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NASA’S COMMERCIAL CARGO PROVIDERS: ARE 

THEY READY TO SUPPLY THE SPACE STATION 

IN THE POST–SHUTTLE ERA? 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS 

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND 

TECHNOLOGY 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

THURSDAY, MAY 26, 2011 

Serial No. 112–20 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

( 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://science.house.gov 
(II) 

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY 

HON. RALPH M. HALL, Texas, Chair 

F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR., 

Wisconsin 

LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

ROSCOE G. BARTLETT, Maryland 

FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma 

JUDY BIGGERT, Illinois 

W. TODD AKIN, Missouri 

RANDY NEUGEBAUER, Texas 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

PAUL C. BROUN, Georgia 

SANDY ADAMS, Florida 

BENJAMIN QUAYLE, Arizona 

CHARLES J. ‘‘CHUCK’’ FLEISCHMANN, 

Tennessee 

E. SCOTT RIGELL, Virginia 

STEVEN M. PALAZZO, Mississippi 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

ANDY HARRIS, Maryland 

RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois 

CHIP CRAVAACK, Minnesota 

LARRY BUCSHON, Indiana 

DAN BENISHEK, Michigan 

VACANCY 

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas 

JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois 

LYNN C. WOOLSEY, California 

ZOE LOFGREN, California 

DAVID WU, Oregon 

BRAD MILLER, North Carolina 

DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois 

GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona 

DONNA F. EDWARDS, Maryland 

MARCIA L. FUDGE, Ohio 

BEN R. LUJA ́ N, New Mexico 

PAUL D. TONKO, New York 

JERRY MCNERNEY, California 

JOHN P. SARBANES, Maryland 

TERRI A. SEWELL, Alabama 

FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida 

HANSEN CLARKE, Michigan 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS

HON. STEVEN M. PALAZZO, Mississippi, Chair 

F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER JR., 

Wisconsin 

LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma 

W. TODD AKIN, Missouri 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

SANDY ADAMS, Florida 

E. SCOTT RIGELL, Virginia 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

RALPH M. HALL, Texas 

GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona 

MARCIA L. FUDGE, Ohio 

JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois 

TERRI A. SEWELL, Alabama 

DAVID WU, Oregon 

DONNA F. EDWARDS, Maryland 

FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida 

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas 
(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Thursday, May 26, 2011 

Page 

Witness List ............................................................................................................. 2 

Hearing Charter ...................................................................................................... 3 

Opening Statements 

Statement by Representative Steven M. Palazzo, Chair, Subcommittee on 

Space and Aeronautics, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. 

House of Representatives .................................................................................... 15 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 16 

Statement by Representative Ralph M. Hall, Chair, Committee on Science, 

Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives .................................... 16 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 18 

Statement by Representative Jerry F. Costello, Member, Subcommittee on 

Space and Aeronautics, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. 

House of Representatives .................................................................................... 18 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 19 

Witnesses 

Mr. William H. Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator, Space Operations 

Mission Directorate, National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 21 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 23 

Ms. Cristina Chaplain, Director, Acquisition and Sourcing Management, U.S. 

Government Accountability Office 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 30 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 32 

Mr. Frank Culbertson, Jr., Senior Vice President and Deputy General Manager, Advanced Programs Group, Orbital Sciences Corporation 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 55 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 57 

Ms. Gwynne Shotwell, President, Space Exploration Technologies 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 64 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 65 

Appendix I: Answers to Post-Hearing Questions 

Mr. William H. Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator, Space Operations 

Mission Directorate, National Aeronautics and Space Administration ........... 96 

Ms. Cristina Chaplain, Director, Acquisition and Sourcing Management, U.S. 

Government Accountability Office ...................................................................... 102 

Mr. Frank Culbertson, Jr., Senior Vice President and Deputy General Manager, Advanced Programs Group, Orbital Sciences Corporation ..................... 105 

Ms. Gwynne Shotwell, President, Space Exploration Technologies .................... 107 

Appendix II: Additional Material for the Record 

Written Statement Submitted for the Record by Representative Pete Olsen .... 112 
Page

IV 

Additional Material Submitted for the Record by Mr. William H. 

Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator, Space Operations Mission Directorate, National Aeronautics and Space Administration .................................. 113 
(1) 

NASA’S COMMERCIAL CARGO PROVIDERS: 

ARE THEY READY TO SUPPLY THE SPACE 

STATION IN THE POST–SHUTTLE ERA? 

THURSDAY, MAY 26, 2011 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS, COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY, Washington, DC. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:00 a.m., in Room 

2318 of the Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Steve Palazzo 

[Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding. 
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Chairman PALAZZO. The Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics 

will come to order. Good morning. Welcome to today’s hearing entitled, ‘‘NASA’s Commercial Cargo Providers: Are They Ready To 

Supply the Space Station in the Post-Shuttle Era?’’ In front of you 

are packets containing the written testimony, biographies, and 

truth in testimony disclosures for today’s witness panel. I ask 

unanimous consent that the gentleman, Mr. Olson, from Texas and 

Mr. Flores from Texas be allowed to sit in at the dais with the 

Committee and participate in the hearing. 

Hearing no objections, so ordered. 

I now recognize myself for five minutes for an opening statement. 

I would like to welcome everyone to today’s subcommittee hearing examining NASA’s commercial cargo programs. I also want to 

thank our witnesses for taking time out of their busy schedules to 

testify before us today. We have a lot of ground to cover, and I 

know Members want plenty of time to ask questions, so I will keep 

my remarks short. 

I think we are all well aware that NASA is preparing to launch 

the final Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station. 

The cargo bay of Atlantis will be filled with supplies and spare 

parts bound for the International Space Station, enough to provide 

up to a year’s margin of safety. The flight was added in part because NASA and the commercial partners are behind schedule and 

have not yet demonstrated the capability to access the ISS. Without the Shuttle, and until commercial cargo flights begin flying, 

NASA must rely on the capabilities of the international partners. 

NASA’s international partners should be commended for doing a 

fine job, but they simply do not have enough cargo-carrying capacity by themselves to insure that sufficient equipment is on board 

the Station to support a research team of six astronauts. 

NASA wrote the book on back-up systems, and thankfully with 

STS–135 the Space Shuttle can be called upon one last time to provide the much-needed cargo capability. But in the post-Shuttle era 

will NASA’s commercial cargo providers be able to do that job? 

Thus far we have very little by which to make an informed judgment. Only one of the two cargo resupply contractors has actually 

orbited a prototype vehicle, and that was only an orbital demonstration that was not intended to reach the Space Station orbit. 

Congress has generally been supportive of NASA’s commercial 

cargo efforts, but too often requests for information have been met 

with a veil of secrecy and claims of company proprietary information. 

I want to remind NASA and the commercial partners that you 

are spending taxpayer money and lots of it. So you will not be exempt from oversight and financial scrutiny. 

I also want to remind everyone in this room that today we are 

talking about cargo and not capabilities to take astronauts into 

space or to the ISS. Whether or not commercially-developed, nonNASA launch systems can safely carry astronauts to orbit in an economical way is a question that will require some number of years 

before we have an answer and will be the topic of future hearings. 

Today let us focus our attention on NASA’s programs to commercially deliver cargo to the Space Station. NASA’s commercial cargo 

programs have been in development for several years and have ex-
16 

perienced delays. NASA has obligated over $1.25 billion and is 

poised to spend more than $4 billion over the next few years. 

Yet, in spite of optimistic projections and even a successful 

SpaceX Falcon 9 launch and Dragon capsule recovery, NASA’s commercial cargo partners have yet to demonstrate the ability to safely 

deliver cargo to the ISS. 

