NASA will launch three missiles from a private base in Australia

NASA will launch a research rocket from the far north of Australia on June 26, in the agency’s first take-off from a commercial spaceport outside the United States.

The agreement with ELA (Equatorial Launch Australia) – the developer, owner and operator of the Arnhem Space Center (ASC) on the Gove Peninsula in the Northern Territory – is included.Three launches with others are planned for July 4 and 12, for astrophysics studies that can only be done from the Southern Hemisphere. This is the first commercial launches on Australian soil.

(See: NASA: These Are the Most Advanced Spacesuits That Will Go to the Moon)

Arnhem Space Center is the world’s only commercially owned and operated multiuser tropical launch site, located 12° south of the equator in the Gulf of Carpentaria, offering unique advantages to space launches, The company reports in a statement.

ELA and Arnhem Space Center recently obtained the launch facility license and campaign launch permit from NASA after a two-year evaluation by the Australian Space Agency.

“The three NASA launches mark the end of the first phase of the development of both the ASC and ELA spaceports as a world-class launch services company.. We will now begin development of the second phase of the ASC, which includes the construction of additional, larger launchers to accommodate medium/large payload missiles,” Michael Jones, ELA CEO and CEO, said in a statement.

The first launch will take place on June 26 with the BBIX rocket, which will travel more than 300 kilometers into space. The missile will carry an atmospheric sensing/monitoring platform to monitor the Alpha Centauri turrets A and B. The missile’s first stage and payload will return to Earth and be recovered.

(Read more: Russia docks the Progress MS-20 cargo ship to the International Space Station.)