WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA has selected 12 companies to provide launch services for the agency’s Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) missions, providing new opportunities for science and technology payloads and fostering a growing U.S. commercial launch market.

Award selections are:

• ABL Space Systems of El Segundo, California
• Astra Space Inc. of Alameda, California
• Blue Origin Florida LLC of Merritt Island, Florida
• L2 Solutions LLC of Houston
• Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation of Chandler, Arizona
• Phantom Space Corporation of Tucson, Arizona
• Relativity Space Inc. of Long Beach, California
• Rocket Lab USA Inc. of Long Beach, California
• Spaceflight Inc. of Seattle
• Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, California
• United Launch Services LLC of Centennial, Colorado
• Virgin Orbit LLC of Long Beach, California

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (NASA PR) — NASA commercial cargo provider SpaceX is targeting Saturday, Aug. 28, to launch its 23rd commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Dragon spacecraft is scheduled for liftoff at 3:37 a.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.