June 29, 2017 – San Francisco, CA – NanoRacks is proud to announce that CEO Jeffrey Manber has been awarded with the Pioneer in NewSpace Award from the Space Frontier Foundation (SFF).
The Pioneer in NewSpace Award is given to an individual who was an early leader and pioneer in the creation of the NewSpace industry, and who has left a lasting legacy – either through their own personal investment or in the creation of an early NewSpace business enterprise.
“Throughout his career, Jeffrey Manber has been a tireless advocate for what we now call NewSpace,“ says SFF Chairman of the Board, Jeff Fiege. “He worked to overcome the obstacles to enable the human development of space before most of today’s NewSpace companies even existed. It is truly an honor to officially add him to the list of NewSpace Pioneers.”
Jeff received this award for his history both his establishing and working in the development of NewSpace and commercial space – from his time at the Department of Commerce Office of Space Commercialization, to being CEO of MirCorp, now to leading one of the top companies for space station utilization.
“It is pretty cool to have my career in commercial space honored at the NewSpace 2017 conference by the Space Frontier Foundation,” says Jeffrey Manber. “Whether at NanoRacks or before, I’ve tried to make space just another place to do business. And slowly, slowly, we are getting there, thanks to organizations like the Space Frontier Foundation.” Adds Manber, “At NanoRacks, we look forward to continuing our work in further commercializing access to space and making space a destination for anyone with a passion for exploration.”
Jeff has a long-standing career in commercial space utilization. He served as the Advisor to the Chairman of PanAmSat, the first privately owned international satellite venture, ending the monopoly on international satellite communications. He co-developed the first Wall Street Fund dedicated solely to commercial space and helped create the Office of Space Commerce at the U.S. Department of Commerce in the Reagan Administration. He then served at CEO of MirCorp, and remains the only person to-date to have marketed a private space station. Under MirCorp, Jeff signed media and entertainment deals with space tourist Dennis Tito, Survivor television producer Mark Burnett, and moved producer James Cameron.
Today, NanoRacks is one of leaders in commercial utilization of the International Space Station. NanoRacks has delivered over 550 payloads to the International Space Station, including the launch and deployment of over 180 small satellites. NanoRacks is currently building the first-ever commercial Airlock to be mounted to the ISS and has also been awarded funding from the NASA NextSTEP Phase II Award to study the reuse of the upper stages of launch vehicles as commercial habitats.
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About NanoRacks
NanoRacks LLC was formed in 2009 to provide commercial hardware and services for the U.S. National Laboratory onboard the International Space Station via a Space Act Agreement with NASA. NanoRacks’ main office is in Houston, Texas, right alongside the NASA Johnson Space Center. The Business Development office is in Washington, DC. Additional offices are located in Silicon Valley, California and Leiden, Netherlands.
In July 2015, NanoRacks signed a teaming agreement with Blue Origin to offer integration services on their New Shepard space vehicle. NanoRacks, along with partners at ULA and Space Systems Loral was also recently selected by NASA to participate in the NextSTEPs Phase II program to develop commercial habitation systems in low-Earth orbit and beyond.
As of June 2017, over 550 payloads have been launched to the International Space Station via NanoRacks services, and our customer base includes the European Space Agency (ESA) the German Space Agency (DLR,) the American space agency (NASA,) US Government Agencies, Planet Labs, Millennium Space Systems, Space Florida, NCESSE, Virgin Galactic, pharmaceutical drug companies, and organizations in Vietnam, UK, Romania and Israel.
About the Space Frontier Foundation
Founded in 1988, the Space Frontier Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to opening the space frontier to human settlement as rapidly as possible by unleashing the power of free enterprise. Our goals include protecting the Earth’s fragile biosphere and creating a more prosperous life for each generation by using the unlimited energy and material resources of space. The Foundation is composed of a diverse, multinational array of space activists, expert scientists and engineers, media and political professionals, entrepreneurs, and passionate citizens.