Posted: Tue, Aug 31, 2010, 9:31 AM ET (1331 GMT)
NASA announced Monday it has awarded contracts to two entrepreneurial space companies to perform experimental test flights of suborbital launch vehicles. The contracts, totaling $475,000, will go to Armadillo Aerospace and Masten Space Systems to perform flights of their reusable suborbital vehicle to altitudes of up to 40 kilometers; those flights are planned for this fall and winter from Spaceport America in New Mexico and Mojave Air and Space Port in California. The flights will carry experimental payloads, including the fAA's Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) navigation payloads. The awards are part of NASA's Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research Program (CRuSR) program, which later plans to purchase flights on commercial suborbital vehicles to provide relatively low-cost access to space for researchers.

Related Links:

•  MSNBC article
•  AP article
•  NASA press release