Alan Boyle of MSNBC reports that NASA has at the last minute revised its approach to the next phase of the commercial crew program, designed to develop private space craft to service the International Space Station through government subsidies.
NASA had planned, according to a proposed Commercial Crew Integrated Design Contract, to exert a great deal of control over the design of the commercial vehicles that would carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station. However, thanks in large part due to lack of funding, the space agency will retain the relatively hands off approach it has employed for the cargo spacecraft being developed thus far.
How has NASA conducted the Commercial Orbital Transportation Systems program?
Under the COTS program, first initiated under President George W. Bush, NASA provided guidelines for the development of commercial cargo spacecraft. Certain milestones in the development and testing of these spacecraft were defined. Subsidy money was paid out once NASA had determined that each milestone was achieved. The advantage of this approach, which was stipulated as a Space Act Agreement, was that the commercial space companies retained flexibility over how they achieved each milestone, with NASA providing over all guidance.
How did NASA propose changing this arrangement for the crewed phase?
NASA proposed to exert a far greater control over the design and development of commercial spacecraft during the crewed phase. Designs would have to be approved by NASA. NASA would reserve to itself the ability to demand more testing at each milestone as it saw fit. To implement this new arrangement, hugely time consuming and expensive auditing requirements would be imposed. NASA would embed teams of its own employees to oversee the development of the crewed commercial spacecraft.
The commercial space companies and commercial space advocates chaffed at this proposed new arrangement. They maintained that it would result in unnecessary expense and would consume too much time. NASA responded that the new approach was necessary to ensure crew safety.
What changed?
Congress appropriated less than half of the Obama administration's request for commercial crew. NASA subsequently decided that it lacked the money to impose the arrangement dictated by the Commercial Crew Integrated Design Contract. The space agency has therefore chosen to retain the Space Act Agreement approach for the crewed phase. Currently, the first commercial crew flights to the ISS are scheduled for 2017.
What has been the political reaction to the revision?
Both Rep, Ralph Hall, the chairman of the House Science Committee, and the ranking member, Rep. Bernice Johnson, have expressed skepticism, citing concerns for crew safety. Both the Space Access Society and the Commercial Spaceflight Federation look upon the NASA decision with favor, however.
Mark R. Whittington is the author of Children of Apollo and The Last Moonwalker. He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the L.A. Times and The Weekly Standard.
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