I am hopeful that we will see some progress soon, and I look forward to hearing your testimony. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Palazzo follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE STEVEN M. PALAZZO, CHAIRMAN

SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS

I would like to welcome everyone to today’s subcommittee hearing examining 

NASA’s Commercial Cargo programs. I also want to thank our witnesses for taking 

time out of their busy schedules to testify before us today. We have a lot of ground 

to cover and I know Members want plenty of time to ask questions so I will keep 

my remarks short. 

I think we are all well aware that NASA is preparing to launch the final Space 

Shuttle mission to the International Space Station. The cargo bay of Atlantis will 

be filled with supplies and spare parts bound for the International Space Station; 

enough to provide up to a year’s margin of safety. The flight was added in part, because NASA and the commercial partners are behind schedule and have not yet 

demonstrated a capability to access the ISS. Without the shuttle, and until commercial cargo flights begin flying, NASA must rely on the capabilities of the international partners. 

NASA’s international partners should be commended for doing a fine job, but they 

simply do not have enough cargo carrying capacity by themselves to ensure that sufficient equipment is onboard the station to support a research team of six astronauts. NASA wrote the book on backup systems, and thankfully with STS–135, the 

space shuttle can be called upon one last time to provide the much needed cargo 

capability. But in the post-shuttle era will NASA’s commercial cargo providers be 

able to do the job? Thus far, we have very little by which to make an informed judgment. Only one of the two cargo resupply contractors has actually orbited a prototype vehicle, and that was only an orbital demonstration that was not intended to 

reach the space station orbit. 

Congress has generally been supportive of NASA’s commercial cargo efforts, but 

too often requests for information have been met with a veil of secrecy and claims 

of company proprietary information. I want to remind NASA and the commercial 

partners that you are spending taxpayer money, and lots of it. So you will not be 

exempt from oversight and financial scrutiny. 

I also want to remind everyone in this room that today we are talking about 

cargo, and not capabilities to take astronauts into space or to the ISS. Whether or 

not commercially developed, non-NASA launch systems can safely carry astronauts 

to orbit in an economical way is a question that will require some number of years 

before we have an answer, and will be the topic of a future hearing. 

Today let’s focus our attention on NASA’s programs to commercially deliver cargo 

to the space station. NASA’s commercial cargo programs have been in development 

for several years and 

have experienced delays. NASA has spent over $1.25 Billion and is poised to 

spend more than $4 billion over the next few years. Yet, in spite of optimistic projections, and even a successful SpaceX Falcon 9 launch and Dragon capsule recovery, 

NASA’s commercial cargo partners have yet to demonstrate the ability to safely deliver cargo to the ISS. 

I am hopeful that we will see some progress soon, and I look forward to hearing 

your testimony. 

Chairman PALAZZO. I would now like to yield my remaining time 

to Science Committee Chairman Ralph Hall for a few brief comments. 

Mr. HALL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for yielding some time. 

NASA’s commercial cargo program was initiated as we all know 

in 2006, five years ago, with the Commercial Orbital Transportation Systems Program. It was, and is, a technically-challenging 
17 

program to initiate two commercial launch systems, even for the 

seemingly-routine delivery of cargo to the International Space Station, but the procurement strategy also broke with NASA tradition 

by allowing the agency to use its Space Act Agreement authority 

to fund these developments of these two systems. 

Two years later NASA signed contracts valued at 3.5 billion with 

the same two COTS-funded companies for cargo supply services, 

even though neither of these companies had flown any demonstration flights. 

So what started as a reasonable step-by-step approach to develop 

and prove capabilities first, followed by competitive acquisition simply didn’t happen. NASA simply ran out of time and is now gambling the future of Space Station on the success of two very new 

launch systems. 

We, NASA, Congress, and our Space Station partners expect 

these companies to perform. It is my sincere hope and desire that 

they perform and meet their contract goals. There is no plan B if 

they encounter severe technical or schedule challenges, and I want 

them to succeed. I simply regret that there continues to be so much 

uncertainty about our Nation’s ability to reliably get cargo to the 

Station with the final Shuttle flight now less than two months 

away. 

It is unfortunate the decisions of the Administration have created so many questions and turmoil in the outlook for space. Thousands were handed unbelievable anxiety about their future, about 

their jobs, and about our Space Station. 

I just want to review just very briefly an article that has been 

furnished to all of us up here. It simply points out that the last 

Space Shuttle mission is scheduled for July the 8th, just around 

the corner. After that how is NASA going to supply, maintain, and 

utilize the multi-billion dollar International Space Station? 

NASA plans to rely on new commercial launch service providers 

to supplement the international partners. NASA has spent $500 

million since 2005, on the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services Program intended to demonstrate commercial cargo delivery 

capabilities to the International Space Station from two commercial 

partners; Space Exploration Technologies and Orbital Science Corporation. 

Despite initial assurances that NASA would not expend any 

money to buy services until these systems were fully demonstrated, 

NASA has spent over $466 million towards the purpose of cargo delivery services even though no, I emphasize no, demonstration 

flights to the ISS have been performed. 

Furthermore, last year NASA requested an additional $312 million augmentation, a 62 percent increase, to reduce risk and improve the schedule. To date NASA has obligated at least $1.25 billion on the commercial cargo effort without accomplishing a single 

demonstration to the ISS. 

Questions for the Congress include when will these systems be 

ready, how much additional work, time, and money will be required, and I join with Mr. Palazzo in welcoming our guests here. 

You have had and will have disappointments. Just don’t over promise us as we work together and hopefully succeed together. 
18 

Let us remember those that blazed the way to the moon and 

back, the John Glenns, the Neil Armstrongs, the Buzz Aldrins, the 

Gene Cernans, the Mike Collins, the General Tom Staffords, and 

all those others who perished in missions that once thought routine. We owe them so much. Let us not let them down. 

I yield back my time. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Hall follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE RALPH M. HALL

Thank you, Mr. Palazzo, for yielding me some time to inject a couple of quick comments. 

NASA’s commercial cargo program was initiated in 2006, five years ago, with the 

Commercial Orbital Transportation Systems (COTS) program. It was—and is—a 

technically challenging program to stand-up two commercial launch systems, even 

for the seemingly routine delivery of cargo to the ISS. But the procurement strategy 

also broke with NASA tradition by allowing the agency to use its Space Act Agreement authority to fund the development of these systems. Two years later, NASA 

signed contracts valued at $3.5 billion with the same two COTS-funded companies 

for cargo resupply services, even though neither of these companies had flown any 

demonstration flights. 

So what started as a reasonable step-by-step approach to develop and prove capabilities first, followed by a competitive acquisition, did not happen. NASA simply 

ran out of time and is now gambling the future of Space Station on the success of 

two very new launch systems. 

We—NASA, Congress, our space station partners—expect these companies to perform. It is my sincere hope and desire that they perform and meet their contract 

goals. There is no plan B if they encounter severe technical or schedule challenges, 

and I want them to succeed. I simply regret that there continues to be so much uncertainty about our nation’s ability to reliably get cargo to station with the final 

shuttle flight now less than two months away. It is unfortunate that the decisions 

of this Administration have created so many questions and turmoil in our outlook 

for space. 

I join with Mr. Palazzo in welcoming our witnesses this morning, and I look forward to your testimony. 

Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you, Chairman Hall. 

The chair now recognizes Mr. Costello for an opening statement. 

Mr. COSTELLO. Mr. Chairman, thank you, and Mr. Chairman, 

thank you for calling this hearing today. 

