US space agency NASA has provided three additional crew-transportation flights to Elon Musk’s SpaceX International Space Station by 2028. With this, SpaceX’s total commercial crew transportation (CCTCap) contract has increased to $3.49 billion. The original $2.6 billion contract was issued to SpaceX in 2014 to develop US crewed launch capabilities.
SpaceX has successfully launched three operational missions, Crew-1 via Crew-3 (plus one crew test flight) to the International Space Station from 2020 through its Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket.
before this, SpaceX It was contracted to fly three more missions to the ISS: Crew-4 and Crew-5 in 2022 and Crew-6 in 2023. However, the SpaceX contract now runs through SpaceX’s next crewed mission to the ISS on March 31, 2028, with its fourth, slated for April 15.
In the past, NASA acknowledged that Musk’s SpaceX is the only US company certified to take crew to the ISS. Prior to this, Boeing also received a six-mission CCtCap contract from NASA in 2014 with a total value of $4.2 billion. Boeing has struggled to make up for the shortcomings of its Starliner vehicle. Boeing is planning a second Starliner pilotless test flight in May 2022.
NASA intends to work together to fly astronauts to the ISS for the SpaceX and Boeing Commercial Crew programs.
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