The newly signed contract marks another expansion to NASA's stable of launch vehicles. The agency is already flying payloads on Blue Origin's suborbital vehicle, New Shepard, which has flown a dozen times. New Glenn, an orbital launcher, is designed to reuse its boosters, and company founder Jeff Bezos has said he hopes the vehicle will fly humans as well as cargo.

"The award builds on Blue Origin's existing partnership with NASA and will advance science and exploration to benefit Earth," Jarrett Jones, senior vice president for New Glenn at Blue Origin, said in a company statement. "We are proud to be in NASA's launch services catalog and look forward to providing reliable launches for?future?NASA missions aboard New Glenn for years to come."

The new contract doesn't commit NASA to launching any particular mission on New Glenn. Instead, it opens Blue Origin to compete for NASA's contracts under NASA Launch Services II, which is applicable for launches through December 2027, according to a NASA statement.