In the rideshare industry, launch opportunities come and go as fast as a Groupon deal. Even locating a launch opportunity can be as mysterious as locating the Amazon Treasure Truck.

Having worked at Spaceflight now for almost four years, I have seen many launches pop up and slip away because the contracting process for our customers was too timely and cumbersome.

Our ultimate goal at Spaceflight is to make accessing space as routine as calling an Uber or buying a flight online. That’s why nearly three years ago (yes, three!), we began the process to be awarded a GSA contract. We wanted our government customers to have a more streamlined procurement process.

With each launch and each year that passes, we are taking a step forward to making commercial rideshare for satellites a more simple and standard process. Spaceflight is ever-expanding its launch network and route map to multiple orbit destinations, and now with our new GSA contract, the U.S. government can purchase these timely launch opportunities in a much more expedited timeframe.

It’s a great milestone for the industry and huge benefit to the agencies. As Curt Blake, Spaceflight president said today in a press article, “If you run NASA, you don’t have to go compete out a contract to determine which pencil vendor is the best.” Now agencies can order a launch from a standardized online menu instead of going through a long, tedius contracting process.

Space is up, timeline to Launchpad is down, and commercial spaceflight paperwork for federal agencies just got a lot easier!

- Phil Brzytwa