First I want to congratulate Associate Administrator Bill 

Gerstenmaier, who is here with us this morning and his entire 

NASA team for the successful launch of STS–134, Space Shuttle 

Endeavor’s final mission. We were all heartened that Congresswoman Giffords was present at the launch, and our thoughts are 

with the astronauts and their families for their safe return home. 

In 2006, NASA envisioned a commercial cargo program that took 

into account the financial and programmatic risk to the United 

States government, allowing private companies to service the ISS. 

The initial plan 1) allowed NASA to partner with a commercial provider to develop and demonstrate a safe cargo mission to the ISS 

before signing a long-term resupply contract, and 2) provided a contingency plan to use Constellation vehicles and rockets if commercial providers could not meet their goals. 

In the last five years the landscape of human spaceflight has 

changed. In 2008, NASA signed long-term resupply contracts with 

SpaceX and Orbital before either company had safely completed a 

cargo mission, and in 2010, NASA cancelled the Constellation Program and shifted its focus to deep space exploration. Under this 

new plan, commercial providers will be fully responsible for the 
19 

critical task of servicing the ISS when the Space Shuttle retires 

this year. 

Orbital and SpaceX have made significant strides in achieving 

the goals laid out by NASA for providing commercial cargo services 

under their initial agreements, but to date, as the Chairman has 

noted and the Chairman of the full Committee has also noted, neither company has successfully completed a mission to and from the 

ISS. 

However, both companies are under contract with NASA to begin 

flying cargo missions in 2012. After the final Space Shuttle launch 

brings supplies to the station this summer, NASA has no back-up 

plan if Orbital and SpaceX are not ready to launch in 2012. Without a robust and reliable commercial cargo service, NASA will not 

realize its plans to fully utilize the ISS as a research and development facility. 

As chair of this Subcommittee, Congresswoman Giffords expressed these concerns about commercial providers. She strongly 

believed that commercial companies should be given the time to 

demonstrate that they could safely provide cargo services and felt 

NASA could not put the ISS or deep space exploration at risk by 

not providing a back-up plan if they fail. 

I hope to hear today how NASA, Congress, and the commercial 

providers can work together to identify any remaining risks to reliable and timely commercial cargo operations, develop realistic expectations for the program, and ensure NASA has contingency options if commercial services are unavailable. We must ensure 

NASA has sustainable commercial cargo services for the life of the 

ISS without exposing the U.S. government to too much financial 

and programmatic risks. 

Mr. Chairman, I welcome our panel of witnesses this morning, 

and I look forward to hearing their testimony. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Costello follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE JERRY COSTELLO

Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding today’s hearing to receive testimony on the 

readiness of commercial cargo providers to service the International Space Station 

(ISS) after the Space Shuttle retires this year. 

First, I want to congratulate Bill Gerstenmaier and the entire NASA team for the 

successful launch of STS–134, Space Shuttle Endeavour’s final mission. We were all 

heartened that Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was present at the launch, and 

our thoughts are with the astronauts and their families for their safe return home. 

In 2006, NASA envisioned a commercial cargo program that took into account the 

financial and programmatic risk to the U.S. government allowing the private companies to service the ISS. The initial plan 1) allowed NASA to partner with a commercial provider to develop and demonstrate a safe cargo mission to the ISS before signing a long-term resupply contract and 2) provided a contingency plan to use Constellation vehicles and rockets if commercial providers could not meet their goals. 

In the last five years, the landscape of human spaceflight has changed. In 2008, 

NASA signed long-term resupply contracts with SpaceX and Orbital before either 

company had safely completed a commercial cargo mission, and in 2010 NASA canceled the Constellation program and shifted its focus to deep space exploration. 

Under this new plan, commercial providers will be fully responsible for the critical 

task of servicing the ISS when the Space Shuttle retires this year. 

Orbital and SpaceX have made significant strides in achieving the goals laid out 

by NASA for providing commercial cargo services under their initial agreements, 

but to date neither company has successfully completed a mission to and from the 

ISS. However, both companies are under contract with NASA to begin flying cargo 

missions in 2012. 
20 

After the final Space Shuttle launch will bring supplies to the station this summer, NASA has no back-up plan if Orbital and SpaceX are not ready to launch in 

2012. Without a robust and reliable commercial cargo service, NASA will not realize 

its plans to fully utilize the ISS as a research and development facility. 

As Chair of this Subcommittee, Congresswoman Giffords expressed these concerns 

about commercial providers. She strongly believed commercial companies should be 

given the time to demonstrate they could safely provide cargo services but felt 

NASA could not put the ISS or deep space exploration at risk by not providing a 

back-up plan if they fail. 

I hope to hear today how NASA, Congress, and commercial providers can work 

together to identify any remaining risks to reliable and timely commercial cargo operations, develop realistic expectations for the program, and ensure NASA has executable contingency options if commercial services are unavailable. We must ensure 

NASA has sustainable commercial cargo services for the life of the ISS without exposing the U.S. government to too much financial and programmatic risk. 

I welcome our panel of witnesses and look forward to their testimony. I yield back 

the balance of my time. 

Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you, Mr. Costello. If there are Members who wish to submit additional opening statements, your statements will be added to the record at this point. 

At this time I would like to introduce our witness panel. Our 

first witness will be Mr. Bill Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator for Space Operations at NASA. Mr. Gerstenmaier began his 

career at NASA in 1977, and has worked on a number of projects 

and programs including Shuttle, Space Station Freedom, and the 

ISS. 

Our second witness is Ms. Cristina Chaplain, Director of Acquisition and Sourcing Management at the U.S. Government Accountability Office. She has responsibility for GAO assessments of military space acquisitions, NASA, and the Missile Defense Agency. 

She has been with the GAO for 20 years. 

Our third witness is Mr. Frank Culbertson, Senior Vice President 

and General Manager of Orbital’s Advanced Programs Group. Mr. 

Culbertson is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. He was a 

naval aviator and served for 18 years as a NASA astronaut, spending 144 days in space as Shuttle commander, pilot, and station 

crew member. 

And for our final witness introduction I recognize Mr. Flores for 

two minutes. 

Mr. FLORES. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the courtesy 

of each of you allowing me to introduce Gwynne Shotwell, the 

President of Space Exploration Technologies. I also appreciate the 

Committee holding this important hearing on NASA’s Commercial 

Cargo Providers. 

As you are aware, this option will soon be the only domestic 

American capability to transport cargo to the International Space 

Station. All Americans know that Texas has had a long and prominent role to play in spaceflight, and I am proud that the City of 

McGregor in McClennan County is playing a key role in this next 

phase of our space program. 

I am pleased to introduce Gwynne Shotwell, whose company, 

SpaceX, is bringing exciting new engineering and technical jobs to 

McGregor. Since 2003, SpaceX has invested more than $50 million 

in its McGregor facility to develop state-of-the-art—to develop a 

state-of-the-art rocket development facility which sits on more than 

600 acres of land and employs more than 120 Texans. 
21 

Mr. Chairman, I have had the opportunity to visit SpaceX 

McGregor test site and meet with its employees, and I can tell you 

it is an impressive place. There is a lot of energy and excitement 

and to me it exemplifies the spirit of American ingenuity and innovation. Not only was I able to see the Dragon spacecraft, which 

successfully twice orbited the earth in December of last year, but 

I was also able to see the great engineers and technicians at work 

test firing one of SpaceX’s Merlin rocket engines. 

