Pentagon awards $160M in contracts to Musk’s SpaceX

The Department of Defense announced on Tuesday it will be awarding Elon Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX two contracts valued at nearly $160 million to launch two of its Falcon 9 rockets.

“Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Hawthorne, California, has been awarded two individual firm-fixed-price task orders totaling $159,721,445 under the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 contract,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

According to the statement, work will take place in Hawthorne, Vandenberg Air Force Base and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The work is expected to be done by the end of 2023.

Colorado-based aerospace company United Launch Alliance (ULA) has also been awarded a contract costing more than $224 million. The company, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, has a long history of working with the Defense Department.

As Business Insider reports, this is the third time SpaceX has been awarded a Pentagon contract. The company previously won a $149 million contract to missile tracking satellites. SpaceX also won 40 percent of an agreement to launch new rockets for Space Force in July, with the other 60 percent going to ULA.

Other companies that were considered for Space Force contracts include Blue Origin, a space venture backed by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

A reusable heavy lift SpaceX rocket exploded last week after nearly successfully landing at a facility in Boca Chica, Texas. According to Musk, the rocket touched down at too high a speed.