Indiana – Southern Indiana’s long connection to spaceflight has entered a new chapter, this time inside a 30,000-square-foot facility built to turn microgravity research into products that could affect life far beyond orbit.
The work taking place in Georgetown may involve the International Space Station, human tissue and advanced manufacturing, but its impact is designed to reach patients, pharmaceutical companies and workers on the ground in Indiana.
Gov. Mike Braun joined leaders from Redwire Corporation in Georgetown to mark the grand opening of the company’s new research and manufacturing facility at the Novaparke Innovation & Technology Campus in Floyd County. The site, first announced in 2023, is now fully operational and will serve as a major center for Redwire’s space-based manufacturing, life sciences and biotechnology programs.
“Redwire’s grand opening is a testament to Indiana’s pro-business, pro-innovation environment,” Braun said.
“With this growth in Southern Indiana, Hoosiers will continue to be at the forefront of the economy of the future, advancing human spaceflight and leveraging space to develop critical life sciences and biotechnology innovations. Redwire’s commitment to Indiana will ensure high-wage careers in Georgetown for years to come.”
Redwire, a global space and defense technology company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RDW, expanded its Indiana presence after acquiring Techshot in 2021. Techshot was founded in Indiana, and the operation carries more than 40 years of spaceflight experience in the region.
The new Georgetown facility will manufacture systems intended to support NASA’s human spaceflight goals, pharmaceutical research and the future development of commercial space stations. It will also serve as a key operating site for Space Microgravity Development LLC, known as SpaceMD, a Redwire venture focused on using microgravity to create advances in biotechnology and other industries.
Microgravity provides researchers with conditions that cannot be easily reproduced on Earth. Redwire’s work in southern Indiana has already supported more than 50 pharmaceutical experiments for government agencies, universities and major companies, including Eli Lilly and Company and Bristol Myers Squibb.
The company currently has eight manufacturing and biotechnology platforms installed aboard the International Space Station. Six of those platforms were developed in Floyd County, giving the Georgetown area a direct role in experiments being conducted hundreds of miles above Earth.
Redwire has also helped pioneer the bioprinting of human tissue in space. That work has produced successful bioprints of a knee meniscus and heart tissue, highlighting the potential for space-based research to contribute to future medical discoveries and treatments.
“The space and pharmaceutical-biotech industries are intersecting in a way that will transform both fields, and this new facility will ensure that Indiana is at the forefront of this exciting industrial revolution,” said Mike Gold, president of Redwire Space. “Thanks to the trailblazing work that Redwire’s team will do in Indiana, we will demonstrate how going to space can benefit millions of people here on Earth.”
The Georgetown operation employs engineers, scientists and technicians from across the region. Redwire expects its highly skilled workforce to grow further as SpaceMD expands its activities.
For Indiana, the opening adds another major investment to the state’s advanced manufacturing and next-generation technology sectors. For Redwire, it strengthens a regional base that has already produced equipment operating in space.
The ribbon-cutting celebrated a completed building, but the larger story is only beginning. From Georgetown, researchers and manufacturers will now help shape experiments, technologies and medical innovations intended to connect the future of spaceflight with practical benefits on Earth.
