A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev onboard, on Feb. 13, 2026 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Aubrey Gemignani | NASA | Getty Images
SpaceX has expanded its contract with NASA and will conduct an additional three crewed Dragon flights to the International Space Station through 2030, netting Elon Musk’s company up to $946 million upon completion.
The award for flight support brings SpaceX’s total missions under the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability contract to 17 operational flights, the space agency said in a statement on Friday, and “helps NASA to maintain access to the space station with two unique commercial crew industry partners.”
Boeing is also providing flights to the ISS for NASA via its Starliner, which is expected to fly without people on board in a few months, and to conduct crewed missions starting in the third quarter of 2027.
SpaceX will provide “ground, launch, in-orbit, and return and recovery operations, cargo transportation for each mission, and a lifeboat capability while docked to the International Space Station,” NASA said.
SpaceX went public in June in the largest IPO on record. The company counts on government contracts from NASA and the Department of Defense to bolster its core launch business. Under this contract with NASA, SpaceX will have earned $5.92 billion from the space agency.
NASA’s Crew 13 launch with SpaceX is expected in October, and Crew 14 is looking to fly next spring. Beyond its NASA flights, SpaceX is reportedly winding down its Dragon program, which began flying humans just six years ago. The company aims to use its Starship rocket, which is still in development, for most future launches.
Read the original article here