SpaceHab has signed a $4.2 million contract with NASA for the launch of an Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC) and two SpaceHab Oceaneering Space Systems (SHOSS) boxes on ISS assembly flight 7A.1, currently scheduled for February 2001. This mission will mark the third flight of the ICC; the carrier's first flight was on NASA's Space Shuttle mission STS-96 earlier this year.
With this award, NASA is exercising the first of six options added to the Research and Logistics Mission Support (REALMS) contract with SpaceHab in October.
The ICC, an externally mounted flat-bed pallet and associated flight support equipment, expands the Space Shuttle's capability to transport unpressurized cargo. SpaceHab's SHOSS is an unpressurized "tool box" that is attached to the top of the ICC. ISS assembly flight 7A.1 will be the first flight of the ICC without a SpaceHab pressurized module.
"As a leader in space commerce, we are pleased to begin the new millennium by extending our role in the ISS and expanding commercial access to space for a growing array of customers," said SpaceHab President David A. Rossi.
In a related development, SpaceHab last week announced an historic agreement with RSC Energia of Russia to establish the first permanent commercial presence in space. SpaceHab and Energia will build a pressurized module, named Enterprise, which will be attached to the ISS and dedicated to commercial uses.
The first use will be an independent commercial television and Internet company providing a unique blend of space-originated news, information, education and entertainment programming, broadcasting from Enterprise.
