SPACEHAB on Space Florida: We Like It!

Embattled Space Florida – stung by criticism from a legislative audit and negative press about its effectiveness – released a letter of support today from SPACEHAB, a company with which it has worked closely.

“SPACEHAB has enjoyed an excellent relationship with Space Florida over the past few years and we look forward to continue to work with the organization. With the assistance of Space Florida, we have been able to develop groundbreaking work within the area of microgravity research in space and our development programs targeted on vaccine development have proven to be quite positive,” Chairman and CEO Thomas Boone Pickens III writes. “As a result, we have created a biotechnology business based on microgbravity and now utilizing the Space Life Sciences Lab at Kennedy Space Center to further our research in space over the remaining shuttle flights.”

Pickens said that SPACEHAB and its subsidiary, Astrotech Space Operations, would work with Space Florida to help bring commercial launches back to Florida.

“Over the past few decades limited access to military launch pads at Cape Canaveral, along with increased cost, caused the commercial satellite industry to go overseas to Baikonur and French Guiana. We believe focusing on this market segment is a promising way to replace the job losses that have resulted from the conclusion of NASA’s Space Shuttle program,” Pickens writes.

Read the full letter.