LauncherOne stage separation. (Credit: Virgin Galactic)

WASHINGTON, D.C. (NASA PR) — NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP) has awarded multiple Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS) contracts to provide small satellites (SmallSats) — also called CubeSats, microsats or nanosatellites — access to low-Earth orbit.

The three companies selected to provide these new commercial launch capabilities, and the value of their firm fixed-price contracts, are:

• Firefly Space Systems Inc. of Cedar Park, Texas, $5.5 million
• Rocket Lab USA Inc. of Los Angeles, $6.9 million
• Virgin Galactic LLC of Long Beach, California, $4.7 million

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CubeSat

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (NASA PR) — NASA will host a news conference at 1 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, Oct. 14, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to announce the outcome of the Venture Class Launch Service (VCLS) competition. The news conference will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

The participants are:

• Garrett Skrobot, Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) mission lead for the Launch Services Program (LSP) at Kennedy
• Eric Ianson, associate director of NASA’s Earth Sciences Division in the Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington
• Mark Wiese, flight projects office chief, NASA Launch Services Program, Kennedy Space Center
• Representatives from the selected launch service providers

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