Aerial view of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern shore of Virginia. Photo: NASA.

Nanosatellite launch provider Vector has entered into an agreement with Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority (Virginia Space) to conduct three commercial orbital missions out of Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) in the next 24 months with an option for five additional launches.

According to Vector, these initial flights from MARS — which is located in Wallops Island, Virginia — are part of a series of orbital launches that will further enable the company to validate technology, mature launch vehicle design and operations, and firmly establish commercial launch sites for the future.

Vector also transported a Vector-R launch vehicle engineering unit from the company’s headquarters in Tucson, Arizona to MARS to showcase an initial set of ground and simulated propellant loading operations with an associated Transporter-Erector-Launcher (TEL).