NASA has awarded contracts to SpaceX and Northrop Grumman to resupply ISS for 12 further flights. These agreements are designed to keep the ISS stocked through 2026 with two of the agency’s key partners in its ongoing resupply efforts.
The new contracts are worth a potential US$14 billion in total, but the final amounts will depend on the type of missions organized by NASA.
In the last decade, SpaceX, with its Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket combo, and Northrop Grumman with its Antares rocket and Cygnus capsule, have supplied cargo to the ISS. Sierra Nevada Corporation came on board in 2016 as the third private company to ferry goods to and from the orbiting laboratory.
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The new contracts to SpaceX and Northrop Grumman are worth a potential US$14 billion in total, but the final amounts will depend on the type of missions organized by NASA. In the last decade, SpaceX, with its Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket combo, and Northrop Grumman with its Antares rocket and Cygnus capsule, have supplied cargo to the ISS. Sierra Nevada Corporation came on board in 2016 as the third private company to ferry goods to and from the ISS.
NASA has now placed an order for a further 12 flights, six each from SpaceX and Northrop Grumman, to be placed between now and 2026. After this order, the total number of missions ordered under the CRS-2 program has become 32.
SpaceX is responsible for 15, Northrop Grumman 14, and Sierra Nevada Corporation (now known as Sierra Space) will take care of three of the total missions.
