Tuesday, December 23, 2008

How do you spell 1.6 Beee-ll-yee-an Dollarssss?

S-P-A-C-E-X, that's how. Holy crap, Spacex just got awarded a monster contract from NASA.

$1.6 Billion to for cargo resupply services to the International Space Station. That's right, that's 'illion' with a B at the beginning.

And if things go well, NASA has the right to order another $1.5 Billion worth of services afterwards. Damn, that is serious sweetness.

For those that haven't been keeping up, SpaceX was previously awarded a smaller contract of about $300 million in 2006. Back then it was huge (actually it's still huge), but now it looks like small potatoes. The launch vehicle is Falcon 9 and the spacecraft that will dock with the ISS is called Dragon. The first Falcon 9 has already arrived in Cape Canaveral in preparation for its launch in 2009.

A 3D rendering of the Dragon Spacecraft that will dock with the ISS.

Here's the link to the official SpaceX announcement on the NASA Award.

Go SpaceX!!

Digg It!

34 comments:

Dave said...

Congratulations to all at SpaceX for the big win and to Mr. Musk in particular for making it all possible. SpaceX has pulled in an awfully big fish and I sincerely hope your company has the appetite to consume the whole thing and come back for more. Best of luck for the busy new year.

Stellvia said...

They say that 'nothing succeeds like success'. SpaceX has been on a roll since Falcon 1 Flight 4, and it's been awesome to behold. Onwards and upwards!

ザイツェヴ said...

Great news. I'm surprised how cheap it comes around though, 20 flights for 1600 mil, or 80 mil per flight for a new launch system (e.g. the money have to pay for the development, not just operations; and the development of both the rocket and the spacecraft). I hope it's doable.

Has anyone noticed that OSC TII + Cygnus is more expensive per flight? I already heard capring that if someone less shady than PlanetSpace submitted the third bid, a combination of Altas V and something based on Loran 1300 would've been competitve with TII (although probably not with F9/Dragon).

-- Pete

ザイツェヴ said...

I got my basics wrong in the previous comments: 1.6 billion contract includes 12 deliveries by SpaceX. The remaining 8 by OSC for the total of 20 are separate.

Unknown said...

The reason OSC has fewer flights contracted is apparently their capsule has a slightly larger pressurized volume and cargo is pretty much always volume-limited, not mass limited (where Dragon wins). The end result is OSC needs fewer flights for the 20 ton figure.

Dave G said...

Will the launch mount, erector, and other infrastructure at SLC-40 support F9H?

High Power Rocketry said...

This is a substantial risk, but at at the same time, a great investment.

Gaetano Marano said...

.

just posted my suggestion #10 for the Human Space Flight Plans Committee and NASA:

"absolutely don't adopt the SERIOUSLY FLAWED Direct concept"

http://ow.ly/f3vQ

.

Sean said...

Congrats on the Razaksat launch too! Nice to have some non-NASA budget income I bet!

Unknown said...

Flight 5 was an awesome success, and falcon 9 will hopefully follow soon... but how come you aren't keeping us up to date on teh latest developments? It's been a while..

Johnny'O said...

I just found your blog and have one question.

Why did you stop posting?

John

Alma Watson said...

The first one is that health care reform only affects uninsured people.Just Keto The second one is that Medicare benefits and the Medicare program isn't going to be affected by health care reform. And then the last one is that health care reform is going to reduce the costs of healthcare.

Dwayne said...

10+ years and still going strong! Congrats space X!

Hardono said...

Just come from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxmO_QuD4Do

Banzai said...

hehe yes this is the way to drive traffic to your old blog ... mention it in a podcast. well done kimbal.
who else spend an eternity to figure out how to spell K W A J ;-)

Vlad said...

It's very cool to see where it all began ... a wonderful story that is not over yet! We are waiting for the Starship and the journey to Mars! Thanks, youtube chanel "Илон Маск" (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCZBv-FBNdxoE87xae9eC6g) and Third Row Tesla Podcast!

Привет из Украины! Ukraine is rooting for Elon!

llama said...

I don't think I'm too late to post in 2020! SpaceX has had an exciting past, but I believe the best is yet to come! Keep up the hard work SpaceX!

SmokyFrosty said...

Great to read through this history of Space X. Thanks Kimbal. Thanks Third row for opening the doors to all these different stories

Unknown said...

Hi there from 2020!

Stipe Surlin said...

Follow SpaceX from 2008! Elon changed my life. He make my dreams! Elon live long and stay healthy!

Unknown said...

Elon please build grid scale powerpacks in Japan... they're investing in new coal to hydrogen projects :(

Hermès said...

All the best wishes to Kimbal and Elon. To Infinity and Beyond. Love from Belgium. 01:47 AM Thursday 5 March 2020 .

Unknown said...

coming from third row tesla to find the photo of Elon with the crushed satellite from falcon1''s failure flight attempt (march 2006) . but didn't find!!
where is it Kimbal?
anyone knowing where I can see it?
Long live Musk family!

BigJ said...

Yep

Unknown said...

Great stuff go SpaceX 2020

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Ruhi Sukhla said...

Terrific article! This is the type of information that should be shared across the web. ba final year result 2020-21

Unknown said...

Love to see it.

Rakesh Kumar said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rakesh Kumar said...

Nice Article

Astro_Nathan said...

If only they knew they would be taking humans later

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