NASA will no longer have to lean on Russia to ferry astronauts from the ISS as the agency has just bought five extra ISS flights from SpaceX to maintain uninterrupted US staffing aboard the International Space Station until it eventually retires in 2030.
Although NASA still intends to use Boeing Starliner, the new SpaceX missions will still be very necessary to fulfill plans for alternating between the two companies once both are an option.
These extra flights will be used as soon as 2026 and will help with redundancy and keep the ISS operating safely if any problems prevent Boeing or SpaceX from launching in a timely fashion. Currently, SpaceX is the only private company certified to fly astronauts as Boeing isn’t really expected to fly their first operational mission until 2023.
This won’t really deprive Boeing from more chances to fly astronauts to the International Space Station. If NASA doesn’t order more flights, the company will miss their big chance to clash with SpaceX.
