NASA Inks ISS Resupply Contracts With SpaceX, Northrop Grumman

With a view to shoring up the supply of scientific cargo to the International Space Station (ISS), NASA has awarded contracts for 12 flights to SpaceX and Northrup Grumman. The deals with the two partners are designed to keep the station stocked through to 2026, Nick Lavars reported for New Atlas.

Photo Insert: The contracts awarded to SpaceX and Northrup Grumman are worth a potential $14 billion in total.

The contracts awarded to SpaceX and Northrup Grumman are worth a potential $14 billion in total, but the final amounts will depend on the type of missions, that NASA organizes as needed.

SpaceX with its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule combo, and Northrup Grumman with its Antares rocket and Cygnus capsule, have supplied cargo to the ISS for most of the last decade. In 2016, Sierra Nevada Corp. was brought into the fold as a third private space company to ferry goods to and from the orbiting laboratory.

NASA has now ordered a further six flights each from Northrop Grumman and SpaceX, to be carried out between now and 2026. This brings the number of missions ordered under its CRS-2 program to 32, with SpaceX taking care of 15, Northrup Grumman 14, and Sierra Nevada Corp., now known as Sierra Space, three.

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