Launch Services Program
NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP) is responsible for launching rockets delivering spacecraft that observe the Earth, visit other planets and explore the universe – from weather satellites to telescopes to Mars rovers and more.
LSP functions as a broker, matching spacecraft with the best-suited rockets, managing the launch process, providing support from pre-mission planning to post-launch. LSP helps implement NASA’s policy of a mixed-fleet launch strategy, which uses both existing and emerging domestic launch capabilities to assure access to space.
Latest News
NASA Invites Media to View Launch of Jupiter Moon Mission
NASA Selects Three New Venture-Class Launch Service Providers
NASA CubeSats Launch as Commercial Rideshares
NASA Seeks Student Missions to Send to Space in 2026, Beyond
Rockets
United Launch Alliance Atlas V
Atlas V uses a standard common core booster, up to five solid rocket boosters (SRBs), a Centaur upper stage in a single- or dual-engine configuration, and one of several sizes of payload fairings.
Read MoreRocket Lab Electron
Rocket Lab’s Electron is a reusable orbital-class small rocket. Capturing and reflying Electron’s first stage enables higher launch frequency without expanding production and lowers launch costs. Rocket Lab has three launch pads at two launch sites, including two launch pads at a private orbital launch site located in New Zealand and a third pad at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Read MoreSpaceX Falcon 9
Falcon 9 is a reusable, two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of people and payloads into Earth orbit and beyond. Falcon 9 is the world’s first orbital class reusable rocket. Reusability allows SpaceX to refly the most expensive parts of the rocket, which in turn drives down the cost of space access.
Read MoreSpaceX Falcon Heavy
Falcon Heavy is composed of three reusable Falcon 9 nine-engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft. As one of the world’s most powerful operational rockets, Falcon Heavy can lift nearly 64 metric tons (141,000 lbs.) to orbit.
Read MoreNorthrop Grumman Pegasus XL
The three-stage Pegasus rocket is used to deploy small satellites weighing up to 1,000 pounds (453.59 kg) into low-Earth orbit. Pegasus is carried aloft by the Stargazer L-1011 aircraft to approximately 40,000 feet over open ocean, where it is released and free-falls five seconds before igniting its first stage rocket motor. With its unique delta-shaped wing, Pegasus typically delivers satellites into orbit in a little over 10 minutes.
Read MoreLaunch Sites
Kennedy Space Center
One of two primary launch sites for NASA’s Launch Vehicles.
Located along Florida’s central Atlantic coast between Jacksonville and Miami, our nation’s premiere spaceport is ideal for spacecraft requiring a west-east or equatorial orbit.
View SiteVandenberg Space Force Base
One of two primary launch sites for NASA’s Launch Vehicles.
Located along California’s central coast between Los Angeles and San Francisco, Vandenberg is preferred for spacecraft requiring a north-south, or polar, orbit.
Visit SiteWallops Flight Facility
Located along the Atlantic Coast on Wallops Island, Virginia.
Operated by Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, Wallops is NASA’s principal facility for suborbital research programs.
View SiteReagan Test Site, Kwajalein Atoll
An additional Expendable Launch Vehicle launch location in the Republic of the Marshall Islands in the North Pacific.
The Kwajalein site is located between Hawaii and Australia and is used for missions requiring equatorial orbits and low inclinations.
Visit SiteAdditional Launch Sites
Additional launch sites specific to LSP’s VADR launches include Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand; and SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. Kodiak Island, located in Alaska, is considered one of the best locations in the world for polar launch operations, providing a wide launch azimuth and unobstructed downrange flight path.
Read MoreEuropa Clipper
NASA's Europa Clipper is the first mission to conduct a detailed science investigation of Jupiter's moon Europa. Scientists predict Europa has a salty ocean beneath its icy crust that could hold the building blocks necessary to sustain life.
Learn More about Europa ClipperUpcoming Missions
Learn more about future missions managed by NASA's Launch Services Program.
ESCAPADE
The two ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) spacecraft will study the transfer of solar wind energy and momentum through Mars’ unique hybrid magnetosphere.
SPHEREx
The Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) mission will provide the first all-sky spectral survey.
IMAP
IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) will help researchers better understand the boundary of the heliosphere, a sort of magnetic bubble surrounding and protecting our solar system.
Learn More About Launch Services Program
About
CubeSat Launch Initiative
Since its inception, NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative has launched over 150 CubeSats on more than 40 Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) missions.
NASA’s CubeSat Launch initiative (CSLI) provides low-cost access to space for U.S. educational institutions, informal educational institutions such as museums and science centers, non-profits with an education/outreach component, and NASA centers for early career workforce development. The initiative’s intent is to inspire and develop the next generation of scientists, engineers, and technologists by offering a unique opportunity to conduct scientific research and develop/demonstrate novel technologies in space.
Learn More about CubeSat Launch Initiative