NASA picks Virgin Galactic to fly payloads to space

From NM Politics.net - by Heath Haussamen - NASA has selected Virgin Galactic to fly technology payloads into suborbital space in a move that is certain to benefit Spaceport America in Southern New Mexico. Virgin Galactic announced that it won the NASA contract today in a news release. From the release:

“Virgin Galactic, the world’s first commercial spaceline, owned by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Aabar Investments PJS, has been selected by NASA to provide flight opportunities for engineers, technologists and scientific researchers to fly technology payloads into space. This arrangement marks the first time that NASA has contracted with a commercial partner to provide flights into space on a suborbital spacecraft, and represents another important endorsement of the value of regular commercial space access for a wide range of science and educational applications.” Read more