SpaceX to fly more Nasa crews to space station under expanded $5.92 billion deal

Nasa has given SpaceX a $946 million (R15.4 billion) contract to fly three more astronaut missions to the International Space Station (ISS), extending the company’s crewed flights to the station ‌through 2030, the space agency has announced.

The deal brings SpaceX’s total number of Nasa astronaut flights under the contract to 17 and raises the contract’s total value to $5.92bn.

Nasa is relying heavily on SpaceX to keep astronauts travelling to and from the station while it works to maintain a second US option through Boeing.

The contract covers preparing astronauts and spacecraft on the ground, launching them, operating the mission in space, bringing crews home and recovering the capsule. It also includes carrying supplies and keeping the spacecraft at the station as an emergency escape vehicle.

The agency chose SpaceX and Boeing in 2014 to develop spacecraft capable of carrying astronauts to the space station. The goal was to give the United States a regular domestic launch capability after Nasa retired the ‌space shuttle, ending years of reliance on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft.

Boeing’s Starliner suffered problems on its 2024 crewed test flight, prompting Nasa to return the capsule empty and bring astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams home on ​a SpaceX Dragon ​after a planned 10-day mission became a more than nine-month ISS stay.

Nasa approved SpaceX’s system for astronaut flights in November 2020. ​Since then, SpaceX has become the agency’s main provider for rotating crews at the station, using its Crew Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket to carry up to four astronauts, as well as supplies.

NASA wants both SpaceX and Boeing operating crew flights so that an accident or technical problem affecting one company does not halt US astronaut access to the station.

In talks with Boeing

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the agency is in talks with Boeing about using the aerospace manufacturer’s Starliner vehicle to ​handle new missions, considering whether Starliner could conduct 10 or more additional flights in the coming years.

“We’re committed to Nasa’s commercial crew efforts and look forward to launching the next Starliner mission according to Nasa’s mission requirements,” a Boeing spokesperson told Reuters.

A Nasa spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal that the agency is “developing plans to meet our nation’s objectives for a sustained presence in low Earth orbit” and expects to release details soon.

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