Commercial Crew Development

Requirements

The key, high-level requirements for the Commercial Crew vehicles include:

Program overview

The NASA CCDev program followed Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS), a program for developing commercial launch capability to send cargo into low Earth orbit. In December 2009, NASA provided the following description of the CCDev program:

The objectives of the Commercial Crew & Cargo Program are to implement U.S. Space Exploration policy with investments to stimulate the commercial space industry; facilitate U.S. private industry demonstration of cargo and crew space transportation capabilities with the goal of achieving safe, reliable, cost effective access to low-Earth orbit; and create a market environment in which commercial space transportation services are available to Government and private sector customers.

The Commercial Crew & Cargo Program is applying Recovery Act funds to stimulate efforts within the private sector to develop and demonstrate human spaceflight capabilities. NASA plans to use funds appropriated for "Exploration" under the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) through its C3PO to support efforts within the private sector to develop system concepts and capabilities that could ultimately lead to the availability of commercial human spaceflight services. These efforts are intended to foster entrepreneurial activity leading to job growth in engineering, analysis, design, and research and to promote economic recovery as capabilities for new markets are created.

Contract funding for the CCDev program is different from traditional space industry contractor funding used on the Space Shuttle, Apollo, Gemini, and Mercury programs. Contracts are explicitly designed to fund subsystem technology development objectives that NASA wants for NASA purposes; all other system technology development is funded by the commercial contractor. Contracts are issued for fixed-price, pay-for-performance milestones. "NASA's contribution is fixed".

Funding and effect on schedule

The first flight of the CCDev program was planned to occur in 2015, but insufficient funding caused delays. Administrator of NASA Charles Bolden attributed the delays to insufficient funding from Congress. Michael López-Alegría, President of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, also attributed the delays in the program to funding problems.

For the fiscal year (FY) 2011 budget, US$500 million was requested for the CCDev program, but Congress granted only $270 million. For the FY 2012 budget, $850 million was requested but Congress approved a budget of $406 million, and as a result the first flight of CCDev was postponed from 2016 to 2017. For the 2013 budget, 830 million was requested but Congress approved $488 million. For the FY 2014 budget, $821 million was requested, Congress approved $696 million. In FY 2015, NASA received $805 million from Congress for the CCDev program; 95% of the $848 million requested by the Obama administration and the largest annual amount since the beginning of the program.

Spaceflight gap after STS

The last spaceflight gap was between 1975 (Saturn IB) and 1981 (STS), the current extended from 2011 (STS) to the first flight of either CCDev or SLS system. NASA regularly flew on the Russian Soyuz since 2000 as part of the International Space Station program, and it has continued to do so, however it is reliant on this access until the start of CCDev missions for which the earliest will occur in 2018.

After the last flight of the STS in 2011 the clock began ticking on a U.S. spaceflight gap. The previous spaceflight gap was between 1975 (a Saturn IB launch) and the first STS flight in April 1981, about six years. Unlike the last human spaceflight gap, the U.S. has bought seats on the still-active Russian launcher as part of their continuing joint international project, the International Space Station. U.S. Congress was aware such a gap could occur and accelerated funding in 2008 and 2009 in preparation for the retirement of the Shuttle. At that time the first crewed flight of the planned Ares I launcher would not have occurred until 2015, and its first use at ISS until 2016. Steps were also taken to extend STS operation past 2010. However, in 2010 the Ares I was cancelled and focus shifted to the Space Launch System and the commercial crew program. As of 2016 the first manned flight of SLS is Exploration Mission 2, to launch in 2021 at the earliest. A manned commercial crew mission might occur as early as 2018. If NASA does get access to its own launcher it may be able to again trade seats rather than buy them, or the two countries may organize another sale. NASA has bought seats for 2018, and it may need to buy seats for 2019 also.

NASA bought seats on the Russian launcher even while the Space Shuttle was active, and partners in the International Space Station project needed to cross-train on each-others launchers and equipment. When the STS program ended, this aspect of the involvement in ISS continued, and NASA has a contract for seats until at least 2017. The price has varied over time, and the batch of seats from 2016 to 2017 works out to 70.7 million per passenger per flight. The use of the Russian launcher Soyuz by NASA was a part of the ISS program which was orchestrated in the 1990s when that project was planned out: it is used as the emergency lifeboat for the station even before the Space Shuttle retired so anyone staying on the station had to train on this spacecraft regardless. The first Soyuz flight to ISS in 2000 included a U.S. astronaut (Soyuz TM-31 as part of Expedition 1). U.S. astronauts regularly flew on the Soyuz while the Shuttle program regularly visited the Station, even as it brought major components. Likewise Russian and other international partners also flew on the Space Shuttle and the Soyuz spacecraft, sometimes on only one direction of the journey.

