NASA Selects Rocket Lab for Venture Class Launch Services

20th Feb 2022
NASA Selects Rocket Lab for Venture Class Launch Services

NASA has included Rocket Lab in the list of companies selected to provide satellite launches through the Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare missions. This provides opportunities for science and technology payloads, as well as fostering the growing commercial launch market in the United States.

Rocket Lab is a space systems company, which is among the twelve companies NASA has contracted for launch services for VADR missions. VADR is a five-year project that includes a fixed budget of $300 million, which will be spent on launch contracts.

Science and Technology Payloads

Peter Beck, founder and CEO of Rocket Lab, expressed satisfaction at being selected to provide launch services for NASA’s science and technology payloads. He was thrilled by the selection, saying that this would continue Rocket Lab’s heritage of delivering reliable rides to space for small satellites in dedicated and rideshare missions.

These VADR contracts provide NASA with a wide range of Federal Aviation Administration-licensed commercial launch services that can deliver payloads ranging from Class D missions to CubeSats to various orbits. This contributes to NASA’s technology development and scientific research.

VADR acquisition helps NASA build on previous procurement efforts, which helps to foster the development of small launch vehicles for payloads. Rocket Lab provided the first Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS) mission in December 2018, deploying 13 educational satellites from the Electron launch vehicle.

About Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab was founded in 2006 as an end-to-end space company with a track record of successful missions. The company delivers launch services, satellites, spacecraft components, and other in-orbit management solutions that make it easier and faster to access space.

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