SpaceX wins 3 more astronaut missions to $ISS with NASA contract SpaceX has won a trio of additional astronaut missions to the International Space Station, adding to its existing $ISS Commercial Crew Transportation Capability $ISTC contract with NASA for a total value of approximately $ $5.92 billion. The new agreement will now extend through 2030 and further ensures SpaceX’s standing as the provider of regular crew transportation to the orbiting laboratory.
NASA reportedly signed the contract modification on 18 September extending the existing contract to include Crew-15, Crew-16 and Crew-17 in the mission profile for SpaceX. The three missions are supported by a modification worth $946 million to cover launch, ground and orbit operations, in-orbit servicing, astronauts return and capture, cargo resupply and a lifeboat capability for the International Space Station crew.
The new contract is the 17th NASA crew mission to be awarded to SpaceX under the existing agreement. NASA said the flights are meant to ensure the regular flow of crews to and from the station, with missions slated to launch in 2027 and 2028.
The flights use SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket. Crew Dragon can carry up to four crew members on a NASA crew-rotation flight beyond cargo. The cargo version of Crew Dragon will be available to the International Space Station (ISS) team when berthed there at any time.
The new deal comes as NASA is increasingly relying on commercial spacecraft to ferry astronauts to and from low Earth orbit. When the Space Shuttle was shut down, the space agency launched its Commercial Crew program to build U.S.-based vehicles capable of ferrying astronauts to the space station.
NASA awarded the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability contracts to SpaceX and Boeing in 2014. Crew Dragon from SpaceX received NASA certification for crew transport in November 2020 and is now a routine part of the agency’s continuous station flight activities.
The extra SpaceX launches could be key because NASA is trying to keep more than one commercial crew provider in business. The space agency has kept funding the Boeing Starliner program even after it fell behind schedule and ran into technical problems. A NASA Office of Inspector General report issued in June found that Starliner was still not certified and that NASA would need more crew transportation providers through 2030.
NASA’s decision to increase the number of Spacex flights does not technically bury Boeing Still. As Reuters stated NASA is also talking with Boeing on options of future Starliner flights. This shows NASA is still willing to have two commercial crew options since they are working with Boeing again.
The announcement coincided with the agency, NASA, and SpaceX’s scheduled launch of another crew rotation. The three companies are enlisting the Crew-13 competition, scheduled for sometime in early October, with four astronauts aboard SpaceX’s Dragon: NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, as well as Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Russian cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov. They began prelaunch quarantine Sept. 17.
The new agreement underscores the continued relevance of the station to NASA’s near-term human spaceflight program. The space agency plans to keep using the ISS for scientific investigations, tech demonstrations, and extended stays by astronauts as it works toward future exploration beyond low-Earth orbit.
