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SpaceX awarded three more NASA astronaut launch contracts
Three months after announcing its intent, NASA has procured three more Crew Dragon astronaut launches from SpaceX, raising the total number of operational missions the company is contracted to perform from six to nine.
NASA announced its plans to award additional contracts in December 2021 after releasing a half-hearted Request For Information (RFI) in October. That RFI, which seemingly lacked any real NASA support for an attempt to develop one or more additional crew transport vehicles, unsurprisingly produced the conclusion that the space agency should buy more flights from its existing providers.
Short of a second Commercial Crew Program (CCP), Boeing and SpaceX were thus the only options. Boeing, whose Starliner spacecraft has yet to successfully complete even an uncrewed test flight and remains years behind schedule, was apparently ruled out of this contract add-on. SpaceX, on the other hand, aced uncrewed and crewed Crew Dragon test flights in March 2019 and May 2020 and ultimately began operational astronaut transport missions in November 2020, making it the only logical option.
As such, NASA announced that it would award three more transport contracts to SpaceX, raising the total value of its Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract from about $2.6 billion to $3.49B. As of August 2019, NASA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reported that of the original $2.6 billion SpaceX was awarded, the company planned to spend $1.2 billion on development and test flights and $1.4 billion on up to six operational Crew Dragon missions.
At the time, that meant that NASA intended to pay a total of ~$230 million for each of the first six Crew Dragon transport missions, each of which would carry four astronauts to and from the International Space Station and serve as a lifeboat in the six months between launch and landing. For NASA’s contract modification, the space agency will now pay the company no more than $890 million – up to $297 million apiece – for three more transport missions, each likely carrying four astronauts.
For missions seven through nine, NASA will thus pay an average of up to ~$74 million per seat – substantially more expensive than the ~$55 million per seat SpaceX’s first six Crew Dragon missions will cost the space agency. To be clear, there’s a chance that a significant fraction of the $890 million contract value increase actually came before the addition of three more missions, in which case NASA might instead be paying around $700-800 million or around $60-70M per seat for three more Dragon launches. Regardless, that’s cheaper than the ~$90 million per seat Boeing’s Starliner is expected to cost. At the end of NASA’s Soyuz ridesharing efforts, the agency was also being gouged for about ~$90 million per seat to launch its astronauts on Russian Soyuz missions.
Update: There is evidence that SpaceX’s total CCtCap contract value was about $2.74 billion before the addition of three more missions, meaning that NASA is likely paying SpaceX around $755 million or ~$63 million per seat – a more reasonable 15% increase over earlier pricing.
SpaceX remains on track to launch Crew-4 no earlier than (NET) 15 April 2022, Crew-5 NET October 2022, and Crew-6 NET February 2023. The company is now expected to complete all six of its first operational crew transport missions before Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft completes a single one. In fact, it’s increasingly plausible that SpaceX will launch all six of its original Crew missions before Starliner attempts its first crewed test flight – a milestone Crew Dragon passed in May 2020.
It remains to be seen when Starliner will finally become operational. If Boeing manages that feat by mid-2023, there’s at least a chance that Starliner and Crew Dragon will finally be able to start alternating launches, in which case NASA’s three extra Dragon launches might last until 2027. Starliner would then have three more missions remaining, allowing NASA to stretch its 15 existing Commercial Crew transport contracts as far as H2 2028.
Investor's Corner
NASA taps SpaceX to launch the telescope that could unlock new worlds
NASA’s Roman Space Telescope heads to orbit this August aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy with massive scientific ambitions.
SpaceX is set to play a central role in one of NASA’s most anticipated science missions in years. The company’s Falcon Heavy rocket, currently the most powerful operational launch vehicle in the world, will carry the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope into orbit on August 30 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Roman is now in final preparations inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, where on June 26 technicians used a crane to lift the observatory into a specialized stand for fueling and pre-launch testing.
Roman is named after Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief of astronomy, whose career helped shape how the agency approaches space science.
NASA chose SpaceX Falcon Heavy because of Roman’s needs to reach a specific orbit far from Earth, well beyond where a standard Falcon 9 can deliver it. The Falcon Heavy, which first flew in 2018, has since become NASA’s go-to option for missions that need serious muscle without the cost and complexity of older launch systems.
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Roman will carry a field of view at least 100 times wider than the Hubble Space Telescope, meaning it can photograph enormous swaths of the universe in a single shot rather than the narrow slices Hubble captures. That difference in scale is significant. While Hubble reshaped our understanding of the cosmos over 30 years, Roman is built to work faster and wider, surveying hundreds of millions of galaxies at once.
One of Roman’s most compelling capabilities is its potential to discover and photograph planets orbiting stars outside our solar system, and with enough precision to directly image planets that would otherwise be lost. That means scientists could study the atmosphere and surface characteristics of distant worlds rather than simply confirming they exist. Combined with Roman’s sweeping field of view, the telescope could detect thousands of exoplanets, and some of those planets may be in habitable zones where liquid water could exist. No telescope currently in operation has this level of power and capability. That capability alone could change what we know about other worlds, and perhaps finally answer the question: are we the only intelligent lifeforms in existence?
