spacetoday.net: NASA selects companies for near-space flight services

NASA selects companies for near-space flight services

Posted: Thu, Aug 11, 2011, 8:56 AM ET (1256 GMT)
SpaceShipTwo first glide flight (Virgin Galactic)

NASA announced this week it has awarded contracts to seven small companies to provide high-altitude and suborbital flight services for science and technology payloads. The contracts, with a combined value of $10 million over two years, will be used to fly research payloads. Four of the seven companies receiving contracts are relatively well-known companies developing suborbital reusable launch vehicles: Armadillo Aerospace, Masten Space Systems, Virgin Galactic, and XCOR Aerospace. The others include a sounding rocket company, high-altitude ballon company, and a little-known aerospace company.