NASA has added Virgin Galactic and Masten Space Systems as awardees on a $45M multiple-award contract to help the agency test payloads on suborbital reusable launch vehicles as part of the Flight Opportunities program.

Virgin Galactic plans to conduct its first spaceflight launch from its Spaceport America complex in New Mexico as part of NASA's Flight Opportunities Program focused on Earth imaging and space-based research data collection.

Virgin Galactic has completed a second glide flight test of its SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity spacecraft from Spaceport America in New Mexico.

Virgin Galactic“™s Spaceship Company subsidiary will support NASA in the development of high-speed technologies under a Space Act Agreement.

Alan Stern, associate vice president of the space science and engineering division at Southwest Research Institute, has been selected to join a scientific team that will fly aboard a Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo vehicle to carry out NASA-backed experiments.

NASA is looking for potential sources of suborbital flight services to support the agency's efforts to promote commercial involvement in its research and exploration missions.