NASA awards contract for flight and integration services

NASA has selected Virgin Galactic LLC of Las Cruces, New Mexico, and Masten Space Systems Inc. of Mojave, California, to provide flight and integration services for payloads chosen by the agency's Flight Opportunities program, which is managed at the agency's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The two companies join four others to provide service under commercial indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contracts with NASA.

The new IDIQ base contract awards run through July 31, 2023, and have no options. The multiple award contracts are firm-fixed-price orders with a total combined value of $45 million.

The government intends to acquire payload space on commercial flights, including payload integration services, to fly technology payloads on platforms that provide high altitude, reduced gravity, or other relevant environments required to test and advance the technologies.

The Flight Opportunities program works toward maturing flight readiness of new cross-cutting technologies that advance or enable multiple future space missions.

Since 2011, the program has provided opportunities to fly more than 700 technology payloads on flight platforms that provide relevant environments required to test technologies in order to advance their technology readiness. The program is part of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate.