Small Space News Story Roundup 81

I know that things are happening on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Vandenberg Space Force Base beyond just assessing the damages from Blue Origin's New Glenn loss - I've watched some launches from both places. It's just that there's very little being talked about. I've seen a couple of small news stories that I'll pass along. 

NASA to order more Crew Dragon flights from SpaceX 

NASA has decided to add more missions to SpaceX’s commercial crew contract for launches to the International Space Station (ISS). There are rumors that Boeing is going to drop their efforts for Starliner, but since that's giving up guaranteed income, I'm skeptical of that. Still, the additional flights from SpaceX will protect NASA by ensuring there are ways to get crews to the ISS and back.

The space agency announced its intent on May 18 to add six more missions to SpaceX’s commercial crew contract. Each will carry four astronauts to and from the space station. NASA last placed an order for more SpaceX commercial crew missions in 2022, when it added five missions for $1.4 billion. That contract extension covers missions through Crew-14, expected to launch sometime next year. The Crew-12 mission is currently docked at the ISS. 

Yes, you can blame it all on Starliner. NASA had originally gone to two providers primarily to protect themselves against just what happened - that one provider would be incapable of meeting the program requirements. The thing is that everyone assumed the big name spacecraft provider with decades of experience, Boeing, would be the survivor and not the no-name start up. SpaceX has been certified for these flights for six years and Boeing's Starliner has yet to cross that hurdle and earn certification. 

The next Starliner mission will be a cargo-only flight, so the earliest time Boeing’s crew capsule will fly with astronauts again is next year. With the ISS nearing retirement in the early 2030s and Starliner still firmly in test phase, NASA has reduced its order for operational Starliner flights from six to four.  

There has been speculation since the disastrous 2024 test flight which stranded the Starliner crew (Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams) on the ISS, turning a two week mission into nine months on the ISS, that Boeing would give up on Starliner.  With those four flights that NASA has just reduced the count to, I doubt they could even cover the money they've lost so far. It seems it will be a loss for Boeing. 

While looking through some pictures of Starliner I've used before to add here, I ran across this one that actually surprised me. The picture was dated 2021 and it's the same Starliner capsule that flew in 2024. It was in an article that was talking about whether or not they would fly then - in 2021 - three years before they were accepted for flying. 

We go where we need to be, and today that was @NASA_Kennedy.

Today, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman led a group of his staff to look over the damage at LC-36. 

Some of my senior engineers and I spent time at @blueorigin with @JeffBezos and @davill, speaking with the workforce and seeing the damage at LC-36 firsthand. I appreciated the opportunity to hear directly from those working through the aftermath and better understand the challenges ahead.

There is a lot of work to do, but this is exactly why people choose careers in aerospace, whether at NASA, Blue Origin, or across the industry. The talent in this field thrives under pressure and performs at its best when solving the toughest problems.

In general, it's a positive post on X and he comes across like a good leader for these tough times at NASA. 

NASA administrator Jared Isaacman looks out of the window of the helicopter flying with LC-36 off to the port side. Photo taken May 29, 2026.