My constituents all across our district have told me how proud 

they are to have such an innovative and exciting company in the 

community, and I am proud of what they are doing to develop a 

safe and affordable domestic alternative to offset a pending sole reliance on Russian spacecraft to deliver cargo and ultimately crew 

into space. McGregor is a busy place today and getting more industrious and busy by the minute. Every SpaceX Merlin engine that 

powers the Falcon 9 rocket and every Draco thruster that controls 

its Dragon spacecraft is first tested on the ground in McGregor before launch. 

SpaceX is now averaging about one test firing per day. This frequency will only grow and increase as SpaceX expands to support 

dozens of upcoming launches for its government and commercial 

customers. And now that NASA is working with SpaceX under its 

commercial crew development program, development of SpaceX’s 

innovative new integrated launch aboard system for the Dragon 

spacecraft will be McGregor. 

Again, Mr. Chairman, thank you for allowing me the time to introduce Gwynne and SpaceX. Speaking from my experience in the 

private sector, I support the principle that American private industry leads the world in fostering innovation. It is important that we 

in Congress do all that we can to make sure that we highlight companies such as SpaceX. They robustly exhibit the commitment to 

American innovation, and they are doing it by creating jobs here 

in America instead of overseas. 

And I wholeheartedly believe that NASA, working with companies like SpaceX, the United States can and will maintain its lead 

in space exploration. Thank you. 

Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you, Mr. Flores. 

As our witnesses should know, spoken testimony is limited to 

five minutes each, after which the Members of the Committee will 

have five minutes each to ask questions. 

I now recognize our first witness, Mr. William Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator of the Space Operations Mission Directorate 

at NASA. 

STATEMENT OF MR. WILLIAM H. GERSTENMAIER, ASSOCIATE 

ADMINISTRATOR, SPACE OPERATIONS MISSION DIRECTORATE, NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. Thank you, Chairman Palazzo and Members 

of this Subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the status of NASA’s commercial cargo efforts. 

Tonight the crew onboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor will begin 

their fourth EVA or spacewalk for the mission. This will be a sig-
22 

nificant milestone as this will be the last spacewalk based solely 

on Shuttle crew support. So tonight if things go as planned the 

total spacewalk time associated with the Space Station will be 

1,000 hours. So we have spent—and that is just building the Space 

Station. So we spent quite a bit of time building the station, assembling it, and it culminates this evening with the final spacewalk 

based from the Shuttle. 

We have been preparing for the Shuttle retirement for almost six 

years. In doing so we had to change the entire maintenance philosophy for the Space Station. We used to deliver spares to Space Station, return those spares to the ground, refurbish them, and launch 

them again. When we changed the cargo delivery system, we needed to change to a system where we essentially replaced the units 

on orbit and disposed of them in space. 

So it is—not only did we need to develop and establish a cargo 

supply system, we needed to change the basic way we bring cargo 

to and from Space Station. This retirement of the Shuttle Program 

has entailed many years of preparation and required efforts beyond 

just the cargo delivery activities that we will talk about today. The 

ISS is entering a new phase focusing on research and utilization. 

The unique capabilities of the Shuttle are no longer required, and 

I think the simpler systems for cargo resupply will better serve this 

new phase of ISS utilization. 

The cargo delivered by these new providers will be absolutely 

critical to the effective utilization of Space Station. The next phase 

of Space Station will focus on research, both fundamental and applied. 

The agency has divided its commercial cargo efforts into two 

unique activities. The Commercial Orbital Transportation Services 

and that was to demonstrate commercial cargo systems, and then 

the second activity was commercial resupply services to procure 

cargo services to and from the ISS. These are unique activities as 

one is based on Space Act as was discussed earlier and the other 

is based on a fixed price of federal acquisition requirements for our 

FAR-based services contract. 

Both COTS partners continue to make progress in developing 

their systems. NASA sees no reason to doubt either company’s ability to achieve its desired objectives. Both partners have forwardleaning schedules and are facing challenges typical of a spaceflight 

development program. Both have experienced some milestone 

delays and have overcome significant technical and programmatic 

challenges in the past. This was not unexpected. 

Establishing a regular flight rate after the initial flights will not 

be easy. NASA and the ISS Program are prepared for these startup 

problems, however, NASA expects these providers to deliver the 

services as required by the contracts that they have signed. 

On December 8, 2010, SpaceX successfully completed its first 

COTS demonstration flight. This was a significant event and has 

been talked about earlier. Orbital is currently expected to complete 

their maiden test flight of its Taurus II launch vehicle from the 

new launch pad at Wallops Flight Facility this October and its 

demonstration flight to the ISS for NASA in December. 

On the commercial resupply services contract on December 23, 

2008, NASA awarded these contracts to Orbital and SpaceX with 
23 

a delivery of cargo to ISS after retirement of the Shuttle. This activity was separate from the COTS activity as I had just mentioned. NASA anticipates both providers will have their systems 

operational in 2012. 

Again, I think both the companies are well prepared to move forward. We are prepared for the problems that will occur as we move 

forward. We anticipated these inevitable startup challenges associated with the technologically-ambitious endeavor. Both NASA and 

these providers have spent many years preparing for the utilization 

of Space Station. Now is the time when we will begin to see the 

fruits of this planning and development. NASA is ready for the ISS 

utilization, and with the help and dedication of these providers, 

ISS will be fully utilized and demonstrate the benefits of spacebased research to the world. 

Chairman Palazzo and Members of the Subcommittee, I would 

like to conclude my remarks by thanking you, again, for your continued support for NASA and its human spaceflight program including our commercial cargo efforts. I will be pleased to answer 

your questions as we go through the hearing. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Gerstenmaier follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MR. WILLIAM H. GERSTENMAIER, ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR, SPACE OPERATIONS MISSION DIRECTORATE, NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND

SPACE ADMINISTRATION

Chairman Palazzo and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the status of NASA’s commercial cargo 

efforts, which the Agency has divided into two programs—the Commercial Orbital 

Transportation Services (COTS) Program and the Commercial Resupply Services 

(CRS) Program. 

Under COTS, NASA has helped fund the development of commercial cargo systems, and under CRS, NASA has entered into contracts to procure future cargo 

transportation services to and from the International Space Station (ISS). Together 

and along with NASA’s initial Commercial Crew Development efforts, NASA is continuing to expand the opportunity for commercial access to space, thereby creating 

multiple means for NASA to access low-Earth orbit (LEO). Additionally, by investing in these commercial efforts, NASA is helping to facilitate the commercial uses 

of space, to help lower costs for commercial space services and to spark an engine 

for long-term U.S. job growth in the aerospace industry. 

My testimony today will outline the progress made by our COTS and CRS partners: Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Orbital Sciences Corporation 

(OSC). Both companies competed as part of separate competitions under COTS and 

CRS, and were initially selected for the COTS development phase in 2006 and 2008, 

respectively, and later for the CRS phase in December 2008. 

NASA is pleased with the steady progress both companies continue to make in 

their cargo development efforts. While both companies have experienced technical 

and schedule challenges to date, that is not uncommon with major aerospace development efforts. However, there still remain significant challenges to developing reliable, regular cargo transportation to the ISS. We need to anticipate and be prepared 

for the inevitable start-up challenges associated with a technologically ambitious endeavor, such as cargo delivery to the ISS. 

We anticipate that the final COTS demonstration flights will conclude by early 

2012. The first CRS resupply flights are also planned take place in 2012, thereby 

providing a critical capability that will enable us to maintain the ISS following the 

retirement of the Space Shuttle, thereby providing a critical capability that will enable us to maintain the ISS following the retirement of the Space Shuttle. 

