NASA extends SpaceX’s crew flight contract to the ISS by three missions

NASA announced that it hadgiven SpaceX the Crew-7-to-Crew-9 missions to the International Space Station (ISS), bringing the firm’s total Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) deal valuation to $3.49 billion.

The initial $2.6 billion contracts were awarded to SpaceX in 2014 to develop American crewed launch capabilities, which ended in 2011 with NASA retiring the Space Shuttles. The private spaceflight company has delivered outstandingly, successfully launching three operational missions, Crew-1-to-Crew-3 (plus an additional crewed test flight), to the ISS via SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft since 2020.

By securing the latest contract, NASA brings SpaceX’s total missions to nine and allows NASA to maintain an uninterrupted American capability for human access to the International Space Station.

As part of the missions, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft will transport up to four astronauts along with the critical cargo to the space station.

NASA accredited SpaceX as the only American company currently certified to transport astronaut crew to the ISS. Aerospace firm, Boeing, also received a six-mission CCtCap contract from NASA in 2014 for its Starliner project, but the Starliner spacecraft is still in its unmanned testing stage. The spacecraft’s next test flight is currently scheduled for May 2022, when it is to launch atop an Atlas V rocket to rendezvous with the ISS.