Feb 7 2003
From The Space Library
NASA notified SPACEHAB Inc. that NASA had not renewed SPACEHAB's contracts for building and maintaining the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility (SVMF), the facility with ISS mockups at NASA's JSC, and for operating the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) facility, where astronauts simulate spacewalks in a swimming pool. Instead, NASA had awarded the multiyear contract, valued at up to US$78.97 million, to Raytheon Technical Services of Houston. SPACEHAB's subsidiary Johnson Engineering had operated the NBL for approximately 10 years. In 1998 SPACEHAB had acquired Johnson Engineering and had continued to operate the NBL. SPACEHAB had depended on Johnson Engineering and the NBL/SVMF contract for about half of its US$100 million in annual revenues. The loss of the contract followed SPACEHAB's loss of one of its major flight articles, the Research Double Module, a pressurized science facility that had made its debut during STS-107 on the ill-fated Space Shuttle Columbia. SPACEHAB had insured the module for only US$17.7 million of its US$62.7 million value. SPACEHAB expected to contract with NASA to fly additional modules, which would enable the company to recoup its investment in the hardware. (NASA, “NASA Buoyancy Laboratory, Space Vehicle Mockup Facility Contract Awarded,” news release, 7 February 2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/feb/HP_news_c03004_bb_030207.html (accessed 16 July 2008); Brian Berger, “Double Whammy: SPACEHAB Loses NASA Contract,” Space News, 12 February 2003; Brian Berger, “$100 Million Commercial Science Lab Lost on Columbia Was Insured,” Space News, 2 February 2003.
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