Texas A&M Space R&D Facility to Rise at NASA Johnson Exploration Park

NASA has disclosed that it is leasing a parcel in the 240-acre Exploration Park at its Johnson Space Center in Houston to the Texas A&M University System, which will use the site for research and development focused on human spaceflight in the context of the commercial space economy.

According to the agency, the lease agreement will open a collaborative environment for promoting U.S. competitiveness in the commercial space and aerospace sectors. The deal with Texas A&M will usher in the first approved facility in Exploration Park, it added.

NASA Johnson hosts the agency’s Mission Control Center for spaceflight programs and missions, including astronaut training and space medicine.

By bringing in multi-use infrastructures through the lease at the Exploration Park, academic researchers and aerospace companies can work with space center experts to solve space exploration challenges, NASA said.

Vanessa Wyche, NASA Johnson director, described Exploration Park as “the next spoke in the larger wheel” of a space economy that will benefit all.