Commercial Orbital Transportation Services 

In 2005, NASA established the Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office at 

Johnson Space Center. The objectives of the Program, which oversees the COTS 

projects, is to further the implementation of U.S. space 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 
24 

safe, reliable, cost-effective access to LEO, and create a market environment in 

which commercial space transportation services are available to Government and 

private sector customers. NASA believes the eventual availability of safe, reliable 

and economical service to LEO through the private sector will help NASA achieve 

the Nation’s space exploration goals following retirement of the Space Shuttle, 

thereby allowing NASA to focus on developing new space transportation capabilities 

to support exploration beyond LEO. 

As part of COTS, NASA entered into partnerships using funded Space Act Agreements (SAAs) with emerging and established space transportation providers to demonstrate the delivery of cargo to an on-orbit destination. The SAAs include a schedule of performance milestones that each partner is expected to achieve along with 

a fixed milestone payment to be made upon successful completion of performance. 

These milestones culminate in a flight demonstration where the participant’s vehicle will launch, rendezvous and berth with the ISS as the demonstration testbed, 

and re-enter or return safely to Earth. If a partner does not complete a milestone, 

as defined in the SAA, and to NASA’s satisfaction, they are not paid. Should a milestone be missed, NASA would ascertain the cause of the failure, evaluate partner 

progress made and determine whether additional efforts are in the best interest of 

the Government. NASA does not pay for a milestone until the work has been completed successfully. 

It is important to understand that both NASA and the partners themselves act 

as investors during the development and demonstration of commercial cargo services under COTS. The partners (and their other private investors) are investors because they partake in the financial burden, and stand to reap the financial benefits 

of developing a proven commercial space transportation capability that they can sell 

to NASA and other customers. NASA’s intended benefit is the future availability of 

commercial providers, to enable less expensive cargo-transportation costs and elimination of the operations burden for routine LEO transportation. 

Currently, NASA has two funded COTS partners, SpaceX and OSC. NASA signed 

funded SAAs with SpaceX in 2006 and with Orbital in 2008. Prior to awarding a 

funded SAA to OSC, NASA had an SAA with Rocketplane Kistler (RpK). However, 

RpK failed to meet certain negotiated milestones. In October 2007, after working 

with RpK for several months, NASA decided that it was in the best interest of the 

Agency to terminate the RpK agreement and re-compete the remaining funding. 

After the re-competition, NASA selected OSC for a funded SAA in February 2008. 

Both SpaceX and OSC continue to make progress in developing their cargo transportation systems, based in part on NASA’s financial and technical assistance, coupled with that of the industry partner’s own financial contributions and technical 

expertise. NASA sees no reason to doubt either company’s ability to achieve its desired objectives—that of demonstrating commercial cargo delivery to and from LEO. 

Both partners have aggressive, success-oriented schedules, and are facing challenges 

typical of a spaceflight development program. Both partners have experienced some 

milestone delays. However, these milestone delays are not unexpected, and have not 

required any additional NASA funding of specific milestones, since the partners are 

paid only fixed amounts for achieving milestones. Development costs beyond NASA’s 

milestone payments have been borne by the companies and/or other investors. 

A detailed schedule of each partner’s COTS progress is provided as Attachment 

1. 

A review of what has occurred since SpaceX signed its COTS agreement with 

NASA in August 2006 shows that: 

• To date, SpaceX has completed 25 of 40 negotiated milestones for COTS work, 

receiving $298 million out of a potential $396 million, including augmented 

funding. 

• On December 8, 2010, SpaceX successfully completed the first COTS demonstration flight, demonstrating launch of the Falcon 9 booster, separation of 

the Dragon spacecraft and completion of two orbits, orbital maneuvering and 

control, reentry, parachute decent and spacecraft recovery after splashdown 

in the Pacific Ocean. 

• SpaceX’s remaining demonstration flights for NASA are scheduled for November 2011 and January 2012. NASA is reviewing a SpaceX proposal to accelerate the third demonstration flight test objectives, which include berthing to 

the ISS, during the second demonstration flight. Initial safety and technical 

assessments are expected to be completed by the end of May to enable a decision on berthing with the ISS on the earlier mission. 

A review of what has occurred since OSC signed its agreement with NASA in February 2008 shows that: 
25 

• To date, OSC has completed 21 of 31 negotiated milestones for COTS work, 

receiving $221.5 million out of a potential $288 million, including augmented 

funding. 

• Recently, OSC began integration and testing of its Cygnus Service Module 

and Taurus II launch vehicle. 

• OSC is expected to complete its maiden test flight of the Taurus II launch 

vehicle from the new launch pad at the Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) in Virginia in October 2011, and its demonstration flight for NASA in December 

2011. 

Overall, NASA has invested $552 million in the COTS effort, which includes funding invested with the two current funded partners, as well as funding that was invested with Rocketplane Kistler that was terminated for failure to perform in 2007. 

By the conclusion of the COTS effort, NASA anticipates it will have invested $800 

million in the COTS project—not including in-kind and infrastructure support that 

NASA has provided to the COTS partners. The $800 million includes the original 

$500 million authorized for COTS milestone payments and programmatic administrative costs, plus $300 million for augmented cargo milestone payments and associated administrative costs to help accelerate technical development, conduct flight 

tests and develop ground infrastructure, as authorized by the NASA Authorization 

Act of 2010 and funded under the FY 2011 Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act 

(P.L. 112–10). To be clear, this augmented funding is being used for additional content and risk reduction measures, and therefore represents additional content and 

new work. 

In total, NASA anticipates providing SpaceX and OSC $128 million each in augmented funding via modifications to their respective funded COTS SAAs and via the 

CRS contract during FY 2011, utilizing Exploration funds under the FY 2011 FullYear Continuing Appropriations Act. To date, NASA has executed three SAA 

amendments (known as Quarter 1, Quarter 2, and Quarter 3/4 augmentations) for 

each COTS partner with respect to the augmentation milestones authorized by the 

NASA Authorization Act of 2010. These amendments outline the milestones that 

each partner must successfully complete before receiving associated NASA funding: 

For SpaceX, the augmentation milestones and associated funding will improve the 

chance of mission success by adding ground and flight testing, accelerating development of enhanced cargo capabilities, or further developing the ground infrastructure 

needed for commercial cargo capabilities. More specifically, the additional SpaceX 

milestones include rendezvous and proximity operations sensor testing, system level 

spacecraft testing (thermal vacuum electromagnetic interference, and acoustic testing), and infrastructure improvements at the launch, production and test sites. 

For OSC, the augmentation milestones and associated funding will support a 

maiden test flight of the Taurus II in the October 2011 timeframe, thereby helping 

to significantly reduce the risks associated with a new launch vehicle development. 

The milestones also enable additional software and control system testing. 

Commercial Resupply Services 

The ISS has transitioned from the construction era to an operations and research 

era, with a six-person permanent crew, three major science labs, and an operational 

lifetime through at least 2020. The ISS is the largest crewed spacecraft ever assembled, measuring 243 by 356 feet, with a habitable volume of over 30,000 cubic feet 

and a mass of 846,000 pounds, and is powered by arrays which generate over 

700,000 kilowatt-hours per year. The ISS represents a unique research capability, 

aboard which the United States and its partner nations can conduct a wide variety 

of research in biology, chemistry, physics and engineering fields that will help us 

better understand how to keep astronauts healthy and productive on long-duration 

space missions. In addition to conducting research in support of future human missions into deep space, astronauts aboard the ISS will carry out experiments with 

terrestrial applications. 

While the ISS is serviced by a fleet of cargo vehicles, including the Russian 

Progress vehicle, European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), and Japanese H–II 

Transfer Vehicle (HTV), NASA will be depending on U.S. industry to provide resupply services to and from the Station following the retirement of the Space Shuttle. 

