![Carthage students observing the gauging of unsettled liquids.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/fo-propellant-slosh-1.jpg?w=1024)
![Blue Origin's New Shepard crew capsule under three parachutes in blue sky with Moon in background](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/blueorigin-newshepard-crewcapsule_blueoriginphoto.jpg?w=646)
![Masten Space Systems vertical takeoff vertical landing rocket launched September 10, 2020](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/afrc2020-0100-30_0.jpg?w=1024)
About Flight Opportunities
Flight Opportunities rapidly demonstrates promising technologies for space exploration, discovery, and the expansion of space commerce through suborbital testing with industry flight providers. The program matures capabilities needed for NASA missions and commercial applications while strategically investing in the growth of the U.S. commercial spaceflight industry.
These flight tests take technologies from ground-based laboratories into relevant environments to increase technology readiness and validate feasibility while reducing the costs and technical risks of future missions.
Awards and agreements for flight test are open to researchers from industry, academia, non-profit research institutes, and government organizations. These investments help advance technologies of interest to NASA while supporting commercial flight providers and expanding space-based applications and commerce.
Program Manager
Danielle McCulloch
CHIEF TECHNOLOGIST
Stephan Ord
Program EXECUTIVE
Christopher Baker
Deputy Program Executive
Justin Treptow
Learn More and Get Involved
![Heat shield and Earth from space](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/adept-up-aerospace.jpeg?w=150&h=150&crop=1)
Commercial Flight Providers
When non-U.S. government researchers compete for funding through the Flight Opportunities program's TechFlights solicitation, they can propose to use any viable U.S.-based commercial provider. For U.S. government research, NASA has IDIQ (Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity) contracts with several flight services vendors.