Reasons for Contract Expansion
NASA intends to substantially expand its contract with SpaceX for astronaut transportation to the International Space Station (ISS) to mitigate the risk of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner program being canceled. According to a procurement notice published on May 18, NASA plans to add 6 crewed missions to its existing agreement with SpaceX after certifying the Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Current Program Status
The first 3 of these missions can be ordered immediately after contract modifications are made. NASA last expanded its commercial contract with SpaceX in 2022, adding 5 missions worth $1.4 billion. The agreement was extended to the Crew-14 mission. Currently, the Crew-12 mission is working on the ISS.
Starliner Issues
The new NASA document explicitly states the reasons for expanding cooperation with SpaceX: reducing ISS expedition durations, ongoing technical issues and delays with Boeing, and the lack of alternative certified crew transportation systems. Currently, Crew Dragon remains the only fully certified American crewed spacecraft for regular flights to the station.
Future Plans
Starliner has faced problems for several years. The spacecraft has not yet received full certification for regular crewed missions. It was previously expected that the first operational Starliner-1 flight could occur this year, but the spacecraft was unexpectedly removed from NASA's latest mission schedule. In November 2024, NASA and Boeing revised the Commercial Crew program contract, reducing the number of Starliner missions from 6 to 4, including Starliner-1, and leaving the option for two more flights.
Industry Impact
An additional factor was NASA's decision to abandon plans to increase the duration of rotational ISS missions from 6 to 8 months. The agency previously considered this option to reduce the number of launches but confirmed in May that it would maintain standard six-month expeditions to maximize the station's efficiency during its remaining years of operation. The 6 additional SpaceX missions will cover approximately 3 years of station operation at the current launch schedule — one crewed flight every six months. Considering existing contracts that run until Crew-14 and roughly until fall 2027, the new expansion will allow SpaceX to provide crew transportation until the end of 2030 — when NASA plans to decommission the ISS.