NASA Adds 6 SpaceX ISS Crew Missions as Boeing Starliner Certification Delays Persist
Updated
Updated · SpaceNews · May 24
NASA Adds 6 SpaceX ISS Crew Missions as Boeing Starliner Certification Delays Persist
2 articles · Updated · SpaceNews · May 24
NASA said in a May 18 procurement filing it will sole-source six additional post-certification crew missions to SpaceX, with up to three ordered immediately to start preparations.
SpaceX is NASA’s only certified crew transport system for the ISS, and the agency cited Boeing Starliner’s technical problems, schedule slips and uncertain certification as reasons to expand the contract.
Six added flights would cover about three more years of ISS rotations at one mission every six months, extending U.S. crew access from the current Crew-14 plan in fall 2027 to late 2030.
NASA’s need for more flights also grew after it decided to keep ISS expeditions at six months rather than stretch them to eight, preserving a higher launch cadence in the station’s final years.
Boeing’s contract was cut in 2024 from six missions to four, including Starliner-1, which was expected this year but did not appear on NASA’s latest ISS crew-and-cargo manifest.
With SpaceX holding a monopoly on crew flights, is NASA’s vision for a competitive LEO market now in jeopardy?
Can Boeing's Starliner ever recover from its 'Type A mishap' to safely fly astronauts for NASA?