On June 1, NASA announced that it was purchasing five additional services to transport a SpaceX crew to the International Space Station (ISS). The agency said it was issuing a “single source modification” to the company run by Elon Musk under a contract with the former Commercial Crew Transportation Capabilities (CCtCap). Although the amount at which NASA will acquire the flights has not been disclosed, the latest purchase follows the previous one of SpaceX’s three flights for about $ 3.5 billion.
Following the announcement, NASA said the new deal would allow it to “maintain the continued US capability 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 agreement allows NASA to verify that the launch vehicle’s space transportation system meets the agency’s requirements and meets the conditions for human spaceflight. SpaceX was certified to launch a crew in November 2020 and conducted four NASA astronaut missions to the space station, the most recent being Crew-4. So far, SpaceX is the only company NASA relies on to transport crew and cargo to the ISS. Most recently, Boeing Space launched the Starliner capsule during its second orbital test mission.
Although the capsule suffered some problems with its pushers after launch, it managed to dock at the ISS and meet all mission objectives. If Boeing succeeds in proving its readiness to launch with a crew, it will receive a license from NASA and become the second commercial company to offer space launch services.
SpaceX is reserved for missions to Crew-14
The new deal has reserved SpaceX from NASA for missions to Crew-14. The previous agreement, in which SpaceX packed three flights for $ 3.5 billion, was to launch astronauts on missions to Crew-9 and was signed before the launch of Crew-4. SpaceX’s upcoming missions are Crew-5, which is expected to take off in September this year, followed by Crew-6, planned no earlier than the spring of 2023.
NASA is planning these rotation missions for the crew because the United States recently announced an extension of its participation on board the space station until 2030. In particular, this is the same timeline around which the space station is expected to retire and be replaced by private ones. space modules. However, the existence of a space station by the end of this decade seems unlikely, given Russia’s announcement that it will leave the orbital outpost probably in a year.
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