CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida: SpaceX will fly three additional astronaut missions to the International Space Station under a US$946 million award from NASA, extending the company's crewed flights to the orbital laboratory through 2030.

The additional missions bring the number of NASA astronaut flights awarded to SpaceX under the contract to 17 and increase its total value to $5.92 billion.

NASA has come to rely heavily on SpaceX to transport astronauts to and from the space station while seeking to maintain Boeing as a second U.S. option for crewed missions.

The SpaceX contract covers preparations for astronauts and spacecraft on the ground, launches and operations in space, as well as returning crews to Earth and recovering the capsule. SpaceX will also transport supplies and keep its spacecraft at the station to serve as an emergency escape vehicle.

NASA selected SpaceX and Boeing in 2014 to develop spacecraft capable of transporting astronauts to the station. The program was intended to restore regular domestic crew launches after the retirement of NASA's space shuttle ended that capability, leaving the United States reliant on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft.

Boeing's Starliner encountered problems during its crewed test flight in 2024. NASA ultimately returned the capsule to Earth without its crew, while astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams came home aboard a SpaceX Dragon after what was originally planned as a 10-day mission turned into a stay of more than nine months aboard the ISS.

NASA approved SpaceX's system for astronaut missions in November 2020. SpaceX has since become the agency's primary provider of rotating crews to the station, using its Crew Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket to transport up to four astronauts along with supplies.

NASA wants both SpaceX and Boeing to operate crewed flights so that an accident or technical problem involving one provider does not cut off U.S. astronaut access to the space station.