Flurry of flight activity As Dragon development moved forward, NASA offered more funding and in April 2008, the agency awarded SpaceX a launch services contract. Dubbed "indefinite delivery/indefinite quality," the pact allowed for NASA to order anywhere between $20,000 and $1 billion worth of launches from SpaceX through December 2012. Then came a large breakthrough. In December 2008, NASA selected SpaceX's Falcon 9 Dragon combination for cargo resupply to the ISS. The contract was for a minimum of $1.6 billion, with the option to extend services to up to $3.1 billion. Musk stated that it was a "tremendous responsibility" for SpaceX, given the upcoming retirement of NASA's space shuttle program. SpaceX placed communications hardware on the STS-129 shuttle flight in November 2009 to assist with their future flights to the station. The company launched their Falcon 9 rocket test flight in June 2010. This flight included a "qualification unit" of the Dragon spacecraft that was primarily supposed to transmit data during its ride into space. With the test unit successfully flown, SpaceX turned its attention to sending the real Dragon on Falcon 9. The first test of the actual Dragon spacecraft came on Dec. 8, 2010. The mission was a success and marked the first time a private unmanned space capsule was recovered safely back on Earth. Achieving berthing With the world watching, SpaceX prepared to send the first cargo demonstration flight to the station in May 2012. An abort took place after a problem was detected in one of the engines, pushing the launch back a few days, but the spacecraft made it into orbit on May 22. Three days later, Dragon made its final approach to the ISS. The spacecraft experienced some problems with its laser distance-judging system when the laser got "distracted" and began bouncing signals off the wrong part of the station. SpaceX controllers then narrowed Dragon's view, and the approach proceeded. Dragon's first official supply run took place in October 2012. While the spacecraft made it into orbit safely, Falcon 9 experienced a problem with one of its rocket engines during flight. SpaceX adjusted the trajectory of the rocket to put Dragon on the right path. Dragon berthed with the station, and then splashed down successfully weeks later in the Pacific Ocean near California. The private Dragon capsule built by SpaceX is seen at the end of the International Space Station's robotic arm during its undocking on Oct. 28, 2012, in this camera view. The Dragon capsule made the first commercial cargo delivery to the space station for NASA. (Image credit: NASA TV) One Dragon spacecraft was lost en route to the ISS in 2015 when the Falcon 9 rocket carrying it failed, causing a catastrophic explosion. Space station flights were delayed by several months while SpaceX addressed the underlying problem. Cargo flights resumed in 2016; a Falcon 9 exploded on the launch pad later that year, once again pushing flights back until 2017. SpaceX was one of three companies that received commercial resupply contracts from NASA in January 2016. Between SpaceX, Sierra Nevada Corp. and Orbital ATK, the contracts are valued at up to $14 billion. (Who gets how much depends on the exact mix of spacecraft NASA requires for ISS objectives.) NASA also periodically awards more space station cargo missions as required, which is what happened with SpaceX in February 2016. One thing that sets Dragon spacecraft apart from other ISS spacecraft is the ability to survive re-entry with delicate cargo on board. NASA often uses Dragon spacecraft to send back life sciences experiments (such as experiments that collect samples of urine or blood from the astronauts aboard the ISS). The samples are refrigerated in the spacecraft and picked up quickly after splashdown. Dragon can also carry back living creatures, allowing for biological experiments on the ISS. Additional resources: