---
title: "SpaceX Just Got a New NASA Contract For a First-Ever Mission"
description: "SpaceX will be launching an orbiter to take the first ever global survey of Earth's bodies of water. This is a show of confidence in the company by NASA and indicative of the long future ahead for SpaceX."
date: "2016-11-24"
modified: "2016-11-24"
authors:
  - name: "Dom Galeon"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/domgaleon"
url: "https://futurism.com/spacex-just-got-a-new-nasa-contract-for-a-first-ever-mission"
categories:
  - "NASA"
  - "Space"
  - "SpaceX"
tags:
  - "elon musk"
  - "NASA"
  - "SpaceX"
---

# SpaceX Just Got a New NASA Contract For a First-Ever Mission

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Space-X-Landing.jpg>)
*SpaceX \<em\>Image: SpaceX\</em\>*

SpaceX just got awarded a new contract by NASA. Elon Musk's space venture company has been chosen to provide launch services to the space agency's [Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission](<http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/surface-water-and-ocean-topography-swot/>), set for April 2021.

SWOT, a $112-million mission, is designed to collect detailed measurements of the changes in our planet's bodies of water over time. It will be the first global survey of the Earth's surface water, [according to NASA](<https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-selects-launch-services-for-global-surface-water-survey-mission>). The orbiter will be launched aboard a SpaceX [Falcon 9 rocket](<http://www.spacex.com/falcon9>).

This isn't the first [NASA mission given to SpaceX](<https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/launch/spacex.html>), with active collaborations as part of the [Commercial Crew Program](<https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/crew/index.html>) to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) and the [CRS-9 mission](<https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacex/2016/07/18/read-our-launch-report-for-the-crs-9-mission/>) last July that sent equipment to the ISS.

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/801192748682350592

And as the tweet from the company's official Twitter page shows, SpaceX is happy with the continuous show of confidence, despite [previously expressed concerns](<https://futurism.com/spacexs-plan-to-fuel-falcon-9-with-people-aboard-worries-nasa>) from some of NASA's experts. SpaceX continues to assure the space agency and the world that [it's doing things better](<https://futurism.com/spacex-successfully-tests-its-mars-ship-out-at-sea>) ever since the unfortunate [September launch explosion](<https://futurism.com/spacex-explosion-solved-launches-will-resume-next-month>).

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominic-john-galeon-9b086925/>)  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/domgaleon>)