At the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference Commercial Spaceflight Federation chairman Mark Sirangelo announced the creation of a new affiliates program for universities and other research and educational institutions.

"Researchers, engineers, and educators will be among the primary beneficiaries of the new generation of low-cost commercial spacecraft, as payload opportunities to space start to grow," said Mark Sirangelo, Chairman of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation.

"We're excited to create a new category of affiliate membership to strengthen the ties between the Commercial Spaceflight Federation and the research and education community."

Initial participating universities include Purdue University, Johns Hopkins University, Princeton University, and George Mason University.

"I am excited to see universities and other research institutions getting in on the ground floor of the emerging commercial space industry, and to see these early adopters recognizing the research and education potential of these new vehicles," said space scientist S. Alan Stern, chair of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation's Suborbital Applications Researchers Group (SARG) and former NASA associate administrator for science.

Benefits to affiliate institutions of joining with the Commercial Spaceflight Federation include: helping connect students with internships in the commercial spaceflight industry, becoming more connected with the commercial spaceflight community, advocacy to increase government support for research payloads on commercial vehicles, and efforts to streamline regulatory processes for research flights.

"We are looking forward to continuing to grow the collaborations between the research community and the commercial space industry," added Sirangelo.