NASA Awards SpaceX Three Crew Flights to Space Station

NASA awarded SpaceX three additional crew rotation missions to the International Space Station through a modification to the agency’s Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract. The modification covers Crew-15, Crew-16, and Crew-17 and brings the total number of missions for SpaceX to 17, helping NASA maintain regular access to the station with two commercial crew partners. It is a firm fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract modification, and NASA updated the feature on Sept. 18, 2026, to add mission readiness dates.

The modification is valued at $946 million for all three missions and related mission services. That amount includes ground, launch, in-orbit, and return and recovery operations, cargo transportation for each mission, and a lifeboat capability while Dragon is docked to the International Space Station. The period of performance runs through 2030, with mission readiness dates in 2027 and 2028, and the award brings the total CCtCap contract value with SpaceX to $5.92 billion.

The award follows NASA issuing a notice of intent in May to purchase the additional missions. NASA says the current sole source modification does not preclude it from seeking future contract modifications for additional transportation services as needed. In 2014, NASA awarded CCtCap contracts to Boeing and SpaceX through a public-private partnership as part of the Commercial Crew Program; under CCtCap, NASA certifies that a provider’s space transportation system meets agency requirements before flying astronauts with crew, and SpaceX was certified in November 2020.

SpaceX’s twelfth crew rotation mission for NASA, Crew-12, is currently in orbit docked to the space station. For the missions, SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket transport up to four astronauts, along with critical cargo, to the station.