Fwd: NASA's Management of the Commercial Crew Program

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: November 14, 2013 3:21:19 PM CST
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: NASA's Management of the Commercial Crew Program

OIG Report:

NASA's Management of the Commercial Crew Program

http://oig.nasa.gov/audits/reports/FY13/IG-14-001.pdf  

 

 

===============================================================

 

NASA Hails Success of Commercial Space Program

Nov. 13, 2013

Private Space Station Resupply Underway, Plans Readied for Astronauts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yafvBBH44nU

 

A little over two years after the Space Shuttle Program ended, the U.S. has two space transportation systems - SpaceX's Falcon rocket and Dragon spacecraft and Orbital's Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft - capable of delivering science experiments and supplies to the International Space Station.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Wednesday hailed the success of the agency's public-private partnership with American companies to resupply the International Space Station and announced the next phase of contracting with U.S. companies to transport astronauts is set to begin next week.

A little more than two years after the end of the Space Shuttle Program, the United States now has two space transportation systems capable of delivering science experiments and supplies from U.S. soil to the International Space Station. Under an ambitious plan funded by the Obama Administration, the agency is seeking to partner with American companies to send NASA astronauts to the space station as soon as 2017.

Bolden provided remarks at NASA Headquarters in Washington as agency officials announced the successful conclusion of the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, an initiative that aimed to achieve safe, reliable and cost-effective commercial transportation to and from the space station and low-Earth orbit.

> Fact Sheet: NASA Commercial Space Accomplishments
> NASA Administrator's Blog: Commercial Space Program Keeps Flame of Exploration Burning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uK2y0xFJ_DM

 

Highlights from commercial flights to the International Space Station: SpaceX's Dragon launches aboard a Falcon 9 rocket; Orbital Sciences' Cygnus launches aboard an Antares rocket.

The rockets and spacecraft developed by NASA's partners Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) and Orbital Sciences Corp. under COTS have significantly increased NASA's ability to conduct new scientific investigations aboard the orbiting laboratory. All current and planned U.S. experiments aboard the station will be facilitated in some way by a SpaceX or Orbital Sciences resupply mission.

"America's best days in space exploration are ahead of us thanks to the grit and determination of those in government, and the private sector, who dare to dream big dreams and have the skills to turn them into reality," Bolden said. "We've ended the outsourcing of space station resupply work and brought those jobs back home to America. The commercial space industry will be an engine of 21st century American economic growth and will help us carry out even more ambitious deep space exploration missions."

SpaceX was selected as a NASA partner in 2006 to develop its Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX completed its COTS development with a demonstration mission to the space station in 2012, restoring an American capability to deliver and return cargo for the first time since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011.

SpaceX has since flown the first two of 12 contracted cargo resupply flights to the space station through a $1.6 billion Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lifts off at 3:44 a.m. (EDT) May 22, 2012. The launch is the company's second demonstration test flight for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, or COTS, program.

Image Credit: 

NASA

"The COTS program was a great success -- not only for NASA and the commercial space industry, but also the American taxpayer," said Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX president and COO. "Together, NASA and SpaceX restored cargo transport capabilities to the United States and also laid the foundation for the future transport of American astronauts. SpaceX appreciates NASA's ongoing support and is honored to partner with them in these efforts."

Orbital Sciences was selected as a NASA partner in 2008 and completed development of its Cygnus spacecraft and Antares rocket in October with a successful demonstration mission to the space station. The final review of the mission by NASA this month marked the beginning of closeout activities for the COTS program. Orbital Sciences is poised to launch the first of its eight cargo resupply missions to the space station in December through its $1.9 billion CRS contract with NASA.

"Orbital's successful completion of the COTS program, including two launches of the new Antares rocket and the first mission to the International Space Station by the Cygnus cargo logistics spacecraft, was the direct result of the outstanding collaboration between the NASA and Orbital engineering and program management teams," said Frank Culbertson, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Orbital's Advanced Programs Group. "The unique structure of the COTS initiative, under which NASA's technical expertise, experienced human spaceflight workforce, and well-honed safety operations standards provided the overall framework, enabled Orbital to bring the energy, innovation and discipline of the commercial sector to the program, resulting in a reliable and cost-effective resupply service."

Orbital Sciences and SpaceX offer some similar capabilities to resupply cargo, ensuring NASA can maintain continuity in delivering critical supplies for space station crews. Each company also offers unique capabilities of importance to NASA. Orbital Sciences' Cygnus spacecraft can carry a large pressurized volume of cargo. Cygnus burns up in Earth's atmosphere on reentry, which allows astronauts to discard items no longer needed aboard the station by loading them inside the spacecraft before its departure. SpaceX's Dragon is the only spacecraft in the world capable of returning large amounts of cargo from space, which includes science experiments conducted aboard the station that can be delivered to researchers on Earth. Dragon also can carry unpressurized cargo, destined for the exterior of the space station, underneath the spacecraft.

Orbital Sciences Corporation's Antares rocket, with the Cygnus cargo spacecraft aboard, is seen as it launches from Pad-0A of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), NASA Wallops Flight Facility, Va., at 10:58 a.m. EDT on Wed., Sept. 18, 2013.

