The SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft for the International Space Station (ISS) Cargo Resupply Services (CRS) has been selected by NASA with this important contract award, which is for a guaranteed minimum of 20,000 kg to be carried to the International Space Station. The firm contracted value is US$1.6 billion for 12 flights and NASA may elect to order additional missions for a cumulative total contract value of up to US$3.1 billion. Additionally, Orbital Sciences Corporation also received a contract from NASA for eight flights, valued at approximately US$1.9 billion. (Photo: Full mission duration test firing of the Flacon 9 first stage, lasting nearly 3 minutes, with the nine Merlin engines producing 855,000 lbs. of thrust. Courtesy: SpaceX.)
Under the CRS contract, SpaceX will deliver pressurized and unpressurized cargo to the ISS, and return cargo back to Earth. Cargo may include NASA and NASA-sponsored payloads requiring a pressurized or unpressurized environment. SpaceX will provide the necessary services, test hardware and software, and mission-specific elements to integrate cargo with the Dragon delivery capsule.
In 2006, SpaceX was named a winner under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) competition. Under the existing COTS agreement, SpaceX will conduct the first flight of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft in 2009. The final flight, currently scheduled for 2010, will demonstrate Dragon’s ability to berth with the ISS. Falcon 9 flight hardware has already started to arrive at the SpaceX launch site, Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral, in preparation for Falcon 9 going vertical on the pad within a few weeks. Construction of the SLC-40 launch site is proceeding ahead of schedule and is estimated to be completed in early 2009. (Image: Artist rendering of SpaceX Dragon spacecraft delivering cargo to the International Space Station. Credit NASA.)
“The SpaceX team is honored to have been selected by NASA as the winner of the Cargo Resupply Services contract,” said Elon Musk, CEO and CTO, SpaceX. “This is a tremendous responsibility, given the swiftly approaching retirement of the Space Shuttle and the significant future needs of the Space Station. This also demonstrates the success of the NASA COTS program, which has opened a new era for NASA in US Commercial spaceflight.” (Image: Dragon spacecraft, courtesy of SpaceX.)
The NASA contracts for SpaceX and Orbital Sciences are fixed-price indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts and will begin Jan. 1, 2009. They are effective through Dec. 31, 2016. NASA has set production milestones and reviews on the contracts to monitor progress toward providing services. Based on known requirements, the value of both contracts combined is projected at US$3.5 billion.
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