NASA on Jan. 3 said it awarded four additional Commercial Crew missions each to contractors Boeing [BA] and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), though it said the awards, at this time, do not include payments.
The additional missions will fly following NASA certification. They fall under the currnet Commercial Crew Transportation Capabilities contracts and bring the total number of missions awarded to each provider to six.
Boeing’s uncrewed flight test is currently scheduled for June 2018 while its crewed flight test is planned for August 2018. SpaceX’s uncrewed flight test is scheduled for November 2017 while its first crewed flight test is set for May 2017. Once the flight tests are complete and NASA certifies the providers for flight, the post-certification missions to the International Space Station (ISS) can begin.
NASA recently announced both companies had delayed their uncrewed and crewed flight tests. Commercial Crew is deliver astronauts to the ISS from United States soil. The U.S. currently buys rides on Soyuz rockets from Russia to get astronauts to the ISS.