Download or read book NASA Commercial Crew Program Problems and Delays written by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and published by . This book was released on 2017-02-17 with total page 67 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two new reports are reproduced: NASA Commercial Crew Program - Schedule Pressure Increases as Contractors Delay Key Events, and NASA's Commercial Crew Program: Update on Development and Certification Efforts. Since the Space Shuttle was retired in 2011, the United States has been relying on Russia to transport astronauts to and from the ISS. The purpose of NASA's Commercial Crew Program is to facilitate the development of a domestic transport capability. In 2014, NASA awarded two firm-fixed-price contracts to Boeing and SpaceX with a combined total value up to $6.8 billion for the development of crew transportation systems that meet NASA requirements and initial missions to the ISS. The contractors were originally required to provide NASA all the evidence it needed to certify that their systems met its requirements by 2017.Both of the Commercial Crew Program's contractors have made progress developing their crew transportation systems, but both also have aggressive development schedules that are increasingly under pressure. The two contractors--Boeing and Space Exploration Technologies, Corp. (SpaceX) -- are developing transportation systems that must meet the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) standards for human spaceflight--a process called certification. Both Boeing and SpaceX have determined that they will not be able to meet their original 2017 certification dates and both expect certification to be delayed until 2018, as shown in the figure below. The schedule pressures are amplified by NASA's need to provide a viable crew transportation option to the International Space Station (ISS) before its current contract with Russia's space agency runs out in 2019. If NASA needs to purchase additional seats from Russia, the contracting process typically takes 3 years. Without a viable contingency option for ensuring uninterrupted access to the ISS in the event of further Commercial Crew delays, NASA risks not being able to maximize the return on its multibillion dollar investment in the space station.
Download or read book NASA Commercial Crew Program written by United States. Government Accountability Office and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 19 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book NASA Commercial Crew Program written by United States Government Accountability Office and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-09-21 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the Space Shuttle was retired in 2011, the United States has been relying on Russia to transport astronauts to and from the ISS. The purpose of NASA's Commercial Crew Program is to facilitate the development of a domestic transport capability. In 2014, NASA awarded two firm-fixed-price contracts to Boeing and SpaceX with a combined total value up to $6.8 billion for the development of crew transportation systems that meet NASA requirements and initial missions to the ISS. The contractors were originally required to provide NASA all the evidence it needed to certify that their systems met its requirements by 2017. A house report accompanying H.R. 2578 included a provision for GAO to review the progress of NASA's human exploration programs. This report examines the Commercial Crew Program including (1) the extent to which the contractors have made progress towards certification, (2) the risks facing the program, and (3) the extent to which the program has visibility into the contractors' efforts. To do this work, GAO analyzed contracts, schedules, and other documentation; and spoke with officials from NASA, the Commercial Crew Program, Boeing, SpaceX, and independent review bodies.
Download or read book Nasa Commercial Crew Program written by U.s. Government Accountability Office and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-02-20 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NASA COMMERCIAL CREW PROGRAM Schedule Pressure Increases as Contractors Delay Key Events
Download or read book NASA Commercial Crew Program written by U S Government Accountability Offi Gao and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2019-06-10 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NASA COMMERCIAL CREW PROGRAM: Schedule Pressure Increases as Contractors Delay Key Events
Download or read book SpaceX s Dragon America s Next Generation Spacecraft written by Erik Seedhouse and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-11-04 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dragon V2 is a futuristic vehicle that not only provides a means for NASA to transport its astronauts to the orbiting outpost but also advances SpaceX’s core objective of reusability. A direct descendant of Dragon, Dragon V2 can be retrieved, refurbished and re-launched. It is a spacecraft with the potential to completely revolutionize the economics of an industry where equipment costing hundreds of millions of dollars is routinely discarded after a single use. It was presented by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in May 2014 as the spaceship that will carry NASA astronauts to the International Space Station as soon as 2016. SpaceX’s Dragon – America’s Next Generation Spacecraft describes the extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement that have placed this revolutionary spacecraft at the forefront of the launch industry and positioned it as the precursor for ultimately transporting humans to Mars. It describes the design and development of Dragon, provides mission highlights of the first six Commercial Resupply Missions, and explains how Musk hopes to eventually colonize Mars.
