NASA awarded Blue Origin and Louisville-based Sierra Space a $130 million contract to design, build and operate Orbital Reef, which is described as a business park in space.

The news came Thursday, the same day NASA announced another $160 million grant from the Space Act Agreement to Nanoracks, which is owned by Denver-based Voyager Space, and Lockheed Martin to build the Starlab, a new commercial space station to replace the International Space Station.

“Building on our successful initiatives to partner with private industry to deliver cargo, and now our NASA astronauts, to the International Space Station, NASA is once again leading the way to commercialize space activities,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson in a statement. “With commercial companies now providing transportation to low-Earth orbit in place, we are partnering with U.S. companies to develop the space destinations where people can visit, live, and work, enabling NASA to continue forging a path in space for the benefit of humanity while fostering commercial activity in space.”

Earlier this year, Sierra Space broke off from Sierra Nevada Corp. to become its own entity. It has about 1,200 employees, 700 of which are in Colorado. It will provide the runway-landing Dream Chaser spaceplane for crew and cargo transportation. The ship is capable of landing on runways worldwide.

“Blue Origin and Sierra Space are committed to the realization of our vision of enabling humanity to build civilizations in space while enhancing life here on Earth,” Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice in a statement. “The commercialization of low Earth orbit is an important first step in this journey. We look forward to working with NASA on this important program that will advance humanity’s settlement of space.”

Kent, Wash.-based Blue Origin was launched by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Next week, it will take Voyager Space’s CEO Dylan Taylor to space with five other passengers.

“We are pleased that NASA supports the development of Orbital Reef, a revolutionary approach to making Earth orbit more accessible to diverse customers and industries,” said Brent Sherwood, senior vice president of advanced development programs for Blue Origin. “In addition to meeting the ISS partners’ needs, the Orbital Reef mixed-use space business park will offer reduced costs and complexity, turnkey services, and inspiring space architecture to support any business. No one knows how commercial (low Earth orbit) markets will develop, but we intend to find out.”

Orbital Reef is described in the release as an “address in orbit for anyone.”

“Early customers may include NASA, its traditional ISS partners, and non-traditional governments and agencies needing easier access to space,” the release states. “The station will grow as markets grow, including commercial industries such as research and manufacturing, media and entertainment, sports and gaming, and adventure travel and tourism.”

Other companies doing work for Orbital Reef include:

• Boeing, which is developing the station’s operations, maintenance and science module, as well as the Starliner crew capsule.
• Redwire Space “leads microgravity research payload development and operations, large deployable structures, and the Orbital Reef digital twin.”
• Genesis Engineering is developing a “single person spacecraft” for “routine operations and tourist excursions.”