On December 23, 2008, NASA awarded CRS contracts to OSC and SpaceX for the 

delivery of cargo to the ISS after the retirement of the Shuttle. The companies will 

enable operation of vehicles that can: 1) fly to the ISS orbit; 2) operate in close proximity to the ISS and other docked vehicles; 3) dock to ISS; and, 4) remain docked 

for extended periods of time. NASA anticipates that both providers will have their 

systems operational in 2012. 
26 

The CRS contracts are firm-fixed price, Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity 

procurements with a period of performance through Dec. 30, 2015. The contract allows the contractor to make deliveries for one year following the end of the period 

of performance. This allows the contractors adequate time to complete missions ordered for CY 2015 that may move into CY 2016. The contracts are based on milestone payments scheduled in terms of months from launch, and the payment plan 

must meet the current requirements of the payment clause. For example, total milestone payments through Mission Integration Review shall not exceed 50 percent of 

the mission cost. The contracts allow the flexibility to add or modify mission payments in the work plans to accommodate specific mission tasks. Under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Pt. 12 commercial services contracts, payments are 

viewed as financing payments to the contractor. The government pays incrementally 

for an end item service to avoid the cost of financing that would be levied in the 

overall mission price if payment was not made until the end. This is a standard 

practice for launch services contract. Even though these are financing payments, the 

CRS contractors are required to demonstrate that they are making key progress toward providing the service and therefore the payments are typically tied to major 

reviews or manufacturing milestones. 

NASA ordered 12 CRS flights valued at $1.59 billion from SpaceX. 

• SpaceX will provide pressurized and unpressurized upmass and return services. 

• SpaceX currently has completed 14 funding milestones for the four CRS missions in process in FY 2011. In addition, one more CRS mission may be 

turned on if progress continues. Finally, two milestones in support of COTS 

demonstration cargo have been paid. 

• The schedule margin that existed when the CRS contracts were initially 

awarded has gotten smaller over the last two years. Parallel development and 

mission activities have been challenging for a relatively small company that 

depends heavily on in-house capabilities, yet both cargo and external integration activities have begun and are proceeding. This next year will demonstrate the company’s ability to manage multiple missions. The first SpaceX 

CRS flight is currently scheduled for late January 2012, and the company is 

currently slated to fly three CRS missions each fiscal year from 2012 through 

2015. The January 2012 date is dependent on SpaceX’s successful completion 

of its COTS demo flights. 

To date, NASA has paid SpaceX $181 million for 14 CRS mission milestones and 

$4.8 million for two demonstration cargo milestones (the latter from the above-mentioned augmentation funding). 

NASA ordered eight CRS flights valued at $1.88 billion from OSC. 

• OSC will provide pressurized upmass and disposal services. 

• OSC currently has completed seven additional funding milestones for three 

CRS missions in process in FY 2011. 

• OSC uses a different mission model than the in-house focused work of 

SpaceX—one which involves using proven suppliers. The distributed network 

of suppliers helps with the multiple mission flows, and OSC has demonstrated an understanding of cargo and mission integration interfaces and 

processes. 

• The company is relying on NASA assets at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi (for engine testing) and Wallops Flight Facility (for launch vehicle 

processing and integration). 

• The first OSC CRS flight is currently scheduled for the end of the first quarter of calendar year 2012, and the company is currently slated to fly two CRS 

missions each fiscal year from 2012 through 2015. 

To date, NASA has paid OSC $273 million for 11 CRS mission milestones and 

$7.5 million for two demonstration cargo milestones (the latter from the above-mentioned augmentation funding). 

NASA has considerable insight into the progress that SpaceX and OSC are making during the demonstration missions and for the CRS milestones that have been 

given Authority to Proceed, or are in process. The program has weekly meetings 

with representatives of the companies to discuss schedule and technical issues. Both 

CRS providers are making progress on their missions, and this year will be key to 

demonstrating that their mission profiles are achievable. A number of challenges 

confront both CRS providers, as even successful new rockets tend to require adjustments following their initial launches. In addition, new spacecraft themselves re-
27 

quire adjustments—both ATV and HTV required upgrades between their first and 

second missions—and they must be integrated with their launch vehicles. Additional 

challenges arise from the difficulties inherent in mastering automated rendezvous, 

proximity operations, and docking with a crewed spacecraft. While these tasks have 

been demonstrated many times by the Russian Progress vehicle, and twice each by 

the European ATV and Japanese HTV, the technologies and techniques required for 

their achievement are difficult, but clearly not impossible, to develop. 

All commercial cargo vehicles intended to dock or berth to the ISS must meet the 

same visiting vehicle standards for each of their ISS missions. These requirements 

are laid out in the ISS Visiting Vehicle Requirements document. These standards 

include requirements for automated rendezvous and joint proximity operations, 

physical and software interfaces, and overall safety. These requirements are consistent with those provided for the ATV and HTV. NASA has been working closely 

with the commercial partners through the demonstration phase and will continue 

to work with them through the CRS missions to ensure that each mission meets 

these requirements. 

There is now little to no schedule margin for significant delays in the CRS missions, and this is a risk for consistent cargo resupply to the ISS. NASA is pre-positioning maintenance and logistics items on the final Space Shuttle mission as a contingency to mitigate any risk to ISS operations due to a delay in the availability 

of the CRS vehicles. The final Shuttle mission, STS–135, is targeted for launch in 

early July. During the STS–135 mission, Atlantis will carry the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module to deliver critical supplies, logistics and spare parts for the 

ISS, as well as a system to investigate the potential for robotically refueling existing 

spacecraft. This will help reduce the risk to ISS operations and maintenance should 

the CRS vehicles not meet their current launch dates. If the contracted commercial 

cargo services are not available at the beginning of calendar year 2012, there would 

be minimal impact to ISS operations. If commercial cargo services are not available 

by the end of calendar year 2012, there would be a reduction in utilization of the 

ISS. In that case, NASA would have to consider reducing the Station’s crew size to 

three in order to conserve supplies; this would in turn result in a reduced ability 

to conduct research aboard ISS. The final Shuttle flight will give the ISS the flexibility to maintain a six-person crew into FY 2013 without any commercial cargo 

flights, effectively increasing the schedule margin by about a year. 

Another risk reduction option is the availability of the ATV and HTV spacecraft. 

NASA already relies on bartered cargo transportation services provided by the European Space Agency and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency using these vehicles, and such barter agreements could be used to ensure a limited U.S. cargo delivery capacity, on the currently planned vehicles, as a stop-gap measure until the 

CRS vehicles are operationally available. NASA has also purchased cargo delivery 

services from the Russian Space Agency through 2011, though there are no plans 

to extend this service beyond the end of this year. 

NASA has contracted for a minimum of 40 metric tons of cargo delivered to the 

ISS from 2011 through 2015 under the CRS contracts, and the Agency plans to continue to rely on CRS for cargo transportation beyond FY 2015. This will require new 

contract action by NASA. NASA is counting on its CRS suppliers to carry cargo to 

maintain the ISS. It is hoped that these capabilities, initially developed to serve the 

Station, may find other customers as well, and encourage the development of further space capabilities and applications and the LEO economy. 

Summary 

Chairman Palazzo and Members of this Subcommittee, I would summarize by saying again that NASA is pleased with the steady progress both companies continue 

to make in their cargo development efforts. I would also like to conclude my remarks by thanking you again for your continued support for NASA and its human 

spaceflight programs, including our commercial cargo efforts. I would be pleased to 

respond to any questions you or the other Members of the Subcommittee may have. 
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Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you, Mr. Gerstenmaier. 

