Redwire Corporation officially cut the ribbon Monday on a 30,000-square-foot microgravity research and manufacturing facility at the Novaparke Innovation & Technology Campus in Georgetown, Indiana, turning the quiet tech park into a launchpad for orbital science. The vertically integrated site packs in engineering and scientific laboratories, a machine shop, a wet BSL-2 lab and a mission-style payload operations control center that can oversee experiments aboard the International Space Station. Company and state officials say the new Georgetown hub is designed to speed up space-enabled drug development, materials research and operations for Redwire’s SpaceMD venture.
Local coverage and photos captured officials filing through the mission-control room and the wet lab during the opening ceremony. According to Louisville Business First, the payload operations control center emerged as the showpiece of the event and is described as having a direct live link to the ISS.
What’s inside the Georgetown site
Redwire describes the Georgetown building as a vertically integrated facility built to design, fabricate, assemble, test and operate complex spaceflight research payloads, according to Redwire Corporation. The company’s location page lists a Payload Operations Control Center with a direct live connection to the ISS, bonded disaster-proof storage, an electronics shop, assembly and test areas and BSL-2 wet lab space for biomedical work. All of that, Redwire says, is meant to let engineers move experiments from bench to orbit with much less friction.
Pharma partnerships and PIL-BOX missions
Redwire has already been flying pharmaceutical crystal and bioprinting experiments on the ISS and has partnered with Eli Lilly and Bristol Myers Squibb to test its PIL-BOX platform, as reported by Fierce Pharma. "We are building capacity as we pioneer consequential in-space manufacturing and microgravity research capabilities," John Vellinger said in a press release via Redwire Corporation. The PIL-BOX system is described in depth by the ISS National Lab, which notes that it allows researchers to grow and return crystals that can form differently in microgravity for analysis back on Earth.
Local jobs and the Novaparke pitch
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun joined Redwire executives at the ribbon-cutting and called the investment a sign that the state is "at the forefront of the economy of the future," according to the governor’s office. The Novaparke Innovation & Technology Campus is being promoted as an entrepreneurial hub for aerospace and biotech, and state and company statements say the Georgetown site will employ engineers, scientists and technicians drawn from across the region. Officials framed the project as a way to bolster NASA-related capabilities while pulling more high-skill, high-wage careers into Floyd County.
Why microgravity matters to drugmakers
In microgravity, crystals and biological structures can grow with fewer defects and with morphologies that differ from those seen on Earth, which can help pharmaceutical researchers refine formulations and better understand molecular structure. Redwire’s public filings note that the company had launched dozens of PIL-BOX units through 2025 for partners including Bristol Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly, and the ISS National Lab has described PIL-BOX as a platform for returning space-grown samples for Earth-based analysis. Industry reporting and company materials say several of those returned experiments have already fed into downstream R&D work on the ground.
Redwire and local leaders say the Georgetown hub is expected to increase throughput for space experiments and strengthen Floyd County’s foothold in the emerging orbital economy. Photos and a recap of the opening are available from official channels, and the governor’s announcement noted that the site is slated to begin hosting research and customer visits this year, according to the governor’s office.
