SpaceX, EADS Astrium Announce Agreement For Falcon 1 Launch Services

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Astrium have formalized a commercial agreement to provide dedicated launch services to the European institutional small satellite market.

Under the agreement announced Thursday, Astrium intends to work with SpaceX to market Falcon 1 launch capabilities to various space agencies and other institutional customers in Europe for launches to take place through 2015. With dedicated launch services, customers with very small payloads can launch independently to low-Earth orbit, giving them greater control over launch and launch schedule. With the Falcon 1, these services can be provided at the world’s lowest cost per flight when compared to any other launch service provider.

Falcon 1 On Launch Pad

“Our agreement with Astrium opens exciting new doors for SpaceX," said Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and CTO. "Together we will meet the growing demand for reliable, low-cost and dedicated launch services for very small Earth observation and scientific payloads for European institutional customers.”

FMI: www.spacex.com, www.eads.com