

The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) held a meeting on July 21, 2016 at NASA’s headquarters in Washington, DC. Below is a summary of the status of the Commercial Crew program and the Boeing and SpaceX vehicles, including top programmatic risks.

Commercial Crew Program (CCP) Status

ASAP again had a very open and candid interaction with the CCP.

CCP Program Manager Kathy Lueders demonstrates exceptional leadership and transparency and willingness to discuss all the issues in the Program.

CCP Program Manager Kathy Lueders demonstrates exceptional leadership and transparency and willingness to discuss all the issues in the Program. Both providers are working to the schedule, which is challenging.

All the schedules are very success-­oriented and may not hold.

There are no specific schedule concerns at this time, but a lot of work is still ahead.

The next year or so will be a defining moment as the program is about to enter the hardware testing phase.

Over the next 16 to 18 months, the public will see a lot of things happening.

All of the suppliers in the CCP are on the cusp of a number of very visible actions.

At this point, the providers are tracking to schedule and making significant progress.

Vehicle Status

Boeing CST-100 Starliner

Crew module is in firm configuration

Service module has been shipped to Huntington Beach facility

Crew module shipment to Huntington Beach scheduled for August

Working off issues involving non-­linear dynamic acoustics and loads on the stack

Water and land landing and qualification tests being conducted at NASA Langley

Console simulations done for pre-­launch, ascent, and recovery

Acceptance testing on trainers at NASA JSC

Parachute qualification test scheduled for August

Hardware deliveries taking place at NASA KSC

About 40 percent of components will be in qualification within next 6 months

Crew cargo processing facility (high bay) at KSC is complete

Work on hazardous processing facility is underway

Ribbon cut on Space Training Analysis and Review (STAR) Facility in Houston.



SpaceX Crew Dragon

Certification plan has been approved

20 verification events delivered

2 verification events fully approved

12 alternate standards have been submitted and approved

Completed the delta critical design review (CDR) for the spacesuit and trun

Many other delta CDR packages have been delivered and reviewed

Others delta CDR packages are on track for delivery

About 50 percent through design reviews for crew interfaces

NASA working with SpaceX as company looks at the actual Falcon 9 crew configuration

Six full thrust tests with “load and go” operations completed with densified propellant

Completed all three demonstration flights needed for range approval

Continued work on Dragon pressure vessel weld and Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) testing.

Unfunded Space Act Agreements (SAAs)

Blue Origin

Working with NASA to develop their own rocket and, with ULA, a rocket engine

Technical interchange meeting with NASA is scheduled for this summer.

Sierra Nevada Corporation Dream Chaser



Company continues to work on flying qualities and stability and control

Considerable wind tunnel work has been done

Orbital capable pressure test will be conducted at Lockheed Martin facility.

Top Programmatic Risks

Requirements Changes. Both of the commercial manufacturers have proposed to NASA certain changes in standards and policies. NASA must review these and determine whether these alternate standards meet NASA requirements or not.

Closing Loss of Crew (LOC) Gap. The gap is between what the Program goal is and what the current analysis indicates that the systems will achieve.

Micrometeoroid and orbital debris damage [MMOD) is the primary threat to both vehicles for long-duration stays in orbit. The MMOD damage analysis depends on the modeling of the environment, which is in many aspects speculative and quite robust. There are discussions regarding gathering additional historical information to determine if the environmental model is perhaps too robust.

Search and Rescue (SAR) Posture. The Program has been working with the Navy SAR people to put together high-­fidelity simulators to train rescue personnel in egress under various conditions. They are also working to provide those simulators to the typical SAR organizations so that they can continue this training.

The primary program safety risk is continued effort analysis and design changes to meet the LOC goal. That activity is ongoing with both suppliers.

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