NASA gives SpaceX a billion reasons to keep flying Crew Dragon

NASA has added almost $1 billion to SpaceX's commercial crew contract for three more Crew Dragon missions to the International Space Station (ISS). The $946 million contract modification covers Crew-15, Crew-16, and Crew-17, along with ground operations, launch, in-orbit services, return and recovery, cargo transportation, and lifeboat capability while the spacecraft is docked to the ISS. The addition brings the value of SpaceX's Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract to $5.92 billion. Whether there will be more remains unclear. NASA explicitly said the award does not prevent it from buying additional transportation services if needed. SpaceX has said it ultimately intends to retire Dragon and Falcon 9 in favor of Starship, assuming it can get the vastly larger vehicle operating reliably. NASA plans to retire the ISS around 2030 and use a SpaceX-developed vehicle to perform its controlled deorbit. NASA lists mission readiness dates in 2027 and 2028, with the contract's period of performance running through 2030. NASA awarded CCtCap contracts to SpaceX and Boeing in 2014. SpaceX has since flown numerous crews to the ISS. Boeing, not so much. The aviation giant's calamity capsule, Starliner, finally carried two astronauts to the outpost in 2024. They remained there until a SpaceX Crew Dragon brought them home after NASA decided that returning them aboard the Boeing vehicle posed too much risk. Starliner later returned safely to Earth without a crew. If these missions prove to be Crew Dragon's last hurrah, NASA and its partners will face a challenge in maintaining crewed access to low Earth orbit and the commercial stations planned to succeed the ISS. A report from NASA's Office of Inspector General identified multiple problems with the Starliner program and faulted both Boeing and the agency. SpaceX has had problems of its own, not least the explosion of a Crew Dragon capsule during ground testing in 2019. Starliner nevertheless earned its calamity capsule nickname through repeated uncrewed test failures and a 2024 Crew Flight Test that ended with the spacecraft returning without its astronauts. Despite the billions spent on Starliner, there is no guarantee that it will ever enter regular crew rotation service. Crew Dragon, meanwhile, could be approaching the end of its run, with one of these newly ordered flights potentially carrying the final astronauts to or from the ISS. (R)