NASA awards SpaceX $946 million for three more crew flights to the space station

NASA has awarded SpaceX three more astronaut missions to the International Space Station, the agency announced on September 18, 2026. The contract modification covers the Crew-15, Crew-16 and Crew-17 missions and is valued at $946 million for all three missions and related services.

What the contract covers

According to NASA, the award is "a firm fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract modification for the Crew-15, Crew-16, and Crew-17" missions. It is part of NASA's Commercial Crew Transportation Capability contract, known as CCtCap.

The price covers ground operations, launch, in-orbit activities, and return and recovery operations. It also includes cargo transportation for each mission and a lifeboat capability while the spacecraft is docked to the space station, NASA said.

The modification increases the number of SpaceX missions under the contract from 14 to 17. NASA put the total value of SpaceX's CCtCap contract at $5.92 billion. The period of performance runs through 2030, with mission readiness dates in 2027 and 2028.

SpaceX's role

SpaceX received NASA certification for crew transportation in November 2020, according to the agency. Its Dragon spacecraft, launched on a Falcon 9 rocket, carries up to four astronauts plus critical cargo to the station.

SpaceX welcomed the award in a post on X. "We're excited for Falcon 9 and Dragon to launch @NASA's Crew-15, 16, and 17 missions to the @Space_Station from Florida," the company wrote, as reported by Teslarati.

The Boeing question

NASA said it made the award to maintain the capability of having two commercial crew providers. The second provider, Boeing, has not yet flown an operational crew rotation mission with its Starliner spacecraft. Teslarati noted that the capsule has remained grounded since technical problems on its 2024 crewed test flight while Boeing works on thruster issues.

Ten days after the SpaceX award, NASA and Boeing announced that an uncrewed Starliner-1 flight could take place in December 2026 or January 2027, with astronauts expected to return to the spacecraft on Starliner-2 by 2028.

Why it matters

The award gives NASA a contracted way to keep rotating crews to the space station through the end of the decade. With Starliner not expected to carry astronauts until 2028 under NASA's current plan, SpaceX's Dragon remains the vehicle NASA is relying on for its crew rotation flights in the coming years.

Sources

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.