NASA is looking for commercial operators to lease a launch pad in Florida used for the first Moon missions and by the Atlantis shuttle.
Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral has been unused since Atlantis retired in 2011.
The BBC reports t least two space exploration companies are expected to bid for the contract.
The facility was built in the 1960s as part of the Apollo Moon programme. It has supported more than 90 launches since November 1967.
But after the end of NASA's space shuttle programme two years ago, Complex 39A and many other facilities became redundant.
