We knew Virgin Galactic had hopes of using its capacious SpaceShipTwo-class reusable spaceplanes for more than just joyrides into zero-g, but NASA’s new contract with the fledgling space company is a milestone for the entire business, as well as Richard Branson’s wackiest venture. As Virgin notes, “this arrangement marks the first time that NASA has contracted with a commercial partner to provide flights into space on a suboribtal spacecraft.” The decision came out of NASA’s Office of the Chief Technologist, source of some of the most paradigm-changing pieces of news from NASA recently, and it’s technically a further step in a program that’s already seen NASA technology flights on low-altitude rockets
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NASA Flying Into Space Commercially With Virgin, For The Very First Time