SpaceX Surpasses Boeing To Become NASA's No. 2 Vendor

New federal procurement data shows that in fiscal year 2022, which ended last month, NASA obligated $2.04 billion to Elon Musk's Texas-based rocket company SpaceX, an increase of about $400 million in 2022 over the previous year.

The $2.04 billion exceeds the $1.72 billion paid to aerospace company Boeing, during the most recent fiscal year. Much of the funding increase for SpaceX in 2022, appears to be driven by contracts for the Human Landing System as part of the Artemis Moon Program and the purchase of additional Crew Dragon missions to the International Space Station.

The California Institute of Technology, Caltech remains NASA's No. 1 contractor, with $2.68 billion in funding. The academic institution manages the Jet Propulsion Laboratory field center for the space agency.

Caltech, which operates the California-based NASA field center, is also responsible for distributing funding for myriad of robotic spacecraft missions such as Mars Perseverance and the Europa Clipper.

NASA's human spaceflight and exploration programs have been dominated by Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Aerojet, Northrop Grumman, and a handful of other traditional defense aerospace contractors.

Boeing has long been the leading hardware provider to NASA. The space agency in 2014, awarded contracts to the aerospace company and SpaceX to develop their spacecraft, paying Boeing about 60 percent more. But it was Elon Musk's company that first flew crew to the space station in May 2020.

SpaceX has since launched five operational missions to the the orbiting station, delivering the most services and value on Commercial Crew -- NASA's program to buy transportation services from private companies to take its astronauts to and from the space station.

SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites have been playing a vital role for Ukraine in the country's fight against invading Russian forces.