Estée Lauder is going to be the first beauty brand ever to participate in NASA’s efforts to enable business opportunities on the International Space Station, sending its iconic Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Multi-Recovery Complex into space.
The product is scheduled to launch aboard a Cygnus spacecraft atop an Antares rocket on Northrop Grumman’s 14th commercial resupply services mission for NASA on September 29, 2020, and will arrive at the International Space Station on October 3, 2020.
“We are thrilled to reinforce our leadership once again as the first beauty brand to go into space,” said Stéphane de La Faverie, Group President, The Estée Lauder Companies, & Global Brand President, Estée Lauder. “NASA is at the forefront of space exploration, and as a leader in skincare innovation, Estée Lauder is proud to support the incredible work NASA is doing to promote a space economy by being the second-ever commercial product to launch.”
“NASA is opening the International Space Station to business as part of the agency’s efforts to enable a robust low-Earth orbit economy,” said Phil McAlister, Director of Commercial Spaceflight Development at NASA Headquarters. “Agreements like these directly support NASA’s broad strategy to facilitate the commercialization of low-Earth orbit by U.S. entities by demonstrating new markets utilizing the unique environment of space.”
10 bottles of the cult classic Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Multi-Recovery Complex will be going up to space, where NASA astronauts will spend more than four hours capturing images and film of the product.
The deal is said to be worth $128,000 and was negotiated by the Boston-based Space Commerce Matters on behalf of Estée Lauder.
This partnership continues NASA’s years-long push to encourage private-sector spending on space projects as the agency looks to stretch its budget. Initiatives include allowing the space station to be used for marketing and entertainment purposes, although no astronauts are allowed to appear in any marketing campaigns.
“We’re dedicating a modest amount of crew time—just 5%—to commercial and marketing activities because a robust commercial space economy will support national interests and our Congressional direction to transition ‘to a regime where NASA is one of many customers of a low-Earth orbit commercial human space flight enterprise,’” McAlister said in an emailed statement to CNN Business.
