Axiom Space moves into spacey former electronics store

A big-time NASA partner is moving into a former Fry’s Electronics store in Webster.

Houston’s Axiom Space just inked a 146,000-square-foot lease at 21300 Gulf Freeway — right on the intersection with the NASA Bypass.

The lease runs for 77 months, including renewal options, the Houston Business Journal reports. Axiom says it plans to move its space station engineering operations there while it builds a new headquarters at the Houston Spaceport.

During its heyday in the 80s and 90s, Fry’s Electronics billed itself as “The One-Stop Shop for the Silicon Valley Professional” because you could buy electronics and groceries — computer chips and potato chips — all at the same place. Sadly, in 2021, the company announced it was closing all of its stores after 36 years in business, blaming the Covid-19 pandemic and changes in the retail market.

The store’s former Webster location — an eight minute drive from the Houston Space Center — has a distinct space-themed design. Not only does its facade mirror the front of a space station, it’s also filled with several space-related decorations hanging from the high ceiling, plus a full mockup of the International Space Station.

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The site has remained vacant since Fry’s moved out and Axiom has every intention to preserve its spacey-ness. The small amount of construction planned for the building is set to be completed by October 14. Meanwhile, the first phase of the new headquarters in the Spaceport is expected to be completed by April of next year, but Axiom says it plans to occupy the Fry’s location until the new headquarters are fully completed.

“Axiom required wide open space and tall ceilings to accommodate its space station mockups,” said Mark Greeley, Axiom’s program manager for exploration extravehicular activity, in an email. “In addition, Axiom worked with the ownership group to leave all the space-related mockups overhead and other space features unique to the building design, which is fitting with the work our team is doing.”

In April, Axiom partnered with SpaceX and NASA on the Ax-1 mission, representing the first mission to the ISS crewed by a former NASA astronaut and three paying customers. This week, the company was tapped by NASA to develop moonwalking spacesuits for the agency’s Artemis III mission — the first time in more than 50 years that humans will set foot on the moon.

— Maddy Sperling