Launch Services Program

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. Atlas V is on NASA’s Launch Services II contract.

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.

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 on NASA’s Launch Services II contract.

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. Falcon Heavy is on NASA’s Launch Services II contract.

Named after John Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit Earth, New Glenn is a single-configuration, heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle with a first stage designed for a minimum of 25 flights. Powered by seven Blue Engine 4 (BE-4) engines, it can carry more than 13 metric tons to geostationary transfer orbit and 45 metric tons to low Earth orbit. New Glenn is on NASA’s Launch Services II contract.

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. Pegasus is on NASA’s Launch Services II contract.

Vulcan is United Launch Alliance’s next generation rocket available in four standard offering configurations including zero, two, four and six solid rocket booster variants. ULA will launch Vulcan from both Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Vulcan is on NASA’s Launch Services II contract.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.