The firm fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract modification for the Crew-7, Crew-8, and Crew-9 missions brings the total contract value to $3.5bn
The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft visit, which visited the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA/Wikipedia.org)
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has extended the commercial crew contract of Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) by three missions for $900m.
Under the commercial crew transportation capability (CCtCap) contract, SpaceX has to provide crew transportation services for the US space agency to the International Space Station.
The CCtCap modification takes the total missions for SpaceX to nine. It is said to enable NASA to sustain an uninterrupted American capability for human access to the space station.
According to NASA, the firm fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract modification is for the Crew-7, Crew-8, and Crew-9 missions. It increases SpaceX’s total contract value to $3.49bn.
The contract period is up to 31 March 2028.
NASA stated that the present sole source modification does not stop the agency from pursuing additional contract modifications in the future for more transportation services as required.
In 2014, SpaceX had bagged the CCtCap worth $2.6bn for developing launch capabilities of American crew. The contract ended in 2011 following the retirement of the Space Shuttle.
NASA had certified SpaceX for crew transportation in November 2020. Presently, the company’s third crew rotation mission for NASA is in orbit.
Under the missions, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket transport up to four astronauts in addition to critical cargo to the International Space Station.
NASA’s commercial crew programme is a partnership for developing and flying human space transportation systems.
In September 2021, SpaceX had undertaken its Inspiration4 all-civilian mission of orbiting Earth for three days with the help of the Dragon spacecraft, which was launched on the Falcon 9 rocket.
SpaceX had also won a contract worth around $2.9bn from NASA in April 2021 for developing a commercial human lander to transport two of its astronauts to the Moon as part of the agency’s Artemis mission.