The Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority (VCSFA), commonly known as Virginia Space, is a political subdivision of the

Commonwealth of Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia focused on bringing

commercial spaceflight Private spaceflight is spaceflight or the development of spaceflight technology that is conducted and paid for by an entity other than a government agency. In the early decades of the Space Age, the government space agencies of the Soviet Unio ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and providing education in

aerospace technologies Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astrona ...

across the Commonwealth. Created in 1995 in the name of

states’ rights In American political discourse, states' rights are political powers held for the state governments rather than the federal government according to the United States Constitution, reflecting especially the enumerated powers of Congress and the ...

by the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 16 ...

, Virginia Space owns and operates the

Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) is a commercial space launch facility located at the southern tip of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island in Virginia, just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and south of Chincoteague, Virgi ...

(MARS) on

Wallops Island Wallops Island is a island in Accomack County, Virginia, part of the Virginia Barrier Islands that stretch along the eastern seaboard of the United States of America. It is just south of Chincoteague Island, a popular tourist destination. W ...

, located within the Wallops Flight Facility.

History

The

created the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority in 1995 to promote the development of the commercial space flight industry, economic development, aerospace research, and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education throughout the Commonwealth. Initially partnered with

Old Dominion University Old Dominion University (Old Dominion or ODU) is a public research university in Norfolk, Virginia. It was established in 1930 as the Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary and is now one of the largest universities in Virginia w ...

, which helped develop the organization, longtime professor Dr. Billie M. Reed was installed as the Executive Director of the organization. Prior to his time as a professor, he retired from the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

after twenty years of service. In 1997, Virginia Space entered into a Reimbursable Space Act Agreement with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which provided for permitted use of land on NASA Wallops Island. Virginia Space also applied for and was granted a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) license to launch to orbit. The Wallops Island location was first sanctioned in 1945 by NASA's predecessor, the

National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its assets ...

, for spaceflight. With these foundations in place, the

Virginia Space Flight Center The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) is a commercial space launch facility located at the southern tip of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island in Virginia, just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and south of Chincoteague, Virgi ...

was founded, located on the southern portion of NASA Wallops Island. In present-day, the facility is approved for launch azimuths from 38° to 60°, making it an ideal location from which to launch to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ( ...

(ISS). By the end of 2003, Governor Mark Warner and Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, respectively of Virginia and Maryland, partnered to establish the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), succeeding the Virginia Space Flight Center. This was done, in part, to help develop the region's presence for space flight and collaboration with the local universities. Senator Mikulski of Maryland was a long-time advocate for the advancement of this intra-state partnership during her time in office. In 2007, NASA selected the Virginia-based

Orbital Sciences Corporation Orbital Sciences Corporation (commonly referred to as Orbital) was an American company specializing in the design, manufacture, and launch of small- and medium- class space and launch vehicle systems for commercial, military and other governmen ...

to participate in the

Commercial Orbital Transportation Services Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) was a NASA program to coordinate the development of vehicles for the delivery of crew and cargo to the International Space Station by private companies. The program was announced on January 18, 200 ...

(COTS) program, followed by a

Commercial Resupply Services Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) are a series of flights awarded by NASA for the delivery of cargo and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) on commercially operated spacecraft. The first CRS contracts were signed in 2008 and awarde ...

(CRS) contract to build and demonstrate a new rocket,

Antares Antares is the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius. It has the Bayer designation α Scorpii, which is Latinised to Alpha Scorpii. Often referred to as "the heart of the scorpion", Antares is flanked by σ Scorpii and τ ...

, to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). This project was taken over by Orbital's successor company Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems. The CRS contract authorized eight missions from 2012 to 2015 carrying approximately 20,000 kg of cargo to the ISS, as well as disposal of waste, from the MARS Pad-0A launchpad. In March 2012, it was announced that Dr. Reed was going to retire from his role at Virginia Space, with Dale Nash, a former executive officer at

Alaska Aerospace Corporation Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

, set as his immediate successor. On MARS Pad-0B, Virginia Space made modifications and upgrades to launch the NASA Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission to the Moon in mid-2013 on a new Orbital Sciences

Minotaur V The Minotaur V is an American expendable launch system derived from the Minotaur IV, itself a derivative of the LGM-118 Peacekeeper ICBM. It was developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation, (now absorbed into Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems) ...

