The Crew Dragon will be launched to the International Space Station three more times.
NASA might order more crew launches in the future, despite the contract covering the missions Crew-7, Crew-8 and Crew-9. NASA had no direct access to the International Space Station after the retirement of the space shuttle fleet in 2011. The agency worked with commercial partners to design new vehicles for the task while astronauts flew aboard Russian Soyuz.
In October, NASA released a request for new proposals to fly its astronauts on missions that would follow the 12 originally awarded to SpaceX and Boeing. The first flights were arranged through that call. Although the contract was already in the works, the announcement comes as tensions between NASA and Russia are at an all time high.
There are photos of the Crew 3 astronauts launch for NASA.
The space agency said in a statement that the new missions will allow them to maintain an unimpeded U.S. capability for human access to the space station.
The final flight of the earlier procured batches of flights is expected to launch in early 2023. The crew of the Crew 3 mission are NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, and Thomas Barron, and European astronauts Matthias Maurer. Crew-4 is expected to replace Crew 3 in mid-April and is scheduled to launch on April 15.
NASA said in the statement that the newly procured missions would cover a period up to March 31, 2028.
The Commercial Crew Transportation Capability program allows NASA to fly astronauts to the International Space Station.
The Starliner has yet to perform a successful test flight. The first uncrewed test flight of Starliner failed to reach the space station due to software and communication problems. The second attempt has been delayed many times. The flight is expected to take place later this year, but a launch date has not been announced.
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