On Oct. 1, 1998, NASA consolidated expendable launch vehicle services shared by Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio; Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; and Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and created the Expendable Launch Vehicle Program, renamed Launch Services Program in 2000 and based out of Kennedy. On Oct. 24, 1998, Deep Space I launched on a Delta II rocket from Space Launch Complex-17 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, followed by 99 more primary missions for the program over the past 34 years.
Today’s successful launch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) and NASA’s Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) technology demonstration marks the program’s 100th primary mission and joins a legacy that includes historic missions such as Pluto New Horizons, the Parker Solar Probe, the Mars rovers, DART, and scores of Earth satellites and science probes.