I now recognize our second witness, Ms. Cristina Chaplain, Director of Acquisition and Sourcing Management for the U.S. Government Accountability Office. 

STATEMENT OF MS. CRISTINA CHAPLAIN, DIRECTOR, ACQUISITION AND SOURCING MANAGEMENT, U.S. GOVERNMENT 

ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 

Ms. CHAPLAIN. Mr. Chairman and acting Ranking Member 

Costello, thank you for asking the GAO’s views for today’s hearing. 

Our testimony provides more details on the current status of the 

COTS Program, reasons for delays, milestones that have been recently added, and our perspectives on the use of Space Act Agreements for COTS. 

I would like to make a few points based on our COTS work as 

well as broader work on government space acquisitions. We assessed the COTS Program in 2009, and found that the program incorporated criteria and processes that help provide insight into the 

progress of the COTS providers. We also found that while progress 

had been made in developing the COTS vehicles, there were development risks that could slow down the effort and schedules were 

aggressive. 

Since our report the COTS partners have experienced schedule 

delays. The delays reflect a combination of inherent risks associated with development efforts and some schedule optimism. NASA 

has added money to further stem delays as well as reduce risks. 

For example, by adding testing activities it would normally undertake in the development of its own launch vehicles and spacecraft. 

NASA is also taking steps to lessen the impact of the COTS 

delay on the utilization of the ISS, for example, by pre-positioning 

spares. These steps seem reasonable, particularly because the landscape for COTS has changed considerably since our last report. 

Principally, when COTS was started, NASA envisioned that the 

Ares launch vehicle and Orion Capsule would be available to initially service the Space Station. Now it is unknown when any mass 

of vehicles will be available, and reliance on COTS has grown. In 

other words, the COTS Program has been elevated from plan B to 

plan A. 

While reasonable steps are being taken to address risks, there is 

still no guarantee that this approach will deliver results when 

needed. It is likely additional delays will occur, and additional 

money may be needed. At the same time, it is important to recognize a significant amount of progress has been made within a relatively short period of time and within a reasonable cost. Moreover, 

the approach offers NASA lessons in new ways of doing business. 

In addition, regardless of whether NASA is acquiring a capability 

or service under traditional contracts or more non-traditional arrangements like Space Act Agreements, it is important that the 

fundamentals of good management persist. These include ensuring 

decisions are based on concrete quantitative and qualitative knowledge, delaying program starts until critical technologies are invented and understood, developing sound cost and schedule estimates, providing transparency and accountability for oversight, 
31 

having the right incentives for partners, and having strong risk 

management plans and practices. 

Overall, we have found that these fundamentals tend not to be 

fully present in either traditional or commercial-like approaches. 

Going forward it will be important for both NASA and the commercial sector to also avoid hinging strategies on assumptions that we 

know negatively impacted previous efforts to adopt commercial-like 

approaches in space. These assumptions include such things as 

one, a commercial-like approach requires very little or no government involvement, and two, by backing off the government is guaranteed it will receive a product faster, better, and cheaper. 

In conclusion, given the critical need, the government bears the 

risk for having to make additional investments to get what it 

wants when it wants. The additional investment required, however, 

can be lessened by ensuring that accurate knowledge about requirements, costs, schedule, and risk is achieved early on and used 

to make decisions. 

Thank you. This concludes my statement. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Chaplain follows:] 
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Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you, Ms. Chaplain. 

I now recognize our third witness, Mr. Frank Culbertson, Senior 

Vice President and Deputy General Manager of the Advanced Programs Group at the Orbital Sciences Corporation. 

STATEMENT OF MR. FRANK CULBERTSON, JR., SENIOR VICE 

PRESIDENT AND DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER, ADVANCED 

PROGRAMS GROUP, ORBITAL SCIENCES CORPORATION 

Mr. CULBERTSON. Good morning Chairman Palazzo, Ranking 

Member Costello and Chairman Hall and Members of the Subcommittee. It is an honor to be a participant with this distinguished panel as we address commercial cargo delivery to low 

earth orbit and the status of the Orbital Sciences Corporation development of that capability to help maximize the return on investment from the International Space Station. 

Before I go further, though, I would like to note the absence of 

our stalwart space supporter, Representative Gabrielle Giffords, 

whose presence in this discussion is sorely missed. I certainly join 

all of you in continuing to hope and pray for her speedy recovery 

and for her return soon to provide us with her candor and ardor. 

I also want to recognize the success to date of the crew of Endeavor and combined with the ISS crew under Mark Kelly’s leadership, as well as the entire Shuttle team around the country for 

their commitment in excellence. This country owes that team a lot. 

Mark, by the way, was the pilot on Endeavor on my most recent 

return home from the ISS. So we go way back. 

It is especially fitting that we are meeting one day after the 50th 

anniversary of President Kennedy’s speech boldly committing our 

Nation to landing on the moon. However, it is not entirely clear to 

me what our Nation’s, or the world’s, next audacious goal in space 

will be, but I know for sure that the next great achievement will 

not be possible without maximum safe, efficient, and continuous 

use of the ISS as a waypoint on that journey. Just as Mercury, 

Gemini, X–1, and X–15 paved the way for Apollo and Shuttle, the 

ISS, through effective use of both commercial and government 

transportation systems, will pave the way for human exploration of 

the rest of the solar system. 

Its potential as a national research laboratory, a development 

center, and an engineering test bed must be fully realized in order 

to take the higher-risk steps necessary to send crews beyond lowearth orbit for extended periods of time. 

Mr. Chairman, you have asked us to cover a lot of ground in a 

short time today, so I have submitted a very thorough written testimony which covers our program status fully, as well as addresses 

the specific questions we were asked. I have also as requested provided you with a one-page summary of the points I will address 

briefly in the time allotted. 

Our launch vehicle and launch facilities are on track for our first 

launch, as was mentioned, in October of this year. Our Cygnus 

Spacecraft is scheduled for its demonstration flight to the ISS with 

birthing in December of this year. You will be able to see both of 

those launches from here by the way, a real treat for Washington, 

I think. 
56 

Our cargo services will begin in earnest in March, 2012, with deliveries approximately every six months after that. So even though 

it is a challenging schedule and there are risks to it, we feel very 

strongly that by the end of 2012, we will have flown four flights. 

Orbital was awarded a $170 million COTS Space Act Agreement 

in February of 2008, in a second-chance competition after one of 

the first two awardees was dropped by NASA. That is a very important fact. We received significantly less funding and a later 

start than the predecessors. 

Some other pertinent facts that I think are important. The Taurus II development decision and corporate funding preceded the 

COTS award. This was being done on Orbital money. Spacecraft 

development began to move forward aggressively after NASA’s 

commitment to invest in our program in February of 2008. 

This is a compressed development schedule compared to traditional government programs. It has challenges, but it is using commercial development and production practices with NASA insight. 

We provide complete transparency to the NASA team. However, 60 

percent of the investment in this is from Orbital. 

Human rating requirements are met through NASA oversight in 

specific reviews of the—our ability to meet those requirements. Our 

COTS development is fixed funding under a Space Act Agreement, 

the base Space Act plus the augmentation. Our CRS contract is 

firm fixed price, and there is a difference under a FAR-based services contract. This contract was awarded approximately 10 months 

after we were awarded COTS in December of 2008. 

We do use earned value management tools to control cost and 

schedule, and currently our internal budgeted costs of work on the 

Taurus II Program is 95 percent complete. 

To briefly review, some of our major accomplishments to date, 

the decision to use Wallops Flight Facility was made in a very 

carefully and methodical fashion. It created over 300 new jobs just 

in the construction alone. The Commonwealth of Virginia and the 

MARS, Mid-Atlantic Regional Space Port, provided financial backing at the start and are the space port developers. 

