NASA will give SpaceX three extra Crew Dragon trips to the International Space Station to maintain crew rotations while the agency works with Boeing Co. to resolve issues preventing the company's Starliner aircraft from transporting people.
After their separate vehicles received approval, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration granted Boeing and SpaceX six missions each to transport personnel to and from the station, with Elon Musk's SpaceX already halfway through its first contract from 2014.
NASA Buys More Crew Transport Flights From SpaceX
SpaceRef said NASA announced Friday in a notification of a "single source contract amendment" that the newly commissioned SpaceX missions might take off as soon as 2023.
The contract revision's potential worth was not disclosed. Still, NASA said the next "Crew-4" mission to the International Space Station is on April 15, 2022.
Kathy Lueders, associate administrator, NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate, said that securing additional flights to the space station now is crucial. According to Lueders, these missions are needed to maintain a U.S. presence on the station.
"Our U.S. human launch capability is essential to our continued safe operations in orbit and to building our low-Earth orbit economy," she said per Devdiscourse.
According to NASA, SpaceX is the only one certified to fulfill the agency's safety standards for transporting personnel to the space station while also meeting the agency's timeliness obligations to its foreign partners.
With that, Elon Musk stated in a tweet that serving NASA and the partners of the International Space Station is an honor.
It is an honor to serve NASA and the countries of the International Space Station
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 3, 2021
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NASA Continues Working With Boeing
Securing more crew flights from SpaceX now permits NASA to continue working with Boeing to construct the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, which will also ferry NASA and international partner personnel to and from the space station once the certification process is completed.
In 2014, NASA awarded Boeing and SpaceX the CCtCap contracts through public-private collaboration. Prior to flying missions with astronauts, the agency verifies that a provider's space transportation system satisfies the agency's standards under this contract.
We're seeking up to three additional crew flights to the @Space_Station from @SpaceX as part of our Commercial Crew Transportation Capabilities contract. Learn more: https://t.co/TSKtw7sKQ5 pic.twitter.com/aOh3y4XfMT
— NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) December 3, 2021
Following a disastrous journey to the ISS in December 2019 (per CNBC), Boeing intended to fly its CST-100 Starliner in August for a second unmanned demonstration voyage to the space station. Science Times said several faulty valves on the vehicle necessitated a cancellation and a thorough examination of the system.
Boeing plans to reschedule the test for the first half of 2022 and perform a demonstration with astronauts later that year. NASA, per WFTV, has stated that it would continue to collaborate with Boeing to understand the challenges better and prepare the Starliner for certification.
Meanwhile, NASA is preparing to launch Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD), its first two-way optical communications relay satellite, on December 5. LCRD will exhibit laser/optical communications' unique capabilities, transforming space communications.
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