Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc, a vertically integrated aerospace company, today announced the g of a Space Act Agreement with NASA's Johnson Space Center to encourage commercial participation in human orbital spaceflight to the International Space Station ("ISS") , allowing the development of a robust economy in low earth orbit.
Under the agreement, Virgin Galactic will develop a new astronaut orbital readiness program. This program will include identifying candidates interested in procuring private astronaut missions to the ISS, procuring transport to the ISS, in-orbit resources, and ground resources.
ing and coordinating the use of ISS resources will be an important integration point needed for each particular astronaut's mission. The next generation of space travelers are interested in a variety of space experiences.
Based on its commercial spaceflight training experience, Virgin Galactic believes it can provide an unparalleled, personalized customer experience for orbital space travel.
NASA is seeing increased demand to use the ISS for scientific and technological research and development, commercial activity, and international collaboration. Private astronaut experiences can range from private citizen expeditions to government-sponsored scientific research missions.
As part of this partnership, NASA will leverage Virgin Galactic's business experience and industry knowledge. Virgin Galactic will also contribute end-to-end program management and integrated astronaut training packages for private engers, tailored to meet the needs of a commercial orbital spaceflight experience.
The partnership also serves as a first for the ISS National Laboratory, demonstrating additional commercial sector involvement in human spaceflight, and could bring commercial participants to conduct research and other commercial activities aboard the ISS.
Virgin Galactic has already developed a customized Future Astronaut Readiness program for its customers traveling out of Spaceport America in New Mexico. Virgin Galactic's existing space experiences can play an important role in training for orbital travel, allowing engers to become familiar with the environment in space, such as G-forces and zero-G. Spaceport America, Virgin Galactic's home base, will be used to some elements of the training program, using facilities designed for the training of private astronauts.
George Whitesides, CEO of Virgin Galactic, said: “We are excited to partner with NASA on this private orbital spaceflight program, which will not only allow us to use our spaceflight platform, but also provide our space training infrastructure to NASA and other agencies. Building on the unsured levels of spaceflight customer commitments we've secured to date, we are proud to share that vision, helping to develop another market for the new space economy. We want to bring the planetary perspective to many thousands of people.”
Via-Virgin Galactic
