[SatNews] Astrotech Corporation (Nasdaq:ASTC) has announced that its Astrotech Space Operations subsidiary has won a fully-funded task order under the $35 million Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract.

The Company will provide facilities and payload processing services from its VAFB location in support of NASA's National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP) mission scheduled to launch October 25, 2011. Previous missions won under the VAFB IDIQ contract include the Ocean Surface Topography, Interstellar Boundary Explorer, Orbiting Carbon Observatory, GLORY and WISE missions. With the award of the NPP Mission, Astrotech has now been awarded six out of seven of the NASA VAFB IDIQ Missions awarded to date. NPP is a joint mission to extend key measurements in support of long-term monitoring of climate trends and of global biological productivity. The mission will provide atmospheric and sea surface temperatures, humidity sounding, land and ocean biological productivity, and cloud and aerosol properties.