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Commercial Crew Program

Enabling safe, reliable and cost-effective crew transportation to and from the International Space Station

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NASA‘s Commercial Crew Program is a human spaceflight program created in association with SpaceX and Boeing. It was created in 2011 to allow other companies to send NASA astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) via their own spacecraft, such as SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. The program succeeds NASA’s involvement with Russia’s Soyuz program, which the agency previously used to carry astronauts to the ISS.

SpaceX successfully performed the first operational mission as part of the program on November 15, 2020. Called Crew-1, the mission launched four astronauts to the ISS aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. Boeing has also been attempting to create its own crewed spacecraft called Starliner; however, various software issues have delayed this project from moving forward as quickly as originally anticipated. Boeing is scheduled to launch another test flight of the spacecraft in March 2021.

spacex crew-6 dragon on pad

List of all SpaceX crewed flights to space

Since 2020, SpaceX has been the leader in launching crews to space for NASA. However, NASA’s bet on turning its Commercial Crew Program winners into commercial options has paid off with several missions in the books or planned that are for entirely private customers. Here’s a list of every crewed flight from SpaceX and who flew on it.

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Crew-7 astronauts arrive in Florida ahead of flight to International Space Station

The four members of the Crew-7 mission arrived at Kennedy Space Center and are in the final quarantine phase before starting their journey to the International Space Station. Launch week has begun with several events taking place as we get ready to see Crew-7 liftoff.

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Who is flying on SpaceX’s Crew-7 mission later this month?

Next month, SpaceX is set to launch its seventh rotation of crew members to the International Space Station for NASA. The upcoming Crew-7 mission is notable for being the most diverse crew to fly on a Dragon spacecraft, with all four members hailing from different nations and agencies – a first for SpaceX.

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NASA delayed Boeing Crewed Flight Test all the way back to July

Starliner Capsule secured to Atlas Rocket

It looked like Boeing would have a fantastic April with the launch of its first crewed flight of the Starliner spacecraft. However, now it seems like we’re going to have to wait until July before we see this milestone launch from the company to the International Space Station.

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SpaceX successfully launches Crew-6 mission to ISS with second-ever UAE astronaut on board

spacex launch of crew-6

After aborting during an issue with loading Falcon 9’s ignition fluid, SpaceX successfully lifted off from historic LC-39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center with the sixth crew rotation in part of the Commercial Crew Program. This mission is unique, as it carries the first long-duration mission of a UAE astronaut, thanks to a partnership with Axiom.

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SpaceX scrubs Crew-6 launch due to issue with TEA-TEB loading [Update: Thursday launch date]

crew-6 scrub walkout

It was a relatively quiet countdown last night, with SpaceX showing that they know what they’re doing and hitting all the milestones early during Crew-6’s launch preparations. Unfortunately, however, no good deed goes unpunished because the company ran into an issue when loading a rather nasty part of the propellant for Falcon 9’s launch.

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SpaceX Crew-5 launches to space carrying Dragon’s first Russian cosmonaut

Uneventful is the best way to describe it, and that’s what we’ve come to expect from SpaceX missions. Under beautiful skies and wonderful temperatures, SpaceX launched the Crew 5 mission to the International Space Station. Aboard the capsule Endurance, the crew includes Commander Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada of NASA, Koichi Wakata of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and Anna Kikina of Roscosmos, the only female cosmonaut and the first Russian to fly from the US in a renewed seat exchange program.

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NASA investigated water degradation in Crew-4’s heat shield, found okay to fly

Towards the start of this year, NASA’s Engineering and Safety Center assessed the previously flown Dragon Capsule heat shield structure for potential corrosion damage ahead of its flight on Crew-4. They found that corrosion degradation would occur up until launch, but signed off on the reuse of the structure.

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Boeing could lose out to SpaceX (again) for final NASA crewed missions to the ISS

NASA announced quietly on June 1 that they are preparing to buy five more flights of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon to finish out the crew rotation through the planned International Space Station lifespan. This could end up being the final missions awarded under the Commerical Crew Program, with the ISS set to retire by 2030.

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NASA comment on SpaceX Dragon heat shield [Update]

heat shield wear on Dragon Capsule

NASA has since responded, contradicting our reporting. NASA’s full comment below.

SpaceX’s Dragon capsule has been very successful since its first crewed launch on Demo-2. While reuse is paramount to SpaceX’s mission, the Dragon capsule heat shield has started to cause issues once again that could put astronauts at risk. 

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Boeing Starliner successfully completes insertion burn; here are the next event times to know

Boeing Starliner launching atop a ULA Atlas rocket for OFT-2 mission

Boeing and its launch partner ULA successfully sent the uncrewed Starliner space to Earth orbit today. The mission, called OFT-2 (orbital flight test two), has already surpassed the status of Starliner during OFT-1 in 2019. Next up are several key events, including docking to the International Space Station and the return flight back to Earth. Here’s what you need to know:

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SpaceX’s Crew-4 names their Dragon ‘Freedom,’ returning the historic name to flight

The commander of SpaceX’s next crewed flight to the International Space Station shared on Twitter the name of the SpaceX Dragon his crew will fly in this spring. Named “Freedom,” it obviously points towards Russia’s attack on Ukraine and calls back to NASA’s first-ever crewed spacecraft.

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