Nasa, the United States’ space agency, has given Elon Musk’s SpaceX three more crew-transport flights to the International Space Station until 2028. The entire commercial crew transportation (CCtCap) contract for SpaceX has now reached $3.49 billion. SpaceX was awarded the $2.6 billion contract in 2014 for the development of American crewed launch capability.
Since 2020, SpaceX has successfully launched three operational flights to the International Space Station, Crew-1 through Crew-3 (plus one crewed test flight), using their Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket.
SpaceX had previously been contracted to conduct three more flights to the International Space Station: Crew-4 and Crew-5 in 2022, and Crew-6 in 2023. The SpaceX contract, however, has been extended through March 31, 2028. SpaceX’s fourth crew trip to the ISS is scheduled for April 15.
Nasa has previously stated that Musk’s SpaceX is the only American corporation licenced to transfer humans to the International Space Station. Boeing previously obtained a $4.2 billion CCtCap deal from NASA in 2014, which included six missions. Boeing has struggled to fix problems with its Starliner aircraft. In May 2022, Boeing planned a second Starliner uncrewed test flight.
