Commercial Crew Missions

NASA's Commercial Crew Programme (CCP) fundamentally changed how astronauts reach the International Space Station. Instead of owning and operating crew vehicles directly (as with the Space Shuttle), NASA contracted with private companies to develop, build, and fly crew spacecraft as a service — paying per seat rather than per vehicle. This approach reduced costs, accelerated innovation, and ended the US's reliance on Russian Soyuz vehicles for ISS crew access after the Shuttle retired in 2011.

SpaceX's Crew Dragon, launched atop Falcon 9, became the first commercial vehicle to carry NASA astronauts to the ISS with Demo-2 in May 2020 (Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken). Since then, Crew Dragon has become NASA's primary crew transport, flying operational missions roughly every six months. Boeing's CST-100 Starliner has had a troubled development, with its first crewed test flight in June 2024 encountering thruster issues that stranded two astronauts at the ISS for months.

Beyond NASA crew rotations, Axiom Space has flown four private astronaut missions (Ax-1 through Ax-4) to the ISS using SpaceX Crew Dragon, carrying a mix of commercial astronauts, international partners, and researchers. These missions represent the emerging market for non-governmental human spaceflight.