A "disaster waiting to happen"? Industry officials worry about Crew Dragon availability.
Summary
NASA relies on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft to send astronauts to space because Boeing’s Starliner has not yet completed a successful crewed flight. Private companies building new space stations worry about Crew Dragon’s future availability and rising costs, since SpaceX may stop making Falcon 9 rockets and Crew Dragon by the mid-2030s as it focuses on new Starship launches.Key Facts
- SpaceX successfully launched astronauts in Crew Dragon, ending a long gap in U.S. human spaceflight.
- Boeing’s Starliner has not completed a successful crewed test flight and likely won’t fly crews before 2028.
- NASA plans to retire the International Space Station in the early 2030s and is supporting private space station projects.
- Several private space companies (Axiom Space, Vast Space, Voyager, Blue Origin, SpaceX) are working on these future stations.
- Crew Dragon is expected to be the main way to transport astronauts to these new stations in the 2030s.
- SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 will be produced for a limited time, possibly less than ten more years.
- Moving launches from Falcon 9 to Starship might raise Crew Dragon transport costs and cause availability issues.
- Boeing may not compete on reliability or price for crew transport, and its commitment to Starliner is uncertain.
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