NASA awarded Virgin Galactic and three other companies contracts to fly technology demonstration payloads on suborbital flights, the agency announced Sept. 8. Awarded under NASA's Flight Opportunities Program, the contracts are worth a minimum $100,000 and entitle the agency to purchase payload accommodations aboard the selected providers' vehicles for the next three to five years. For Virgin Galactic, the NASA contract will supplement long-awaited passenger flights, which company founder Sir Richard Branson said Sept. 9 on CBS's "The Late Show" would begin in early 2015. The other three selected providers are: 1.Masten Space Systems, a Mojave, California, company that flies small vertical takeoff, vertical landing rockets. 2.Paragon Space Development Corp. of Tucson, Arizona, which is developing a passenger-carrying stratospheric balloon that will be operated by its World View business.
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机译：美国宇航局于9月8日宣布，维珍银河公司和其他三家公司签订了在亚轨道飞行中飞行技术演示有效载荷的合同，该合同是根据美国宇航局的飞行机会计划获得的，合同价值至少为10万美元，并有权向选定的机构购买有效载荷舱位。供应商在未来三到五年内的车辆。对于维珍银河公司而言，美国宇航局的合同将补充期待已久的客运航班，该公司的创始人理查德·布兰森爵士说，9月9日在哥伦比亚广播公司的“晚间秀”上将于2015年初开始。其他三个选定的提供商是：1.Masten Space Systems ，这是一家位于加利福尼亚州莫哈韦的公司，可以飞行小型垂直起飞，垂直着陆火箭。 2.亚利桑那州图森市的帕拉贡太空发展公司正在开发一个载客平流层气球，该气球将由其世界观业务运营。
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