The Space Test Program (STP) is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) program managed by the U.S. Space Force's Space Systems Command. Functioning as a facilitator for space-based experiments, STP provides mission design, spacecraft acquisition, integration, launch, and operations support. STP's services enable the advancement of scientific knowledge and cutting-edge technology, ensuring continuous U.S. advantage in the space domain. Key partners include NASA, commercial entities, and international allies.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
SMC’s Launch Enterprise plans to award the next OSP-4 task order in support of the Space Test Program’s USSF-46S mission later this summer.
LDPE-1 is scheduled to launch in 2021 with the Space Test Program 3 mission.
United Launch Alliance delayed the Space Test Program-3 mission on 2021-06-04 and indicated the delay was required to evaluate launch vehicle readiness.
United Launch Alliance planned the Space Test Program-3 mission for 2021-06-23, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station as its next launch following SBIRS GEO-5.
The DoD Space Test Program Rapid Agile Launch Initiative sought commercial launch solutions with payload capacity between 450 and 1,200 kg to low Earth orbit.
Relativity Space received its first Defense Department contract on 2023-03-15 to launch a DoD Space Test Program mission.
General Atomics’ original Orbital Test Bed smallsat launched in 2019 on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy as part of the Space Test Program 2 mission.
The Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM) spacecraft flew as one of the payloads on the Space Test Program 2 mission that launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy in June 2019.
The Space Test Program STP-27RM mission scheduled to fly on Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket did not launch in 2020.
Two Space Test Program missions awarded to Virgin Orbit slid into 2021.
Rocket Lab planned to perform its first LC-2 launch of a U.S. military Space Test Program mission called STP-27RM in the second quarter of 2020.
The DoD Space Test Program STP-27VP was awarded to VOX Space in 2017 and was scheduled to launch in 2019.
The $35,000,000 contract is for the STP-S28 mission to provide orbital launch services for the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program.
As director of the Space Test Program, D. Jason Cothern led the Rocket Systems Launch Program and was mission director for the Department of Defense’s first SpaceX Falcon 9 launch that deployed the NASA and NOAA DSCOVR satellite in February 2015.
Prox-1 was one of 24 small satellites that launched on Falcon Heavy as part of the U.S. Defense Department’s Space Test Program-2 mission.
STP-27VP was awarded to VOX Space under the Rapid Agile Launch Initiative (RALI), a $25,000,000 congressional add-on appropriated in 2017 and 2018 for the Space Test Program and the Defense Innovation Unit.
Two additional launches funded under the RALI program in support of the Space Test Program are planned for 2020.
A prototype rideshare launch of yet-to-be-determined Space Test Program satellites on an unidentified vehicle is planned for mid to late 2020 to test new approaches for integrating payloads on a single launch.
Space Test Program-2 was a U.S. government-funded space launch managed by the Air Force.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy launched the Defense Department’s Space Test Program-2 mission on 2019-06-25 with 24 satellites.