SpaceX Wins $950 Million NASA Deal for 3 More Crew Flights

HAWTHORNE, Calif. — SpaceX has secured another vote of confidence from NASA, winning a contract worth up to $950 million to fly three more crewed Dragon missions to the International Space Station. The award extends the company's role as America's primary ride to orbit deep into the station's final years of operation.

With the new order, SpaceX will have earned roughly $5.92 billion from NASA's Commercial Crew Program if it completes all contracted flights as expected. The agency said the deal covers ground, launch, in-orbit, and return-and-recovery operations, cargo transport for each mission, and lifeboat capability while docked to the station.

A steady cadence to 2030

The three additional missions keep SpaceX's Dragon flying astronauts through the back half of the decade. NASA's Crew-13 launch with SpaceX is expected in October, with Crew-14 targeted for next spring, and the newly ordered flights extending the sequence through 2030.

That reliability has become the backbone of NASA's human spaceflight plans. Since Dragon's first crewed flight in 2020, the capsule has carried astronauts and cargo on a near-metronomic schedule, and the extension underscores how central the vehicle has become. The award also lands during a busy stretch for the company, which recently completed the SES O3b mPOWER fleet on its 700th Falcon mission.

Value that keeps winning contracts

SpaceX's per-seat economics remain the reason NASA keeps coming back. The agency has repeatedly noted that flying astronauts on Dragon costs far less than legacy alternatives, and the fixed-price structure has let NASA add missions incrementally rather than committing to costly new development. As CNBC reported, the extension gives the agency schedule certainty as it plans the station's remaining years.

The Dragon workhorse also frees SpaceX to press ahead on its next-generation ambitions. The same launch expertise that keeps crews cycling to the ISS underpins the company's rapid national-security manifest, including its recent classified USSF-153 mission from Vandenberg.

Bridging to what comes next

The station is slated for retirement around the end of the decade, and NASA is counting on commercial partners to carry crews until then and to build the orbiting platforms that follow. By locking in three more SpaceX flights, the agency signals both trust in Dragon's track record and a plan to keep a continuous American presence in low Earth orbit.

For SpaceX, the contract is another dependable revenue stream layered atop Starlink and its growing launch cadence, and a reminder that even as the company chases Mars, its crewed spacecraft remains the most trusted seat in the business.