Download or read book 2019 Reports on NASA Commercial Crew ISS Space Station Astronaut Program and Assessments of Major Projects Including Mars 2020 Europa Clipper JWST Double Asteroid Redirection Test Psyche WFIRST written by National Ae Space Administration (Nasa) and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2019-06-21 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These reports were issued by the GAO in May and June 2019. NASA Assessments of Major Projects - This report provides GAO's annual snapshot of how well NASA is planning and executing its major acquisition projects. GAO previously found that, as of February 2018, the cost and schedule performance of major projects was deteriorating, with 9 of 17 projects in development reporting cost or schedule growth. GAO also found that NASA was likely to continue to see cost and schedule growth, as new, large projects were entering the portfolio while others were taking longer to launch than planned. This deterioration in cost and schedule performance is largely due to integration and test challenges on the James Webb Space Telescope. The Space Launch System program also experienced significant cost growth due to continued production challenges. Further, additional delays are likely for the Space Launch System and its associated ground systems. Senior NASA officials stated that it is unlikely these programs will meet the launch date of June 2020, which already reflects 19 months of delays. These officials told GAO that there are 6 to 12 months of risk associated with that launch date. GAO found some subjectivity in the processes NASA uses to identify and assess critical technologies-those that are required for the project to successfully meet customer requirements-which could understate the development risk that its major projects face. The average number of critical technologies NASA reported increased slightly in 2019, but remains low compared to historical data. However, GAO found inconsistencies in how projects identify critical technologies. For example, the Lucy project determined that operating its solar array in a previously unexplored environment did not warrant identifying it as a critical technology, while the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) project did identify a technology as critical because of its use in a new environment. NASA is planning to clarify its guidance on technology readiness, among other measures. GAO will continue to monitor NASA's efforts in this area.NASA Commercial Crew Program - Both of the Commercial Crew Program's contractors, Boeing and SpaceX, have made progress on their crew transportation systems. However, neither is ready to begin carrying astronauts into space as both continue to experience delays to certification. Certification is a process that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will use to ensure that each contractor's spacecraft, launch vehicle, and ground support systems meet its requirements for human spaceflight before any operational missions to the International Space Station (ISS) can occur. Factors contributing to schedule uncertainty include: Fluctuating schedules. As the contractors continue to build and test hardware-including SpaceX's March 2019 uncrewed test flight- their schedules for certification change frequently. As of May 2019, both contractors had delayed certification nine times, equating to more than 2 years from their original contracts (see figure). This includes several delays since GAO last reported in July 2018.
Download or read book Commercial Launch Vehicles NASA Taking Measures to Manage Delays and Risks Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics Committee on Science Space and Technology U S House of Representatives written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on with total page 23 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book NASA Commercial Crew Program written by United States. Government Accountability Office and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Nasa s Commercial Crew Development Program written by United States Congress and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-10-08 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NASA's commercial crew development program: accomplishments and challenges : hearing before the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, House of Representatives, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, first session, Wednesday, October 26, 2011.
Download or read book Space Shuttle Missions Summary NASA TM 2011 216142 written by Robert D. Legler and published by www.Militarybookshop.CompanyUK. This book was released on 2011-09-01 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Full color publication. This document has been produced and updated over a 21-year period. It is intended to be a handy reference document, basically one page per flight, and care has been exercised to make it as error-free as possible. This document is basically "as flown" data and has been compiled from many sources including flight logs, flight rules, flight anomaly logs, mod flight descent summary, post flight analysis of mps propellants, FDRD, FRD, SODB, and the MER shuttle flight data and inflight anomaly list. Orbit distance traveled is taken from the PAO mission statistics.
Download or read book NASA s Commercial Crew Development Program written by United States. Congress and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-12-23 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NASA's commercial crew development program : accomplishments and challenges : hearing before the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, House of Representatives, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, first session, Wednesday, October 26, 2011.
Download or read book NASA s Commercial Crew Development Program written by United States House of Representatives and published by . This book was released on 2019-10-06 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NASA's commercial crew development program: accomplishments and challenges: hearing before the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, House of Representatives, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, first session, Wednesday, October 26, 2011.
Download or read book The Plundering of NASA an Expos written by R.D. Boozer and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2013-04-14 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At last, here is a book peering behind the veil of Congressional politics which force NASA to do the bidding of regional interests that cripple the nation's capabilities in both exploring outer space and exploiting its enormous economic potential. Presenting the opinions of astronauts, prominent rocket scientists and space policy analysts while also revealing unpublicized studies conducted by NASA, industry and universities, The Plundering of NASA: An Expose combines into one book many of the facts the major media have either ignored or not discovered. Expert sources explain modern and economically practical solutions that can allow NASA to exceed its former Apollo glory within its current budget. In short, the book relates how honest misconceptions, greed, and an outdated faction within NASA itself cause our nation to get less for its space agency tax dollars than it could and should.
