posted 02-24-2021 02:25 PM               

Full-size mock International Space Station closes with end of Fry's Electronics

The International Space Station has gone out of business — in a Houston suburb.

Fry's Electronics closed all of its retail stores on Wednesday (Feb. 24), including its Webster, Texas location, which featured a one-of-a-kind, full-scale mockup of the sprawling orbital complex. The real International Space Station (ISS) remains in operation, overseen by the flight controllers at the nearby NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston.

posted 06-28-2022 09:00 AM               

Shuttered full-scale space station mockup finds new use with Axiom Space

A Houston company building a commercial orbital outpost has found the perfect place to move: a sprawling facility that comes pre-equipped with a full-scale mockup of the International Space Station (ISS).

Axiom Space, which has a contract with NASA to test components of its planned Axiom Station at the International Space Station, has leased the former location of Fry's Electronics in Webster, Texas to house its engineering operations. The former big-box retail store, which closed when the national chain went out of business in 2021, is unique for its football-field-long representation of the ISS.