NASA to award SpaceX 3 more professional crew flights – SpaceNews
WASHINGTON — NASA announced Dec. 3 its intent to order three additional professional crew missions from SpaceX as a hedge versus further more delays in the certification of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner.
NASA issued a deal notification saying its programs to situation a sole-source award to SpaceX for 3 missions. All those missions would be in addition to the six “post-certification missions,” or PCMs, that SpaceX received as component of its $2.6 billion Commercial Crew Transportation Functionality (CCtCap) contract in 2014. The announcement did not point out the price of people three new missions.
SpaceX released the third of people six authentic missions, Crew-3, to the Intercontinental Area Station Nov. 10. It is scheduled to launch the Crew-4 mission in the spring of 2022, likely to be adopted by Crew-5 in the fall of 2022.
NASA at first envisioned alternating missions amongst SpaceX and Boeing, assuming both equally companies’ motor vehicles would be accredited all-around the exact same time. On the other hand, Boeing has nevertheless to fly a crewed Starliner mission, and its 2nd uncrewed examination flight, OFT-2, has been delayed to some time in 2022.
“Due to complex issues and the ensuing delays experienced by Boeing, it is anticipated that SpaceX will launch its final PCM in March 2023,” the procurement notice mentioned. “Awarding up to three further PCMs to SpaceX will help NASA to have redundant and back again-up capabilities for each PCM.”
“It’s crucial we begin to secure additional flights to the area station now so we are completely ready as these missions are essential to sustain a U.S. existence on station,” Kathy Lueders, NASA associate administrator for area functions, claimed in a statement accompanying the contract notification.
NASA officers mentioned in Oct, at briefings about the Crew-3 mission, that they had been in the early levels of planning professional crew contract extensions. The agency issued a ask for for information and facts Oct. 20 concerning possibilities for purchasing further industrial crew companies, which include options for single or a number of seats on a business mission or a devoted flight.
Neither NASA nor Boeing have offered an update because mid-October on development with valve corrosion troubles that scrubbed an OFT-2 launch try in early August and led to an extended delay for that mission. In that update, Boeing officers mentioned they have been hunting at selections to start the mission some time in the 1st fifty percent of 2022, a program that would force back again the first article-certification mission to 2023.
“NASA and Boeing will deliver more updates on the standing of Starliner’s next mission as we perform by the investigation and verification attempts to determine root result in and efficient automobile remediation,” Phil McAlister, director of commercial spaceflight at NASA Headquarters, said in the assertion.
NASA explained at that October Starliner briefing that the agency’s lengthy-time period strategy remains to alternate involving Crew Dragon and Starliner missions the moment Starliner is certified. “When we get into the extended-phrase rotations, we would like to see SpaceX fly when a 12 months and then Boeing fly a person a 12 months as properly,” mentioned Steve Stich, supervisor of the industrial crew software at NASA.
WASHINGTON — NASA announced Dec. 3 its intent to order three additional professional crew missions from SpaceX as a hedge versus further more delays in the certification of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner.
NASA issued a deal notification saying its programs to situation a sole-source award to SpaceX for 3 missions. All those missions would be in addition to the six “post-certification missions,” or PCMs, that SpaceX received as component of its $2.6 billion Commercial Crew Transportation Functionality (CCtCap) contract in 2014. The announcement did not point out the price of people three new missions.
SpaceX released the third of people six authentic missions, Crew-3, to the Intercontinental Area Station Nov. 10. It is scheduled to launch the Crew-4 mission in the spring of 2022, likely to be adopted by Crew-5 in the fall of 2022.
NASA at first envisioned alternating missions amongst SpaceX and Boeing, assuming both equally companies’ motor vehicles would be accredited all-around the exact same time. On the other hand, Boeing has nevertheless to fly a crewed Starliner mission, and its 2nd uncrewed examination flight, OFT-2, has been delayed to some time in 2022.
“Due to complex issues and the ensuing delays experienced by Boeing, it is anticipated that SpaceX will launch its final PCM in March 2023,” the procurement notice mentioned. “Awarding up to three further PCMs to SpaceX will help NASA to have redundant and back again-up capabilities for each PCM.”
“It’s crucial we begin to secure additional flights to the area station now so we are completely ready as these missions are essential to sustain a U.S. existence on station,” Kathy Lueders, NASA associate administrator for area functions, claimed in a statement accompanying the contract notification.
NASA officers mentioned in Oct, at briefings about the Crew-3 mission, that they had been in the early levels of planning professional crew contract extensions. The agency issued a ask for for information and facts Oct. 20 concerning possibilities for purchasing further industrial crew companies, which include options for single or a number of seats on a business mission or a devoted flight.
Neither NASA nor Boeing have offered an update because mid-October on development with valve corrosion troubles that scrubbed an OFT-2 launch try in early August and led to an extended delay for that mission. In that update, Boeing officers mentioned they have been hunting at selections to start the mission some time in the 1st fifty percent of 2022, a program that would force back again the first article-certification mission to 2023.
“NASA and Boeing will deliver more updates on the standing of Starliner’s next mission as we perform by the investigation and verification attempts to determine root result in and efficient automobile remediation,” Phil McAlister, director of commercial spaceflight at NASA Headquarters, said in the assertion.
NASA explained at that October Starliner briefing that the agency’s lengthy-time period strategy remains to alternate involving Crew Dragon and Starliner missions the moment Starliner is certified. “When we get into the extended-phrase rotations, we would like to see SpaceX fly when a 12 months and then Boeing fly a person a 12 months as properly,” mentioned Steve Stich, supervisor of the industrial crew software at NASA.