NASA announced on June 1 that it was purchasing five additional space shuttle services from the International Space Station (ISS). The agency said it is issuing a “single source modification” to the company run by Elon Musk under the commercial crew crew capacity (CCtCap) contract of the former. Although it was not revealed how much NASA would acquire the flights, the latest purchase follows the previous one of the agency’s three SpaceX flights for about $ 3.5 billion.
Following the announcement, NASA said the new agreement would allow it to “maintain uninterrupted U.S. capacity for human access to the space station with two unique partners in the commercial crew industry (SpaceX and Boeing Space ) “.
What is CCtCap?
The CCtCap contract allows NASA to certify that a launch provider’s space transportation system meets the agency’s requirements and is eligible for human spaceflight. SpaceX received certification for the launch of the crew in November 2020 and has conducted four NASA astronaut missions to the space station, the latest being the Crew-4. So far, SpaceX is the only company that NASA relies on for the transportation of crew and cargo to the ISS. Most recently, Boeing Space launched the Starliner capsule on its second orbital test mission.
Although the capsule suffered some problems with its propellants after launch, it managed to dock at the ISS and complete all the objectives of the mission. If Boeing manages to demonstrate its readiness for manned launches, it will receive a license from NASA and become the second commercial company to offer space launch services.
SpaceX reserved for missions up to Crew-14
The new deal has SpaceX reserved by NASA for missions up to Crew-14. The previous deal, in which SpaceX got three flights for $ 3.5 billion, was the launch of astronauts on missions to Crew-9 and was signed before the launch of Crew-4. SpaceX’s next missions are Crew-5, which is expected to be released in September this year, followed by the Crew-6 scheduled no earlier than spring 2023.
NASA is planning these crew rotation missions because the US has recently announced the extension of its participation aboard the space station until 2030. In particular, this is the same timeline around which the space station is expected to be removed and replaced by private space modules. However, the existence of a space station until the end of this decade seems unlikely given Russia’s announcement that it will possibly leave the orbital advance in a year.