NASA has awarded its CRS-2 Contract to SpaceX, along with partners Orbital ATK and Sierra Nevada Corp. The CRS missions, short for Commercial Resupply Services, are used to make deliveries to the International Space Station. The missions started in 2008, with NASA awarding SpaceX and Orbital ATK a $3.5 billion contract to perform 20 unmanned CRS launches. The contract was later extended to cover missions through 2017, and the value was raised to over $6 billion. The field of contractors competing for the new contract had included Lockheed Martin and Boeing, but both of those companies decided to drop out of the bidding for various reasons, including congress blocking Boeing from the use of Russian made rocket engines in their proposal. Due to the lack of competition, NASA has awarded the new contract to the same 2 teams of SpaceX and Orbital ATK, along with the new comer Sierra Nevada. The 3 companies will operate the resupply missions to the International Space Station from 2019 through 2024, with each company responsible for at least 6 cargo missions at a fixed price.
