NASA is awarding SpaceX three new missions, which will run between 2023 to 2028. These spaceflights would definitely help the company secure a steady source of income for their growing projects.
Sources from TechCrunch say that SpaceX was officially awarded the Crew-7, Crew-8 and Crew-9 missions on Tuesday, March 1. The whole project is estimated to cost more than $900 million in total.
SpaceX Commercial Crew Flights
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. or SpaceX is an American aerospace manufacturer that provides space transportation and communications services. They are the company behind the iconic Starlink satellite internet connection and the partially-reusable two-stage-to-orbit medium-lift launch vehicle Falcon 9.
Just last week, this rocket completed its eighth launch for the year after sending 50 new internet satellites to the Starlink constellation network. Many fans are often impressed with its utility features, and one of them is NASA.
According to TechCrunch, NASA chooses SpaceX for its incoming spaceflights in the year 2023 to 2028. They probably made this decision in consideration of SpaceX's reputation.
SpaceX Crew Flight Schedules
SpaceX was originally contracted $2.6 billion in 2014 for the development of American crewed launch capabilities. It then launched three operational missions, the Crew-1, Crew-2, and Crew-3. All ships were launched to the International Space Station (ISS) via Falcon 9 rocket.
Afterward, SpaceX was contracted to fly three more missions which were aptly named Crew-4, Crew-5, and Crew-6. Note that both Crew-4 and Crew-5 are scheduled to take place sometime this year, while Crew-6 is scheduled for 2023.
The latest award secures a few flights until March 31, 2028. Unfortunately for fans, not many details were revealed about the spaceflights itself.
SpaceX Missions: 2023 Flights
In a notice of intent published last year December, Kathy Lueders emphasized, "It's critical we begin to secure additional flights to the space station now so we are ready as these missions are needed to maintain a U.S. presence on station." She also said these spaceflights will help them improve the safe operations for human launch and even build a "low-Earth orbit economy."
This teases a lot of potential for both SpaceX and fans. For SpaceX, their rockets and operations are being acknowledged as a safe and secure means of transportation in space. While for fans, this means that they can look forward to incoming flights in the next few years.
NASA SpaceX Contract Deal
Not many details were revealed about the latest contract, but TechCrunch speculated on the possible amount that SpaceX might have earned. They noted that NASA previously paid $55.4 million per seat on the Roscosmos' Soyuz launch system between 2006 and 2020. They then paid $90 million per seat on the Boeing Aerospace company.
Since the price of the seat is continuously on the rise, each seat for the incoming SpaceX crew mission might be worth over millions of dollars. Fans interested in these space missions are recommended to watch out for updates which might drop in the coming months.
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