NASA Awards SpaceX $1.4 Billion for Five Additional ISS Crew Missions
NASA finalizes a $1.4 billion contract with SpaceX for five more astronaut flights to the International Space Station. The order highlights ongoing delays with Boeing's Starliner capsule and ensures continuous station staffing through 2030.
NASA awards SpaceX a $1.4 billion contract for five additional astronaut transportation missions to the International Space Station. This new agreement covers flights Crew-10 through Crew-14 and brings the total value of SpaceX's commercial crew contract to $4.9 billion. The deal includes the use of the Crew Dragon capsule, the Falcon 9 rocket, and all associated return and recovery operations for up to four astronauts per mission.
The space agency seeks these extra flights from SpaceX due to technical and schedule challenges that plague Boeing's competing Starliner capsule. Boeing holds a separate $4.2 billion contract for six missions but has yet to complete a successful crewed test flight. NASA and Boeing currently target early 2023 for Starliner's first crewed launch as the agency works to establish a two-provider transportation system.
Prior to the Commercial Crew Program, NASA relies on Russia's Soyuz capsule at an average cost of $79.7 million per seat. The agency emphasizes the critical need for redundant transportation capabilities to keep the space station continuously crewed through its planned retirement in 2030. SpaceX originally wins its $2.6 billion base contract in 2014 and continues to serve as NASA's primary astronaut transportation vendor.