The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC built the Starshine 3 satellite, with assistance from Mr. Douglas Winfield in Seneca, SC, the Calhoun Community College in Decatur, AL, the Robert C. Byrd Institute in Huntington, WV, and the C.F.P. Paul-Rousseau School in Drummondville, Quebec, Canada. Cynetics Corporation in Rapid City, SD built the satellite's amateur radio communication system, with assistance from students and faculty of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City and New Mexico State University's Physical Science Laboratory in Las Cruces, NM. The Ohio Aerospace Institute and the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, OH with the help of Emcore corporation, TRW and ITN Energy Systems, built Starshine 3's integrated power supply experiment. The Planetary Systems Corporation in Silver Springs, MD built the Lightband separation system that will deploy the satellite in orbit.

Students and faculty of the Bridgerland Applied Technology Center in Logan, UT machined 2000 mirror blanks for this mission, using aluminum rod stock furnished by Thiokol Corporation, Brigham City, UT. The Aerospace Development Center in Jacksonville, AL and Starshine Headquarters in Monument, CO shipped these mirrors in over 1000 self-contained polishing kits to schools across the entire United States and 25 other countries. The Alaska Space Grant Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks purchased all the materials for the Starshine 3 mirror polishing kits and recruited over one hundred Alaska schools to participate in the Starshine 3 mission. The Space Optics Manufacturing Technology Center at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL applied a transparent silicon dioxide protective coating to the Starshine 3 mirrors, after the students had completed their polishing. The center also suggested improvements in the basic Starshine mirror grinding procedures. With help from students at the Ed White Middle School in Huntsville, AL, they produced an instructional videotape of the improved mirror grinding and polishing process that was included in each of the polishing kits. The Optics Laboratory of Hill Air Force Base in Ogden, UT polished extra mirrors to fill in blank spots on the satellite skin. The Rocky Mountain Space Grant Consortium in Salt Lake City, UT and the South Dakota Space Grant Consortium in Rapid City, SD provided a portion of the funding for this project. Starshine Headquarters scanned printed names and signatures of all mirror polishers onto a CD ROM to be flown inside the satellite.

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