems (SHOSS) boxes that attach to the top of the ICC and hold equipment in easily accessible locations for astronauts performing these space walks.

A SPACEHAB module aboard space shuttle Atlantis as seen from Russian space station Mir. Photo: NASA

The Research and Logistics Mission Support (REALMS) contract with NASA was established in 1997 enabling NASA to manifest new research flights or ISS resupply missions as needed.

SPACEHAB's next research mission is scheduled for launch in early-2001 on Space Shuttle mission STS-107. This mission will be the debut of the company's Research Double Module (RDM).

More than 8,500 pounds of equipment is manifested on this international research flight. SPACEHAB's customers include NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), and the German Space Agency (DLR), and the U.S. Department of Defense.

SPACEHAB's Space Technology and Research Students (S*T*A*R*S) program also will have a payload on this mission accommodating student experiments from the United States, Japan, Israel, China, and Australia.

NASA recently manifested another RDM mission scheduled for launch in late-2001 that has not yet been added to the REALMS contract.

Founded in 1984 and with more than $100 million in annual revenue, SPACEHAB is the world's leading provider of commercial services for manned and unmanned missions in space. SPACEHAB is the first company to commercially develop, own and operate habitable modules that provide laboratory facilities and logistics resupply aboard NASA's Space Shuttles.

The company also supports NASA astronaut training at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas and provides commercial satellite processing services for Boeing's Delta and Lockheed Martin's Atlas launch vehicles near the Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, Florida.