NASA: Houston hopes to become the epicenter of the commercial space industry through partnerships made by the Johnson Space Center

Houston, Texas– NASA reaffirmed its commitment to working with private companies in the space industry during the State of Space event hosted by the Greater Houston Partnership on October 11.

The video shown above is from an earlier report on the 60th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s famous lunar speech given at Rice University.

“NASA’s ongoing mission to put people in space… marks the beginning of a new era of collaboration with private companies,” said Bob Harvey, president of the Greater Houston Partnership, at the event.

The Johnson Space Center has partnered with several private institutions to advance space technologies. Those partnerships include Rice University’s Ion Innovation Center, which helps accelerate aerospace research, JSC Director Vanessa Wyche said at the event.

NASA has also worked with private firms on the agency’s own missions, Wyche said, including Artemis 1, an unmanned lunar orbiting mission due to launch in late November.

In 2019, NASA announced that the first astronauts flying with private companies would travel to the International Space Station.

In April, Axiom Space became the first private company to send a crew to the ISS and a month later broke ground on its new spaceport headquarters at 13200 Space Center Blvd., Houston. Collins Aerospace and Intuitive Machines will also operate out of the Houston Spaceport upon its completion.

“Some of the most innovative minds in the world are planning a vibrant future for Houston,” said Harvey.

This article is courtesy of our ABC13 partners at Community Impact Newspapers.

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