Jane Edwards
SpaceX will reuse the Falcon 9 rocket“™s first stages and Crew Dragon spacecraft for missions to the International Space Station as early as 2021 under a modification to the company“™s Commercial Crew Transportation Capability contract with NASA, SpaceNews reported Tuesday.
The CCtCap contract modification allows SpaceX to use previously flown Crew Dragon and boosters starting with Crew-2 or Post-Certification Mission 2, which could launch by 2021.
“In this case, SpaceX has proposed to reuse future Falcon 9 and/or Crew Dragon systems or components for NASA missions to the International Space Station because they believe it will be beneficial from a safety and/or cost standpoint,“ Stephanie Schierholz, a spokesperson for the space agency, told the publication. “NASA performed an in-depth review and determined that the terms of the overall contract modification were in the best interests of the government.“
The modification also extended the length of the manned Demo-2 test flight mission from two weeks to up to 119 days. SpaceX“™s Crew Dragon took off in late May to transport two NASA astronauts to the ISS as part of Demo-2.
