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yesterday

NASA Awards SpaceX Three More Crew Flights to Keep Astronauts on the ISS Through 2030

The $946 million contract change secures transport, cargo and docked lifeboat services because Boeing’s Starliner remains unavailable for operational crew rotations.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lifts off on NASA's Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station, carrying NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., February 13, 2026. REUTERS/Steve Nesius
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Overview

  • The contract modification, announced Friday, covers Crew-15, Crew-16 and Crew-17 and is valued at $946 million, bringing SpaceX’s total CCtCap award to $5.92 billion through 2030.
  • The firm fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity change pays for ground processing, Falcon 9 launches, Dragon in‑orbit operations, crew return and recovery, cargo carried on each flight, and a docked lifeboat capability.
  • NASA and SpaceX confirmed the award publicly and SpaceX said Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon will launch the three missions from Florida.
  • Boeing’s CST‑100 Starliner remains grounded after a troubled 2024 crewed test flight that left the capsule unusable and led astronauts to return on a SpaceX Dragon, a sequence that has left NASA dependent on SpaceX for near-term crew rotations.
  • Separately, NASA is preparing SpaceX’s CRS‑35 cargo flight, targeting no earlier than October, to deliver the final IROSA solar arrays and science experiments that will boost station power and support ongoing research.