How does NASA manage routine access to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) currently?

Contracting services from commercial aerospace companies

NASA has strategically pivoted its management of launch portfolios for routine access to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), particularly for tasks like ISS resupply and crew rotation. Instead of developing, owning, and operating every rocket internally, which was characteristic of past eras (like the government-built Saturn V), the agency now functions significantly as a customer. This involves contracting transportation services from established commercial providers such as SpaceX (Falcon 9) and ULA (Atlas V). This decoupling allows NASA to allocate its monumental internal engineering resources and funding priorities directly toward its high-priority deep space objectives, like the Artemis missions secured by the SLS.