Washington D.C. - The Commercial Spaceflight Federation is pleased to announce the addition of seven new member organizations. The Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority joins as the 18th Executive Member. New Associate Members include Ares Corporation, Colorado Space Coalition, Penn State Applied Research Laboratory, QinetiQ North America, Satwest, and Space Coast Spaceflight Alliance.

"The unprecedented expansion in our membership mirrors the growth of the commercial spaceflight industry, and an increasing interest in private spaceflight," said CSF President Michael Lopez-Alegria. "The industry celebrated many successes last year, and we see 2014 as a vital year in which our members will continue to demonstrate the tremendous promise of commercial spaceflight to engage and educate people around the world."

"We are happy to be a part of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation," said VCSFA Executive Director and new CSF Board member Dale Nash. "We look forward to adding our experience and expertise to those of the CSF membership to promote the development of the commercial spaceflight sector."

The new CSF Members are as follows:

Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority (http://www.marsspaceport.com/): VCSFA is an independent authority of the State of Virginia with a charter to support within the Commonwealth space-related business, economic development, and STEM education. In that, its current focus is on development and operation of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) to support both Federal and Commercial Space Launch. MARS is launching cargo resupply missions to the ISS, in support of the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract Orbital Sciences Corporation has with NASA. VCSFA is launching cargo resupply missions to the ISS from MARS Pad 0A, in support of the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract Orbital Sciences Corporation has with NASA, and launching missions to orbit from MARS Pad 0B for the Department of Defense and NASA.

ARES Corporation (http://www.arescorporation.com/): ARES Corporation is one of the foremost engineering, project management, safety and mission assurance, and information technology solutions companies in the United States. ARES has supported the commercial space industry since 2006, leveraging its extensive knowledge of the first destination of Government procured commercial space services, the International Space Station, and its intimate knowledge of NASA's safety approval process to provide key insights to providers of commercial spaceflight services.

Colorado Space Coalition (http://www.spacecolorado.org/): The CSC is a group of industry stakeholders working to make Colorado a center of excellence for commercial, civil, and military space activity. The CSC focuses its efforts in two key areas: Marketing and promoting Colorado's significant space assets; and advancing legislation vital to the industry's growth and success by providing a platform for legislative advocacy is Colorado's congressional delegation. The CSC actively supports key Colorado programs such as SNC's Dreamchaser and ULA Launch Services, plus other commercial interests such as the FAA's Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation through marketing efforts and legislative advocacy.

Penn State University Applied Research Laboratory (http://arl.psu.edu/): Space Systems Initiative is a new organization within Penn State that serves the space industry through research and education. SSI Penn State is pursuing the Google Lunar X PRIZE as its first mission, demonstrating that low-cost system development and mission execution is possible through a new business model, named uSpace. The uSpace model combines university resources, philanthropy, corporate sponsorship, industry partnership, and strategic government corporations.

QinetiQ North America (https://www.qinetiq-na.com/): QinetiQ North America's offerings range from software development to systems engineering, from mission-level engineering to enterprise-wide IT support, and from cyber security to cyber mission assurance. In aerospace, services include systems engineering, integration and fielding for aerospace, software safety engineering, independent verification and validation for evolved expendable launch vehicles, engineering and verification services to various spaceflight companies, and engineering services for NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

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Commercial Spaceflight Federation Welcomes New Executive and Associate Members