NASA taps SpaceX for more crew missions as Boeing lags
▼ Summary
– NASA plans to add six post-certification missions to SpaceX’s Commercial Crew contract, ordering up to three immediately and the rest as needed through 2030.
– The expansion is driven by shortened ISS missions, Boeing’s technical issues and schedule delays, and the need for reliable crew transportation.
– Boeing’s Starliner remains uncertified for crewed flights, leaving SpaceX as the only American company currently able to rotate crews to the station.
– NASA’s contract with SpaceX, originally awarded in 2014 for $2.6 billion, has grown to $4.9 billion, with the new six missions potentially worth about $1.7 billion.
– With SpaceX taking on more ISS missions and developing Starship for lunar landings, relying on the company for human spaceflight is now NASA policy.
NASA has formally signaled its intent to expand SpaceX’s role in ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station, filing a procurement notice to add six more post-certification missions to the company’s existing Commercial Crew Transportation Capability contract. According to the filing, the agency plans to order up to three of those missions immediately once the contract is modified, with the remaining three held as options through the end of the ISS’s planned operational lifespan in 2030.
The reasoning behind this expansion is clear. NASA directly cited shortened ISS mission durations, technical issues and schedule delays tied to Boeing, the allocation of missions between the two companies, and the persistent technical hurdles of maintaining a reliable crew transportation system. Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner remains uncertified for crewed flights, and a cargo-only Starliner mission was absent from NASA’s latest mission manifest. With Boeing effectively out of the picture for the foreseeable future, SpaceX stands as the only American company currently capable of rotating crews to the orbiting laboratory.
The contract’s evolution reveals how SpaceX arrived at this position. NASA originally awarded SpaceX its Commercial Crew contract in 2014 for $2.6 billion. In 2022, the agency modified that agreement to add five missions covering Crew-10 through Crew-14, valued at $1.436 billion, pushing the total contract value to $4.9 billion at that time. The May 18 filing extends that runway further. At present, Crew-12 is docked at the station, and Crew-13 has been assigned, targeting a mid-September 2026 launch.
According to a report from SpaceNews, NASA stated in its filing: “It is necessary to award additional PCMs to SpaceX given the recently shortened ISS mission durations, technical issues and schedule delays encountered by Boeing, the allocation of missions between Boeing and SpaceX, NASA’s projections for when an alternative crew transportation system may become available, and the ongoing technical challenges of maintaining a reliable capability for crewed flights to ISS.”
No dollar figure for the six new missions has been publicly confirmed yet. However, using the 2022 precedent of roughly $287 million per mission, this new block could represent close to $1.7 billion in additional contract value. As SpaceX simultaneously prepares Starship for NASA’s Artemis lunar lander program, files its S-1 for a June IPO, and absorbs more ISS crew rotation work, the company’s status as the primary contractor for American human spaceflight is no longer a matter of circumstance. It is now NASA policy.
(Source: Teslarati)
