NASA: SpaceX is the Only Capable Provider to Transport Astronauts to ISS to Meet its Standards

NASA said that, so far, SpaceX is the only provider of crew taxi flights to the International Space Station or the ISS that met the standards of the United States or the US space agency.

NASA: SpaceX is the Only Capable Provider

The latest pronouncements from NASA or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration come as the Boeing Starliner has yet to begin its crewed mission to the ISS.

In a press release, the US space agency announced that under its assessment, only the space exploration firm of billionaire Elon Musk had met its safety standards, according to the news story by Space.com.

NASA further said that "the SpaceX crew transportation system is the only one certified to meet NASA's safety requirements to transport crew to the space station."

It is worth mentioning that NASA did not only look into the space taxi ride offering of SpaceX.

In fact, NASA allowed other space firms to provide their services and undergo the assessment of the US space agency before SpaceX got the latest crew mission contract.

However, after which, NASA has concluded that, so far, only SpaceX could fly its astronauts to the ISS safely.

Thus, only SpaceX sends the astronauts in the crew missions of NASA under the contract of the Commercial Crew Transportation Capabilities.

It is worth noting that SpaceX's first crewed liftoff was in 2020.

Now, the firm is still working with NASA to launch three more crewed flights after the space agency solely awarded it to the firm last Dec. 3.

SpaceX Sole Provider; Boeing Still Delayed

Meanwhile, the Starliner of Boeing has yet to launch its first-ever crewed flight to the space station.

As per the report by Business Insider, the commercial crew flight certification of the Starliner spacecraft of Boeing has been recently delayed once again due to some critical technical issues.

That said, with the Starliner of Boeing still being put behind schedule, NASA says SpaceX is the only provider capable of sending astronauts to the space station.

Back in Dec. 2019, the Starliner spacecraft faced an issue after its uncrewed test flight failed to reach the space station in the orbit of the Earth due to multiple glitches.

Even now, the said spacecraft is still facing major problems involving its oxidizer valve. That said, the space firm has already pushed back its upcoming liftoff to 2022.

NASA: SpaceX and Boeing Alternate Flights

Initially, NASA planned that the crewed flights of the space agency would be alternating from the two space firms, namely SpaceX and Boeing.

However, the initial idea has yet to become a reality as only SpaceX met the safety standards of the US space agency.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Teejay Boris