Download or read book NASA Commercial Crew Program written by United States. Government Accountability Office and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book NASA written by Don A. Nelson and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2001 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THIS BOOK PREDICTED COLUMBIA DISASTER.. NASA New Millennium Problems and Solutions is a wake up call about the dire conditions of the U.S. space transportation program. NASA's management philosophy of "faster, better, cheaper" has resulted in the Agency trying to do, "too much... with too little... too fast." The space program's momentum has been eroded by NASA's numerous project failures, cost overruns, and mismanagement. NASA's space transportation operations have been compromised to the point where serious safety conditions exist. Astronauts, ground personnel, and even the general public are exposed to unsafe flight operations. This book examines the following daunting questions: · Why isn't the Space Shuttle safe? · Why doesn't the Space Shuttle have a crew escape system? · What happened to NASA's commercial Space Shuttle? · Will the International Space Station be worth the cost? · Was the X-33/VentureStar launch project a $1 billion blunder? · Are the proposed X-33 population over-flight tests safe? · Will the human exploration of Mars be postponed for decades? · Is there light at the end of this dark tunnel? This book gives the reader with an insider's knowledge of decisions that have placed the future of the U.S. space transportation programs in grave peril. It is a compelling reading for the space enthusiast, the aerospace professional community, those seeking aerospace careers, and political supporters and opponents of the space program.
Download or read book NASA written by Cristina T. Chaplain and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The International Space Station (ISS), the most complex scientific space project ever attempted, remains incomplete. NASA expects the station's final construction cost will be $31 billion and expects sustainment costs through the station's planned retirement in fiscal year 2016 to total $11 billion. The space shuttle, the only vehicle capable of transporting large segments of the station into orbit, is critical to its completion. NASA plans to complete ISS assembly and retire the shuttle in 2010 in order to pursue a new generation of space flight vehicles, which will not begin to be available until 2015. To provide crew rotation and logistical support during this 5-year gap, NASA plans to rely on spacecraft developed by the commercial sector and other countries. In light of these circumstances, GAO examined the risks and challenges NASA faces in (1) completing assembly of the ISS by 2010 and (2) providing logistics and maintenance to the ISS after 2010. GAO's work to accomplish this included reviewing budget, planning, and other documents from NASA; reviewing NASA officials' testimonies; and interviewing NASA and foreign space program officials. NASA faces significant challenges in its plans to complete assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) prior to the scheduled retirement of the space shuttle in 2010. Since GAO testified on this issue in July 2007, the shuttle flight schedule has remained aggressive--slating the same number of launches in a shorter period. While NASA thinks the proposed schedule is still achievable, the schedule (1) is only slightly less demanding than it was prior to the Columbia disaster when the agency launched a shuttle every other month with a larger shuttle fleet and (2) leaves little room for the kinds of weather-related, technical, and logistical problems that have delayed flights in the past. Unanticipated delays could result in changes to the station's configuration, that is, some components may not be delivered. We have previously testified that such changes could limit the extent of scientific research that can be conducted on board the ISS. After assembly is completed and the shuttle retires, NASA's ability to rotate crew and supply the ISS will be impaired because of the absence of a vehicle capable of carrying the 114,199 pounds of additional supplies and spares needed to sustain the station until its planned retirement in 2016. For crew rotation and logistics, NASA plans to rely on Russian, European and Japanese vehicles--these vehicles were designed to augment the capabilities of the shuttle, not replace them, and have far less capacity to haul cargo. Furthermore, aside from a single Russian vehicle that can bring back 132 pounds of cargo, no vehicle can return cargo from the ISS after the shuttle is retired; and Commercially developed vehicles--NASA has pledged approximately $500 million for the development of commercial vehicles. NASA expects these vehicles will be ready for cargo use in 2010 and crew use in 2012, even though none of the vehicles currently under development has been launched into orbit yet and their aggressive development schedule leaves little room for the unexpected. If one of these vehicles cannot be delivered according to NASA's current expectations, NASA will have to rely on Russian vehicles to maintain U.S. crew presence on the ISS until the new generation of U.S. spacecraft becomes available.