The U.S. was working on an emergency escape vehicle called the HL-20 Personnel Launch System but was cancelled in 1993 in favor of using extra Soyuz spacecraft as lifeboats; not developing another spacecraft was seen as a way to save money in the aftermath of restructuring the Space Station Freedom project when the USSR dissolved in 1991. Regardless, CCDev "seats" have often been compared to Soyuz prices for comparison during its development. With no other launcher available NASA may have to buy seats until 2019 to access the international space station. The other main partners in ISS, the ESA, cancelled its own manned launch system in 1992, the Hermes mini-shuttle in 1992. The ESA had previously traded Spacelab hardware for flights on Space Shuttle. There has been some interest from Europe in the CCDev contenders, especially with DreamChaser, with one party saying it was, "..ideal vehicle for a broad range of space applications."

CCDev 1

Under CCDev phase 1, NASA has entered into funded Space Act Agreements with several companies working on technologies and systems for human space flight. Funding was provided as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. A total of $50 million for 2010 was awarded to five American companies with the intention of fostering research and development into human spaceflight concepts and technologies in the private sector. The phase 1 amount was originally intended to be $150 million, most of which was diverted to the Constellation program by Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL). All 53 delivery milestones for the five companies were scheduled to be completed by the end of 2010.

Proposals selected

NASA awarded development funds to five companies under CCDev 1:

Proposals received

During the evaluation phase of CCDev1 proposals were received from the following participants:

CCDev 2

NASA sought a second set of Commercial Crew Development proposals in October 2010. These could be both new concepts and proposals that mature the design and development of system elements, such as launch vehicles and spacecraft. NASA originally planned to issue about $200 million of Space Act Agreements in March 2011. On April 18, 2011, NASA awarded nearly $270 million to four companies for developing U.S. vehicles that could fly astronauts after the Space Shuttle fleet's retirement.

In August the same year, NASA provided status on the progress milestones of the four companies developing crew vehicle technologies under CCDev 2. There are nine-to-eleven specific milestones, spread over the second quarter of 2011 through to the second quarter of 2012, that each company must meet to receive their performance-based funding for CCDev 2.

Proposals selected

Winners of funding in the second round of the CCDev were:

Proposals selected without NASA funding

Proposals not selected

Proposals that were not awarded funds in the second round of the CCDev program were:

Commercial Crew integrated Capability

The Commercial Crew integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative is the third round of the CCdev program and was originally called CCDev 3. For this phase of the program, NASA wanted proposals to be complete, end-to-end designs including spacecraft, launch vehicles, launch services, ground and mission operations, and recovery. In September 2011, NASA released a draft request for proposals (RFP).

The U.S. government's was originally intended to use a new contracting mechanism for CCiCap that differed from the Space Act Agreement's fixed-price, milestone-based contracts of the previous phases. As of October 2011, NASA was planning to award competitive contracts under the more traditional Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) system instead of using Space Act Agreements. After some months of planning for the new-style contracting approach, NASA announced in mid-December 2011 it would resume use of Space Act Agreements because of Congressional funding reductions to the program for Fiscal Year 2012. NASA planned to use FAR contracts for the certification of Commercial Transportation Services to the ISS. The final RFP was released on February 7, 2012, with proposals due on March 23, 2012.

The funded Space Act Agreements were awarded on August 3, 2012, and amended on August 15, 2013. CCiCap contracts were planned to be completed by August 2014. NASA hoped facilitating development of this U.S. capability will provide safe, reliable and cost effective human transportation to low-Earth orbit (LEO).

Proposals selected

Winners of funding in the third round of the Commercial Crew Development program, announced on August 3, 2012, were:

Proposals that passed acceptability screening

Proposals not selected

Development achievements

NASA reported that as of November 2014, Boeing had completed its CCiCap milestones; Sierra Nevada had completed 10 of 13 its milestones; SpaceX had completed 13 of 18 its milestones. SpaceX received an extra milestone that is to be completed by March 2015. The milestones are listed in the appendixes to the Funded Space Act Agreements. In May 2014, Boeing, Sierra Nevada Corporation and Space Exploration Technologies completed reviews detailing plans to meet NASA's certification requirements to transport crew members to and from the ISS. This completes the first phase of certifying the new Crew Transportation Systems.

Preparation for the next phase

In June 2014, Boeing announced it intended to send out preliminary lay-off notices to 215 employees—approximately 170 in Houston and 45 in Florida—to prepare for the possibility that Boeing would not be selected to continue work into the next phase following the expected NASA shortlist in mid-2014. These advance notices are required under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) legislation under U.S. law, and must be issued 60 days before any large lay-off is expected to take effect. If Boeing was selected to continue, the lay-offs would not occur and Boeing would hire an additional 75 personnel. Sierra Nevada "is not preparing any WARN notices to its Dream Chaser workforce".

Certification Products Contract (CPC) phase 1

The first phase of the Certification Products Contract (CPC) involved the review of the integrated crew transportation systems through the creation of a certification plan that would result in the development of engineering standards, tests and analyses of the systems' designs. This phase of CPC was expected to run from January 22, 2013, to May 30, 2014.

