SpaceShipTwo to Carry NASA into Space

Bethany Whitfield

Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 07:09 PM ET

Verified

Photo courtesy of Virgin Galactic

Key Takeaways:

Virgin Galactic has signed a deal with NASA for one firm and two optional suborbital charter flights on its SpaceShipTwo vehicle.
The agreement, with a potential value of $4.5 million, is designated to transport 1,300 pounds of scientific experiments per mission.
Virgin Galactic will provide a Flight Test Engineer on each flight to facilitate the onboard experiments for NASA.

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Virgin Galactic has signed a deal to provide NASA with three charter flights on SpaceShipTwo, the suborbital spaceplane slated to take future tourist travelers into space.

The deal provides for one full charter flight on SpaceShipTwo, with the option for two additional flights, giving the agreement a potential value of $4.5 million.