What Roman actually finds once it reaches orbit is an open question, and that is exactly what makes this launch worth watching.
Tesla has confirmed a crucial detail of its Miami Robotaxi launch, stating that the fleet is operating on an Unsupervised basis, joining a few other cities where company employees do not watch over the vehicles from inside.
Tesla’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, confirmed the detail on X, answering a highly speculated question about the Robotaxi Service in Miami, which was launched on June 3:
Unsupervised
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) July 3, 2026
The first launch of Robotaxi in Florida, Miami presents a unique opportunity for Tesla as it is operating the Unsupervised Robotaxi ride-hailing service in a major tourist hotspot in the Sunshine State. It also signals the suite will expand to other cities soon; many have requested Orlando, a heavy tourist spot with Disney and other resorts nearby, get access to the program soon as well.
Miami is getting a conservative rollout as well, just as Tesla has done with other cities. The initial geofence covers a compact 10–14 square mile zone in western Miami-Dade County, primarily West Miami extending toward Doral and Sweetwater. It is bounded roughly by SR-826 (Palmetto Expressway) to the north and US-41 (Tamiami Trail) to the south, excluding downtown Miami, Miami Beach, the airport, and most of Coral Gables.
Tesla has also been pretty slim on other details. For example, Tesla has not disclosed the exact fleet size, but field reports and license plate tracking indicate just two unsupervised Model Y vehicles were active on launch day, increasing to three within 48 hours.
According to The Road to Autonomy, a nearby staging lot near Miami International Airport holds dozens of Cybercabs alongside additional Model Y units, suggesting capacity for rapid scaling as demand and data collection grow.
The confirmation of Robotaxi being Unsupervised carries immense weight. It establishes that Tesla’s Miami Robotaxi operations run without human safety drivers or remote supervision, relying entirely on the company’s Full Self-Driving technology. Miami becomes the second major U.S. city after Austin to offer unsupervised Robotaxi rides from day one.
The move reflects rapid progress in Tesla’s AI efforts. Neural networks trained on vast real-world data now handle complex urban environments, including South Florida’s heavy traffic, pedestrians, and rainy conditions. Industry observers see it as validation of Tesla’s vision-centric, data-driven approach versus traditional rule-based systems; a truly unorthodox approach in this day and age.
Challenges remain, including regulatory oversight, public trust, and scaling the fleet to match geofence ambitions. Miami’s small initial footprint and limited vehicles highlight a deliberate, measured expansion strategy focused on safety and data gathering.
Nevertheless, the unsupervised confirmation marks a pivotal milestone. It showcases technical readiness and advances Tesla’s vision of transforming vehicles into autonomous revenue generators while reshaping urban mobility. For Miami users, driverless transportation has moved from concept to reality.
A California radiologist who drove his Tesla Model Y off a 250-foot cliff in an attempt to kill his family has had his charges dismissed after doctors say he is “doing well” in a mental health program.
Dharmesh Patel was charged with three counts of attempted murder in connection with a January 2023 crash where he drove his Tesla off a cliff, injuring his wife and two children, aged 7 and 4 at the time.
Patel drove the Tesla off Devil’s Slide in California, an area that is extremely rough to the point that investigators and rescuers expected the worst when arriving at the scene for the first time. Patel supposedly had schizoaffective disorder, according to Deputy District Attorney Dominique Davis.
Shockingly, Patel’s wife, who was in the vehicle, testified that she did not want her husband to be prosecuted, noting that their children missed their father and they wanted him to come back home. Patel’s attorney argued, “not everyone who commits a crime is a criminal.”
Doctor who took Tesla off cliff gets support from unlikely person
A three-day trial in Mental Health Diversion Court ruled in Patel’s favor, which kept him out of jail and instead on house arrest. He was admitted to a Mental Health Diversion Program, which he successfully completed, the Associated Press reported. San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said the judge was “required by law” to dismiss the charges:
“If the person who’s given mental health diversion follows the treatment plan, there’s nothing that can be done, and at the end of the two years he gets it wiped out of his record.”
Wagstaffe said he has argued, along with other DAs in California, to have attempted murder removed from the list of charges eligible to be dismissed due to mental health diversion programs.
Patel had the charges officially dismissed on Monday; his wife waited for him as he left court and they departed the building together, according to Mercury News. Patel surrendered his California medical license in December.
The crash has been one of the best examples of Tesla’s incredible engineering, which has saved four lives in this particular instance. The car was totalled but kept the four human beings alive and safe, which is something that many referred to as “an absolute miracle.”
NASA taps SpaceX to launch the telescope that could unlock new worlds
Tesla confirms crucial detail of Miami Robotaxi launch
