WASHINGTON — NASA has extended three contracts with companies to continue providing transportation of cargo to and from the International Space Station through the projected end of the station’s life in 2030.
In procurement filings Nov. 8, NASA stated it planned to extend the existing Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) 2 contracts with Northrop Grumman, Sierra Space and SpaceX that were set to expire at the end of 2026 through the end of 2030. NASA’s current plans call for retiring the ISS in 2030.
The three companies received CRS-2 contracts in 2016, and NASA announced in March 2023 its intent to extend the contracts. “There are no other CRS-2 certified visiting vehicles in the current marketplace for providing cargo resupply to the ISS,” NASA stated in a document justifying the extension of the three contracts. “Extension of the existing contracts is the most effective means of ensuring continued provision of these services for the extended duration of the ISS.”
NASA did, as part of the March 2023 announcement, seek information from companies who believed that they could carry out cargo transportation to the station. The agency said it received three responses, but concluded none of the companies could meet its requirements.
One response came from Gravitics, a company developing modules for future commercial space stations, including one called StarMax. “The response does not provide a description of an end-to-end cargo service capable of reaching, attaching, and departing the ISS, but suggests a next generation launch vehicle could get it to low Earth orbit,” NASA’s document states of StarMax. Other details about its concept are redacted in the public document.
A second response came from The Exploration Company, a European startup developing cargo return spacecraft. NASA noted that the company does not qualify as a “United States commercial provider” under federal law. “The 20-month-old company based in Munich, Germany…
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