Launch Services Program

Astrophysics

Astrophysics Pioneers

Science Mission Directorate

Starburst

NASA Awards Launch Services for StarBurst Gamma-Ray Detector

NASA has selected SpaceX to provide launch services for the agency’s StarBurst mission, a small satellite designed to investigate neutron star mergers and the origins of short gamma-ray bursts.

Posted September 17, 2026

NASA Adds Relativity Space’s Terran R to Launch Services Contract

A NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract has been awarded by the agency to Relativity Space Inc., and its Terran R launch service in accordance with the contract’s on-ramp provision. The Terran R launch service will be available to NASA’s launch services to use for future missions.

Posted September 9, 2026

Bringing Signals to NASA

Growing up on the central California coast, watching rocket launches with his father was part of Eric Fernandez’s childhood routine. Fernandez had posters of rockets on the wall, but despite being fascinated by them, he never imagined one day this would be his career. Because both of his grandparents had served at Vandenberg Air Force […]

Posted June 26, 2026

Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor - 2 (TSIS-2)

CubeSat Launch Initiative

CubeSats

Goddard Space Flight Center

Small Satellite Missions

Space Operations Mission Directorate

The Sun

NASA Selects Rocket Lab to Launch Sun, Earth Science Missions

NASA has selected Rocket Lab to provide the launch service for both the agency’s PolSIR (Polarized Submillimeter Ice-cloud Radiometer) and Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor-2 (TSIS-2) missions. The two selections are part of NASA’s Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) launch services contract.

Posted June 25, 2026

From Suriname to Space: Rohit Goeptar Shares His Journey to NASA

Rohit Goeptar was born into a poor family in Suriname, South America, the kind where both parents work three jobs and they still can only provide food and shelter for their family. At around age six, his family moved to California to start a new life. Only two years later, he moved back to South America […]

Posted June 18, 2026

People of NASA

Leadership

NASA Centers & Facilities

NASA Headquarters

Space Operations Mission Directorate

NASA Names Brian Hughes to Launch Operations Role

NASA announced Friday that Brian Hughes will return to the agency as senior director of launch operations, based at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In this role, Hughes will provide enterprise-level leadership, strategic direction, and operational oversight for NASA’s launch infrastructure.

Posted May 8, 2026

Dark Energy

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

Key Support Equipment Arrives at Kennedy for Roman Space Telescope

Technicians at NASA’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida offloaded eight high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) wall modules and other ground support equipment on April 27. The equipment will support launch processing of the agency’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.

Posted May 1, 2026

Goddard Space Flight Center

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

NASA Kennedy Prepares Facility for Roman Space Telescope Arrival

Preparations are underway for launch of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope as soon as early September on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Posted April 23, 2026

Commercial Resupply

CubeSat Launch Initiative

International Space Station (ISS)