Elon Musk's SpaceX the only space company capable of safe trips to ISS: NASA

NASA has offered Elon Musk-owned SpaceX three additional crew flights to the International Space Station (ISS) using the latter's Crew Dragon spacecraft. In a blog released last week, NASA clarified that currently, SpaceX is the only American company that could provide safe launch systems for uninterrupted access to space. The US space agency informed that it took the decision after a thorough review of the near-term certified capabilities and responses from several companies. 

SpaceX was able to bag the three extra flights under the Commercial Crew Transportation Capabilities (CCtCap) contract that it won along with Boeing in 2014 from NASA. The contract was basically to promote a public-private partnership under NASA's Commercial Crew Program where NASA would certify a company's transportation system given it meets the requirements prior to flying missions with astronauts. 

"After years of development, commercial crew systems have achieved or are nearing operational readiness for regular crewed missions, including providing a lifeboat capability, to the space station," NASA said in its blog.

'Critical to secure additional flights to ISS': NAS official

As for the latest space flight award, NASA informed that it had requested the American space industry for transportation systems capable of providing safe, reliable, and cost-effective human space transportation services to and from the ISS. Since no other company was able to meet any of the requirements, the agency said that only SpaceX has the transportation system that can meet the aforementioned demands and the safety requirements for the transportation of astronauts to the ISS.

"It’s critical we begin to secure additional flights to the space station now so we are ready as these missions are needed to maintain a U. presence on (the) station. Our US human launch capability is essential to our continued safe operations in orbit and to building our low-Earth orbit economy", Kathy Lueders, associate administrator of NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate said.

Meanwhile, the agency is working with Boeing to develop the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, which after certification, would also ferry astronauts to and from the space station. "NASA continues to have a need for two unique crew capabilities to ensure dissimilar redundancy, maintain safe space station operations, and allow each company to work through any unforeseen issues", NASA informed via the blog.

(Image: @Space_Station/Twitter/AP)