NASA to Invest $75 Million for Suborbital Science Flights

By Nancy Atkinson - February 18, 2010 at 3:15 PM UTC | Space Policy
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NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver announced today the space agency will fund dozens of science and education payloads to fly on commercial suborbital vehicles. If the 2011 budget proposed by President Obama passes, NASA will commit $75 million in funding over five years for the new Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research program (CRuSR). "For everyone who has dreamed of participating in the grand adventure of spaceflight, this $75 million commitment marks the dawn of a new space age," said Alan Stern chair of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation's Suborbital Applications Researchers Group (SARG) and former NASA associate administrator for science. "As the commercial space industry continues to grow, I expect that we will see increasing numbers of payloads and people flying to space."

Garver made the announcement at the first annual Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference in Boulder, Colorado. Money for payloads means money available for companies like Armadillo Aerospace, Blue Origin, Masten Space Systems, Virgin Galactic, and XCOR Aerospace.

"We are thrilled to see NASA recognizing the enormous potential of new commercial vehicles for science, research, and education," said Mark Sirangelo, Chairman of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. "NASA Deputy Administrator Garver's announcement today means that hundreds of scientists, educators, and students will be able to fly payloads on these new commercial vehicles."

NASA is proposing to spend $15 million in each of five years from 2011-2015 for the CRuSR program, funds that will both go to universities and other research institutions to build science and education payloads, as well as being used to purchase flights on commercial suborbital vehicles.

"Since this new generation of commercial vehicles are low cost, NASA's $75 million will open the floodgates for everyone from astronomers to high school classrooms to conduct real science in space," said STern. "This will be one of the best investments NASA has ever made."

Source:

Commercial Spaceflight Federation

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com