Image Credit: 

NASA/Bill Ingalls

Throughout the COTS program, NASA's partners achieved a number of important spaceflight firsts for the U.S. commercial space industry. This included the first commercial spacecraft to orbit and return to Earth, achieved by SpaceX. The company also was the first commercial provider to resupply the space station. Orbital Sciences was the first company to launch to the space station from Virginia, beginning its mission from the new Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va.

NASA and its Commercial Crew Program partners also are working to develop the next generation of U.S. spacecraft and rockets capable of transporting humans to and from low-Earth orbit from American soil. NASA intends to use new commercial capabilities to fly U.S. astronauts to and from the International Space Station within the next four years. On Nov. 19, the agency will issue a final Request for Proposals for the new Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCTCap) contract, designed to ensure commercial companies meet NASA's safety requirements for transporting NASA crews to the space station. This procurement phase is expected to include crewed demonstration missions to the space station before 2017.

 

===============================================================

 

   

     Nov. 13, 2013 7:00 PM  

 

NASA, partners celebrate success of COTS program

Written by
James Dean
FLORIDA TODAY

 

SpaceX said Wednesday it is targeting a Nov. 25 launch from Cape Canaveral of an upgraded Falcon 9 rocket carrying a commercial communications satellite. That's one week after NASA's planned 1:28 p.m. Monday launch of the Maven Mars orbiter on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

The NASA program that helped ready private vehicles to resupply the International Space Station offers a model for future projects as federal budgets tighten, space agency and industry officials said Wednesday.

NASA and its two commercial resupply partners, SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp., gathered to celebrate the end of the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, or COTS, under which both companies developed new rockets and spacecraft.

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell called the program "revolutionary" and a success for taxpayers.

"The model that COTS followed is one that should be leveraged as we continue to go forward, especially during these difficult budget environments," she said during a new conference at NASA headquarters.

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said the public-private partnership, started under the George W. Bush administration, inspired the Obama administration's decision to expand the model to crewed flights.

But Bolden warned that launches of those missions from Florida will slip beyond 2017 if Congress does not fully fund NASA's request for about $821 million for the Commercial Crew Program this year.

House and Senate appropriations committees so far have approved spending levels between $500 million and $775 million, respectively.

NASA spent $788 million on the entire COTS program, including $396 million paid to SpaceX and $288 million to Orbital. The last payment was made Nov. 5.

Each company says it invested more than NASA's contribution toward development of the new vehicles — SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule, and Orbital's Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft.

Key to the program's success, all agreed, was its use of non-traditional contracts under which NASA provided advice but sacrificed control over designs.

In addition to requiring the partners to invest their own money, NASA paid fixed amounts only when they met technical milestones such as a design review or test flight.

"I'd say we made the right choice," said Alan Lindenmoyer, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew and Cargo Program at Johnson Space Center. "It worked."

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com.

 

 

Nov. 13, 2013 10:08 PM

Private flights to ISS slowed?

Commercial Crew Program could be delayed for years

Written by
Ledyard King
FLORIDA TODAY

 

WASHINGTON — An already-delayed NASA program that will use private companies to transport astronauts to the International Space Station could be pushed back another three years due to budgetary and other issues, a new report from the agency's chief watchdog warns.

NASA initially projected its Commercial Crew Program would begin trips to the space station in 2015, taking over for the space shuttles that were retired in 2011. But Congress hasn't come close to granting the agency's requests for money for the program.

NASA received 38 percent of its requests for fiscal years 2011-2013, bringing its current aggregate budget shortfall to $1.1 billion, according to the report issued Wednesday by Inspector General Paul K. Martin.

That gap is expected to grow if Congress doesn't agree on a way to avoid further rounds of sequestration budget cuts.

Private spacecraft won't be carrying astronauts to the space station until at least 2017 because of the funding shortfall. Further gaps threaten to push back the first crewed flights until 2020, the inspector general said.

Without a way to transport astronauts on its own, NASA relies on Russia to carry Americans to the orbiting lab — at more than $70 million a seat.

One reason lawmakers haven't fully funded the Commercial Crew Program is their fear the program is draining resources from NASA's more ambitious missions into deep space.

Martin says there are other threats to the program's schedule as well:

• Although NASA's Commercial Crew partners (Boeing, SpaceX and Sierra Nevada) have completed their preliminary spacecraft designs, NASA managers have yet to develop a "life cycle" cost estimate for the program. Such estimates are used to help avoid delays if there's not enough funding.

NASA officials said the flexible contracts known as Space Act Agreements that are being used for the program don't require such estimates. And they said such projections would be difficult due to a number of factors, including lack of historical cost data.

• Even though NASA set a goal of 90 days to respond to requests from its partner companies for requirement and certification guidance, the agency misses that benchmark two-thirds of the time. NASA officials said they expect to clear most requests within 120 days, though Martin noted the agency is having trouble meeting that goal as well.

"Cost increases and schedule overruns may result if NASA is unable to provide timely and accurate confirmation of requirements and certification guidance," Martin said in his report.

• While NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration have done well working together to facilitate commercial crew issues, more coordination is needed among other agencies, including the Air Force, to sort through "complex range safety, legal and insurance issues."

Until those issues are resolved, they "could adversely affect NASA's efforts to facilitate commercial human space travel," Martin wrote.

NASA officials agreed to take corrective actions, according to the report.

Contact Ledyard King at lking@gannett.com

Copyright © 2013 www.floridatoday.com. All rights reserved. 

 

===============================================================