Country for PR: United States
Contributor: PR Newswire New York
Friday, October 22 2021 - 00:00
AsiaNet
Nanoracks, Voyager Space, and Lockheed Martin Teaming to Develop Commercial Space Station
DENVER, Oct. 22, 2021 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --

  -- Continuously crewed habitat to support research, industrial activity, 
     and more

Nanoracks, in collaboration with Voyager Space and Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT], 
has formed a team to develop the first-ever free flying commercial space 
station. The space station, known as Starlab, will be a continuously crewed 
commercial platform, dedicated to conducting critical research, fostering 
industrial activity, and ensuring continued U.S. presence and leadership in 
low-Earth orbit. Starlab is expected to achieve initial operational capability 
by 2027.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1666264/Starlab.jpg 
Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1585430/Voyager_Logo.jpg 
Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1666263/LM_Logo.jpg 
Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1585431/Nanoracks_Logo.jpg 

To meet U.S. government, international space agency, and commercial needs in 
space, these industry leaders will develop Starlab specifically to enable the 
growing space economy and meet pent-up customer demand for space services such 
as materials research, plant growth, and astronaut activity. Together, these 
companies bring unparalleled experience in commercial space utilization, 
engineering design and performance, technology innovation, and investment 
strategy.

"Since the beginning, Nanoracks has sought to own and operate a private space 
station to fully unlock market demand," says Jeffrey Manber, CEO and Co-Founder 
of Nanoracks. "Our team has spent the last decade learning the business of 
space stations, understanding customer needs, charting market growth, and 
self-investing in private hardware on the ISS like the Bishop Airlock. 
Nanoracks and our team are excited to work with NASA and our friends across the 
world as we move forward with Starlab." 

NASA recently announced the Commercial Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) Destination (CLD) 
project to support the development of private space stations. CLD will 
stimulate a multifaceted LEO economy and provide science and crew capabilities 
in LEO before the International Space Station (ISS) retires. 

Nanoracks will prime the Starlab development effort leveraging over a decade of 
experience as the pathfinder of and global leader in commercial ISS 
utilization. Voyager Space, the majority shareholder in Nanoracks, will lead 
strategy and capital investment and Lockheed Martin, a leader in developing and 
operating complex spacecraft, will serve as the manufacturer and technical 
integrator. 

The basic elements of the Starlab space station include a large inflatable 
habitat, designed and built by Lockheed Martin, a metallic docking node, a 
power and propulsion element, a large robotic arm for servicing cargo and 
payloads, and a state-of-the-art laboratory system to host a comprehensive 
research, science, and manufacturing capability.  Starlab will be able to 
continuously host up to four astronauts for conducting critical science and 
research.

"We're excited to be part of such an innovative and capable team—one that 
allows each company to leverage their core strengths," said Lisa Callahan, Vice 
President and General Manager, Commercial Civil Space at Lockheed Martin. 
"Lockheed Martin's extensive experience in building complex spacecraft and 
systems, coupled with Nanoracks' commercial business innovation and Voyager's 
financial expertise allows our team to create a customer-focused space station 
that will fuel our future vision. We have invested significantly in habitat 
technology which enables us to propose a cost-effective, mission-driven 
spacecraft design for Starlab."

Nanoracks' Starlab business model is designed to enable science, research, and 
manufacturing for global customers, and bring added value to long-duration 
sovereign astronaut missions. Starlab will also serve tourism and other 
commercial and business activities.

"Voyager Space is highly confident in the Starlab business model and its 
ability to be commercially sustainable and well capitalized," says Dylan 
Taylor, Voyager Space Chairman & CEO. "Voyager Space sees numerous synergies 
leveraging the capabilities across our organization's operating businesses, as 
well as within the Lockheed Martin ecosystem. We see this partnership as just 
the beginning of our work together." 

Learn more about Starlab and the team here ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3330782-1&h=2165329067&u=https%3A%2F%2Fnanoracks.com%2Fstarlab%2F&a=here 
).

About Nanoracks
Media Contact: D'Mani Harrison-Porter, dharrison-porter@nanoracks.com

Nanoracks, a Voyager Space Company, is the world's leading commercial space 
services provider. Nanoracks owns and operates private hardware on the 
International Space Station and has launched over 1,300 research experiments, 
deployed over 300 small satellites, and installed the Bishop Airlock. Today, 
Nanoracks leverages over a decade of experience to develop new commercial space 
systems in direct response to customer needs. These space systems include 
converting commercial launch vehicle upper stages into functional secondary 
platforms, building new habitable space stations, supplying payload and crew 
airlock systems and services infrastructure, and more. Follow @Nanoracks ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3330782-1&h=2609276956&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.twitter.com%2Fnanoracks&a=%40Nanoracks 
) on Twitter to learn more.

About Voyager Space 
Media Contact: Abby Dickes, abby.dickes@voyagerspace.com  

Voyager Space is a global leader in space exploration. Voyager's long-term 
mission is to create a vertically integrated, publicly traded NewSpace company 
capable of delivering any space mission humans can conceive. The firm's 
first-in-industry model is uniquely tailored to support the growth needs of 
commercial space companies by replacing traditional private capital models with 
a longer-term approach that provides permanent capital. To learn more about 
Voyager Space, please visit: https://voyagerspace.com/ and follow @VoyagerSH ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3330782-1&h=2099839678&u=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FVoyagerSH&a=%40VoyagerSH 
) on Twitter.

About Lockheed Martin
Media Contact: Gary Napier, gary.p.napier@lmco.com 

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3330782-1&h=3762173385&u=https%3A%2F%2Finvestors.lockheedmartin.com%2F&a=LMT 
) is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 114,000 
people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, 
development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology 
systems, products, and services. Please follow @LMNews ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3330782-1&h=720847687&u=https%3A%2F%2Fc212.net%2Fc%2Flink%2F%3Ft%3D0%26l%3Den%26o%3D3176710-1%26h%3D2752924804%26u%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Ftwitter.com%252Flmnews%26a%3D%2540LMNews&a=%40LMNews 
) on Twitter for the latest announcements and news across the corporation.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements." All statements, other 
than statements of historical fact, including those with respect to Voyager 
Space Holdings, Inc.'s (the "Company's") mission statement and growth strategy, 
are "forward-looking statements."  Although the Company's management believes 
that such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee that 
such expectations are, or will be, correct. These forward-looking statements 
involve many risks and uncertainties, which could cause the Company's future 
results to differ materially from those anticipated.  Potential risks and 
uncertainties include, among others, general economic conditions and conditions 
affecting the industries in which the Company operates; the uncertainty of 
regulatory requirements and approvals; and the ability to obtain necessary 
financing on acceptable terms or at all. Readers should not place any undue 
reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve these known and 
unknown uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the 
Company's control and which could, and likely will, materially affect actual 
results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking 
statement reflects the Company's current views with respect to future events 
and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating 
to operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. The 
Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise these 
forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual 
results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking 
statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. 

Source - Voyager Space
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