launch vehicle. Also in mid-2013, the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

launched ORS-3 from MARS Pad 0B. In October 2018, VCSFA entered into an agreement with the New Zealand-based

Rocket Lab Rocket Lab is a public American aerospace manufacturer and launch service provider, with a New Zealand subsidiary. The company operates lightweight Electron orbital rockets, which provide dedicated launches for small satellites. Rocket Lab also ...

to build a new pad for their

Electron rocket Electron is a two-stage, partially recoverable orbital launch vehicle developed by Rocket Lab, an American aerospace company with a wholly owned New Zealand subsidiary. Electron was developed to service the commercial small satellite launch mar ...

. This was followed in 2021 by announcing their

Neutron The neutron is a subatomic particle, symbol or , which has a neutral (not positive or negative) charge, and a mass slightly greater than that of a proton. Protons and neutrons constitute the nuclei of atoms. Since protons and neutrons beh ...

rocket will also be set to launch from the MARS facility. With their main launchpad located in the

Māhia Peninsula Māhia Peninsula (Maori: or ) is located on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island, in the Hawke's Bay region, between the towns of Wairoa and Gisborne. Rocket Lab has set up its Launch Complex 1 close to Ahuriri Point at the south ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, Rocket Lab refers to their MARS location as "Launch Complex 2." In 2021,

Virginia Governor The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia serves as the head of government of Virginia for a four-year term. The incumbent, Glenn Youngkin, was sworn in on January 15, 2022. Oath of office On inauguration day, the Governor-elect takes th ...

Ralph Northam Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...

announced the selection of

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

Roosevelt "Ted" Mercer (Retired) as the new Executive Director of Virginia Space, succeeding Dale Nash, who previously announced his retirement after working in that position since 2012. General Mercer took office in August 2021.

Facilities

First Antares rocket on Launch Pad 0A of the Wallops Flight Facility

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport has two active launch pads. A third is actively under construction and is projected to be finished in Fall, 2019. Ladee 9 4 13 nasa edge 0

Launch pad 0A (LP-0A) was built for the Conestoga rocket, which made its only flight in 1995. The launch tower was subsequently demolished in September 2008, and has now been rebuilt for use by the Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems

. The pad modifications for Antares included the construction of a Horizontal Integration Facility for launcher/payload mating and a wheeled transporter/erector that will "roll out and erect the rocket on its launch pad about 24 hours prior to launch". The facility suffered significant damage during the 28 October 2014 Antares launch failure, according to NASA officials in the immediate aftermath. The Commonwealth of

is seeking help from its two US Senators to obtain Federal funding for rebuilding the pad. Preliminary estimates for rebuilding the pad indicate the cost should be no more than . By May 2015, that estimate had been revised down to and repairs were expected to be completed by September or October 2015 with the next planned launch in March 2016. On September 30, 2015, the spaceport announced repairs on pad 0A had been completed. The launch pad resumed flight operations with the successful

Cygnus CRS OA-5 OA-5, previously known as Orbital-5, was the seventh planned flight of the Orbital Sciences' uncrewed resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its sixth flight to the International Space Station under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NAS ...

mission on October 17, 2016. Launch Pad 0B (LP-0B) became operational in 1999, and was subsequently upgraded with the construction of a mobile service tower, which was completed in 2004. It remains active, and is currently used by Minotaur rockets. Additionally,

Vector Space Systems Vector Launch, Inc. (formerly Vector Space Systems) is an American space technology company which aims to launch suborbital and orbital payloads. Vector Launch declared bankruptcy in December 2019 and re-emerged in October 2020. History The c ...

announced on October 19, 2017 that their upcoming Vector-R rocket will be conducting three launches in the next two years, with an option for 5 additional launches, from a mobile launcher at pad 0B. In October 2018, Virginia Space announced the construction on MARS Launch Pad 0C (also known as LP-0C or LC-2) and an associated integration facility for use by

for their

. The design is largely based on the company's Launch Complex 1 on the

of New Zealand. The first launch from this new launch complex is currently scheduled for the two-quarter 2020.

References

{{authority control State agencies of Virginia 1995 establishments in Virginia Space organizations Space advocacy organizations Aerospace business development agencies