SpaceX’s partnership with NASA has just been “enhanced” by another $1.4 billion, as the space agency announced Wednesday that it is expanding its agreement with the company to cover five additional missions.
The contract cements a long future for SpaceX and NASA as they work together to launch astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
The newly contracted launches extend their partnership through 2030 and bring the total contract value to nearly $5 billion for 14 fully operational astronaut missions.
SpaceX and NASA first signed an agreement in 2014.
At the time, it covered six such astronaut launches and was valued at $2.6 billion.
A crew demonstration mission – which marked the first launch of astronauts to take off from US soil since NASA’s Space Shuttle program was retired – was launched in 2020.
And SpaceX has been handling routine launches ever since, with its fifth fully operational mission scheduled to launch this fall.