Proposals selected

Winners of funding of phase 1 of the CPC, announced on December 10, 2012, were:

Certification Products Contract (CPC) phase 2

The second phase of the CPC was expected to begin in mid-2014; it would involve a full and open competition and would include the final development, testing and verifications to allow crewed demonstration flights to the ISS. Phase 2 is called Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap). NASA proposed the second phase of the program would begin purchasing commercial astronaut transportation services with the CCtCap solicitation. Contract award and funding occurred in 2014; flights of NASA astronauts on CCtCap-provided vehicles would not occur before 2017. In a change from previous CCDev programs where commercial providers tested the developed technology to NASA contractual requirements, CCtCap will include Joint Test Teams (JTT) with NASA personnel operating in a traditional NASA acquisition approach in which NASA oversees some design choices and offers flexible-price cost-sharing to pay for the tests. NASA issued the draft CCtCap contract's Request For Proposals (RFP) on July 19, 2013; the response date was August 15, 2013.

According to the letter and Executive Summary:

There are four separate Contract Line Items (CLINs) for CTS certification; ISS mission support, special studies and additional cargo capability if proposed. NASA was to supply four Docking System Block 1 Units on a no-charge-for-use basis. The first unit would be available in February 2016. NASA held a Commercial Crew Pre-proposal Conference at Kennedy Space Center on December 4, 2013, after formally requesting proposals for CCtCap in late November that year.

NASA's 2014 budget for CCtCap was US$696 million; it was reduced from an Obama Administration request of US$821 million. In May 2014, NASA announced each awardee was to perform at least one crewed test flight to verify the spacecraft could dock with the ISS and all its systems performed as expected. NASA intended to meet its station crew rotation requirements by including at least two, and ato most six crewed, post-certification missions in the contracts. NASA also intended CCtCap would allow U.S. providers to supply other customers.

Awards

On September 16, 2014, NASA announced that Boeing and SpaceX had received contracts to provide crewed launch services to the ISS. For completing the same contract requirements, Boeing could receive up to US$4.2 billion, while SpaceX could receive up to US$2.6 billion. Both Boeing CST-100 flying on United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V and SpaceX Dragon V2 flying on Falcon 9 were awarded for the same set of requirements: completing development and certification of their crew vehicle then flying a certification flight followed by up to six operational flights to the ISS. The contracts included at least two operational flights for each company.

The total program award of US$6.8 billion covers development costs through CCtCap program funding—$3.42 billion over the years 2015–2019 with $848 million in the commercial crew budget request for FY 2015—and $3.4 billion for operational crew resupply to the ISS—12 flights with four astronauts on each flight, where NASA assumed the same per-seat price of $70.7 million it would pay for each Soyuz seat in 2016. With the program awards in September, NASA did not release the number of proposals it received or any details about the selection process; it stated such information would be released "at an 'appropriate' but unspecified date".

On September 26, 2014, Sierra Nevada Corporation submitted a protest of the CCtCap awards, stating to have undercut Boeing by $900 million while scoring close to its competitors in the other criteria. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) had until January 5, 2015, to rule on the protest. By October 1, 2014, NASA had instructed Boeing and SpaceX to halt work on the CCtCap contracts. On October 8, 2014, NASA instructed the contractors to proceed with contract work during the GAO review. In January 2015, the GAO denied Sierra Nevada Corporation's protest.

In 2016 the firms scheduled additional testing and certification milestones. The auditors do not expect the first flights until late 2018.

CCtCap contract progress

As of December 2014, both SpaceX and Boeing had started work on their Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contracts.

As of September 2016 although both companies are advancing they are running behind their previous schedule. Additional milestones have been agreed with NASA see Annex B (Boeing) and Annex C (SpaceX) of the September 2016 Audit of the Commercial Crew Program. Boeing increased its milestones from 23 to 34 and has achieved 15. SpaceX has increased its milestones from 18 to 21 and has achieved 8. SpaceX also has an uncompleted milestone left over from CCiCap.

Flights

As of August 2016, the SpaceX Dragon V2.0 scheduled in-flight abort test had slipped to July 2017, following an unmanned test flight to the ISS in May 2017. Following this, a manned test flight should launch in August 2017, but may be delayed until 2018.

As of August 2016, the Boeing CST-100 is scheduled for an unmanned test flight in December 2017, followed by a manned test flight in January 2018. The first contracted crew delivery, known as USCV-1, is tentatively scheduled for late 2017. In August 2016, the first Commercial mission to the ISS is expected to occur in 2019.

On May 28, 2015, NASA awarded Boeing the first contract to launch a crew to the ISS with the CST-100 spacecraft under the CCtCap initiative. The launch is provisional on its certification.

Funding summary

The funding of all commercial crew contractors for each phase of the CCP program is as follows—CCtCap values are maxima and include post-development operational flights