Delays keep pushing back NASA shuttle replacement program

Show Caption Hide Caption SpaceX Falcon Rocket Launches Secret Satellite SpaceX launched a secret satellite codenamed Zuma on Sunday night. The unmanned Falcon rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying the satellite toward an undisclosed orbit. The Falcon rocket returned to earth within minutes. (Jan. 8)

WASHINGTON — NASA's program to replace the space shuttle, already years behind schedule due mainly to underfunding, may not be sending astronauts on American rockets until at least 2020 given key technical and safety issues that remain to be addressed, according to a government watchdog.

The two aerospace companies NASA has hired — Boeing and SpaceX — to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station are projecting they'll be able to fly missions in 2019.

But the Government Accountability Office expects that won't happen until the folloiwng year, likely forcing U.S. taxpayers to keep paying Russia for additional seats on Soyuz rockets at roughly $80 million per trip.

The news rankled members of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee during a hearing Wednesday on the status of the shuttle replacement effort, called the Commercial Crew program.

"Both companies are making progress, but certainly not at the rate that was expected, and not without significant challenges to safety and reliability," Rep. Brian Babin, the Texas Republican who chairs the panel's Subcommittee on Space. "In order to remedy these problems, NASA may seek additional funding or accept significant risks. Neither of those options is viable."

Further delays to the program would not only force NASA to spend tens of millions to maintain access to the space station but would limit the science that could be done in the orbiting lab, said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Tex., who chairs the full committee.

"This not only creates additional budget pressure on the agency, it hinders full utilization of the ISS and ultimately complicates future exploration plans." he said. "With the end of the ISS on the horizon, the clock is ticking on maximizing the return on the taxpayer’s investment."

NASA created the Commercial Crew program in response to the end of the space shuttle which last flew in 2011. Agency officials initially targeted 2015 for the first launch but that ambitious goal was derailed in part by Congress' decision to not fully fund the Obama administration's request for fear it would sap resources from their top priority: sending astronauts to Mars.

NASA already is contracting with SpaceX and Orbital ATK to deliver supplies to the space station under its Commercial Cargo program. In 2012, SpaceX's Dragon became the first commercial spacecraft ever to deliver cargo to the space station.

It will not be easy for SpaceX and Boeing to meet "aggressive schedules" the companies have laid out due to the rigorous technical and safety milestones that lie ahead, according to a GAO report. In addition, NASA officials have told GAO it will be challenging to conduct safety reviews and verify that contractors meet requirements for two concurrent vehicles.

William H. Gerstenmaier NASA associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations, assured the panel that a desire to launch astronauts to the space station from U.S. soil will not lead to safety shortcuts.

"NASA is aware of the schedule but is not driven by the schedule," he told lawmakers.

The hearing took place less than two weeks after the failure of a mission to launch the secret government satellite Zuma which was carried on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, the same vehicle slated to carry astronauts to the space station.

SpaceX officials are adamant the Falcon 9 "did everything correctly" but the classified nature of the mission means few details will ever be released.

Nonetheless, some lawmakers brought up the incident to question SpaceX's reliabilty.

Alabama Republican Mo Brooks asked how much faith the public should invest in the California-based aerospace firm given questions about Zuma and earlier mishaps involving the company in 2015 (when a Falcon 9 cargo mission to the space station exploded minutes after launch) and 2016 (when a commercial satellite and the Falcon 9 that was going to carry out were destroyed).

Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of Build and Flight Reliability for SpaceX, said the company has learned from its mistakes.

"At the end of the day, we improved the vehicle based on what we saw during those incidents into a much safer vehicle," he told lawmakers.

The temptation might be great to cut corners and speed delivery of a launchable vehicle before the end of the decade. But the chair of NASA's Safety Advisory Panel said the agency has not done so.

"Despite the volume of remaining work, technical challenges, and end of the Soyuz transportation for U.S. crews, the (panel) sees no evidence that the program leadership is making decisions that prioritize schedule over crew safety," Patricia Sanders told lawmakers.

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