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Commercialization

FAA/NASA Sign New Commercial Space Travel Agreement

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
June 18, 2012
Filed under , , , ,

NASA, FAA Advance National Goals in Commercial Human Space Transportation with Landmark Agreement
“The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and NASA have signed a historic agreement to coordinate standards for commercial space travel of government and non-government astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit and the International Space Station (ISS). The two agencies will collaborate to expand efforts that provide a stable framework for the U.S. space industry, avoid conflicting requirements and multiple sets of standards, and advance both public and crew safety.”
Keith’s note: When questioned by the media, NASA Administrator Bolden said that only NASA missions that go to the ISS will be required to adhere to both NASA safety requirements and FAA requirements. Missions to other locations (even if they use the same spacecraft that visit ISS) will not be subject to NASA scrutiny but will still have to adhere to FAA regs. When asked if there will be a TSA-like entity to handle the surge in people flying into space commercially neither NASA or FAA would “speculate about the future”.

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

5 responses to “FAA/NASA Sign New Commercial Space Travel Agreement”

  1. Andrew Gasser says:
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    This is a really big deal – this is just the beginning as we change the entire perception, change the paradigm, of just how we conduct spaceflight in the future.

    Respectfully,
    Andrew Gasser
    TEA Party in Space

  2. Tom Dayton says:
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    One way NASA is helping open up space activity is to open source and make available for free, its next-generation mission operations software. Search the web for Open Mission Control Technologies.

  3. Steve Whitfield says:
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    Glad to see this, and it only took what, 21 or 15 years since it was originally proposed?  Probably longer.  Next up at bat: real estate and resource rights.

    Steve

  4. Littrow says:
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    It comes back to NASA figuring out what its role is now and in the future.

    In the Apollo and early Shuttle eras, NASA’s individual divisions and their experienced individuals were looked upon for their technical expertise. The expertise was sought after and applied, usually willingly, by designers, developers and manufacturers because those organizations within NASA and those individuals had the experience, were all about ensuring safety, and therefore they were relied upon to set the standards.

    The last quarter century saw NASA move away from technical expertise into a focus on contract management and, in the manned program, a predominant operations focus. The contract management focus was not beneficial since the goal of the government contractor manager is to spend as much money and to have as many people working for them as possible which makes for gross inefficiency. The predominant focus on operations is not a good one-what was NASAsupposed to be? -the USAF or the US Navy focused solely on flying missions and fighting their way into space? No concern at all about developing the vehicles? NASA no longer was demonstrating technical expertise.

    As demonstrated by the Constellation flight directors, Suffredini in ISS, and Gerstenmaier, they select their chief lieutenants not on the basis of any demonstrated technical expertise, but rather just because they “knew them” or had come out of the same organizations; this is cronyism which anywhere else is seen as corruption. Now we have little expertise in charge of spending billions of dollars and yet producing little value. NASA people now need a dramatic re-education in order to turn the existing situation around.

    NASA’s prior role had never been as a regulatory agency. Because of environmental and safety concerns, yes, NASA should have insight into the vehicles that come to ISS, just as in integrating any hardware into a larger system, you need to know what is being done to the system technically. But NASA should not be defining how commercial industry functions or the standards that must be met when NASA itself has not been demonstrating either cost-effectivity or safety in DDT&E for many years.

  5. Anonymous says:
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     It’s important to note that this is a Memorandum of Understanding and not  a legally-binding agreement.