NASA has completed a horizontal integration facility. The payload processing facility and the launch pad and liquid fueling facility are 90 percent complete with certifications of acceptance to 

begin in July and static test firing in September. Our three teams 

are working very closely together. The first two tank sets of our 

Taurus II have arrived at Wallops. Checkout is continuing. We 

have tested three of our Aerojet AJ26 engines, and engine four will 

be tested next week. 

Our Cygnus Spacecraft is proceeding quickly and rapidly through 

our integration and test per our ISO certified processes and will go 

through a complete standard orbital environmental testing this 

summer. The first of four cargo modules—the first four cargo modules are complete or in work. 

Very briefly, I wish to respond to the three questions provided 

by the Subcommittee. The first is: what risk reduction milestones 

were funded by the COTS Augmentation? We have eight milestones addressing the test flight that has been mentioned. They 

support integration readiness and launch, and then we have two 
57 

milestones that support additional simulators to help NASA better 

understand our control systems. 

the second question is: What launch failure contingency planning 

do we have in place? Mr. Chairman, I can assure you that Orbital 

is placing maximum emphasis on identifying and controlling risks, 

as well as insuring that testing and analysis are in place to minimize the chance of failure. This includes taking the position that 

safety and mission success will never be a lower priority than 

schedule, which will occasionally result in delays as you have seen. 

We use every available company resource, every bit of engineering 

expertise, everyone’s operational experience, as well as the advice 

and insight of both NASA and our team of outside experts to maintain the correct perspective and priorities. 

If we do have a failure, the response will depend on what that 

failure is and what the root cause is. However, we will always have 

three to five vehicles and launch vehicles in process at any one 

time so the stand down should be minimal if we are able to quickly 

resolve the problem. 

Our biggest challenges, technical is the launch site development, 

the cost and schedule, and then meeting the safety review panel requirements which turn out to be a very positive experience. On the 

business side, design and development effort under a fixed price 

model is very challenging. Setting prices for services long before development is complete or the NASA mission requirements are well 

defined is something that is not usually done. 

But these are challenges that we accept for the good of the Nation and certainly are worth the risk when you take the long view 

on human spaceflight. We established a new model for industry 

and government relationships. We have more flexibility in design 

and provide a tremendous value for the government over the life 

of the contract. 

In conclusion, we hope that these responses will help to serve the 

needs of the Subcommittee as you work with NASA to help ensure 

that more use of the private sector and support of critical space 

program objectives is successful. We at Orbital are proud that 

NASA has selected us to participate in COTS and CRS. This partnership has energized our company and our dedicated employees as 

well as our superb teammates to be fully committed to executing 

this mission in support of human spaceflight and exploration as 

safely and efficiently as possible. 

The enthusiasm and innovativeness I see around our team are 

truly contagious. Thank you, again, for this opportunity. I look forward to your questions, and I apologize for running over. I had to 

use very small font on that thing as you can see. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Culbertson follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MR. FRANK L. CULBERTSON, JR., SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT

AND DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER, ADVANCED PROGRAMS GROUP, ORBITAL

SCIENCES CORPORATION

Good morning Chairman Palazzo, Ranking Member Costello and members of the 

subcommittee. I appreciate the opportunity to participate in this hearing regarding 

the status of our commercial cargo delivery capabilities to low earth orbit. Our job 

on this program is to help maximize our nation’s return on investment in the remarkable orbiting facility known as the International Space Station. 

It is especially fitting that this hearing is being held one day after the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy’s speech to Congress boldly committing our nation to 
58 

landing a man on the moon. It’s not entirely clear to me, however, exactly what our 

nation’s—or the world’s—next audacious goal will be in space, but I know for sure 

that the next big achievement will not be possible without maximum safe, efficient, 

and continuous use of the International Space Station as a waypoint on that journey. Just as Mercury, Gemini, X–1, and X–15 paved the way for Apollo and Shuttle, 

the ISS, with the help of both commercial and government transportation systems, 

will pave the way for human exploration of the rest of the Solar System. Its potential as a National Research Laboratory, development center, and engineering test 

bed must be fully realized in order to take the higher risk steps necessary to send 

crews beyond low-earth orbit for extended periods of time, as well as to justify the 

extensive investment by the US and all of our partners in this complex and highly 

capable facility. 

Orbital Sciences Corporation is proud to have been selected by NASA in 2008 to 

be one of the participants in NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services 

(COTS) and related Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) programs. This partnership between NASA and private industry has energized our company- which next 

year will mark 30 years of building and operating some of our nation’s most advanced and innovative launch vehicle, spacecraft and satellite systems-to develop 

dependable means of launching cargo and supplies to the ISS, and disposing of 

unneeded waste, following the retirement of the Space Shuttle. When I left the astronaut corps, I had spent over 20 years of my NASA career, plus my Navy service, 

working diligently to ensure safety of flight and mission success. When I joined Orbital, I immediately recognized a company team that had a similar focus, and a 

record of tremendous innovation with such vehicles as the Pegasus air launched 

rocket and the Minotaur launch vehicle. Our work force is skilled, extremely dedicated to the mission at hand, and individually accountable for meeting our performance and safety requirements. I’ve had the privilege of working with superb organizations in the Navy and at NASA, and I now consider it a privilege to be a part 

of an Orbital team that can stand toe-to-toe with any in the government. 

Even prior to Orbital’s partnership with NASA in the COTS program, we were 

developing, with our own funding, a new medium-class space launch vehicle, the 

Taurus II. Taurus II is a two-stage vehicle-with an optional third stage-that will 

provide low-Earth orbit launch capabilities for payloads weighing over 5,000 kg and 

access to geosynchronous orbit for smaller spacecraft. This vehicle will provide responsive, low-cost, and reliable access to space not only for CRS missions, but also 

for national security payloads, NASA science payloads, and certain commercial satellites as well. The Cygnus advanced maneuvering spacecraft is capable of carrying 

up to 2700 kg of cargo to the ISS, and possesses a multi-use potential as well. It 

can be used as a maneuvering and hosting spacecraft for a variety of government 

and private sector customers. 

One unique aspect of our involvement in COTS/CRS is that we will initially 

launch the Taurus II and Cygnus cargo delivery spacecraft from NASA’s Flight Facility at Wallops Island, Virginia. While Kennedy Space Center provides outstanding 

launch service to a wide variety of users, and remains a potential future site for 

Taurus II operations, Orbital, NASA, and the Commonwealth of Virginia have committed significant financial and technical resources to enable the United States to 

have a second major east coast launch facility, providing resiliency and flexibility 

to our nation’s space launch capabilities. An added item of interest about Wallops 

is that members of Congress (and others) can actually view Taurus II launches at 

this space port from the Capitol Building, so we hope through these launch activities to generate renewed interest in space flight locally and throughout the six-state 

Mid-Atlantic region. 

COTS/CRS provides a new model for U.S. government/private-sector collaboration 

to develop and operate dual-use space systems. In this collaboration, Orbital has 

contributed about 60 percent of the development costs for launch vehicle, cargo delivery and disposal systems, and much of the ground-support infrastructure, up 

front. This high level of investment from a private company recognizes the potential 

benefits of having a consistent customer in NASA for cargo delivery and disposal 

in support of the ISS’s logistics needs in the near future, and also requires us to 

work hard to develop new markets for a variety of other users. 

The Orbital COTS Program will literally get off the ground with a test of the Taurus II launch system in early fall. Our current target date for the Taurus II test 

launch from launch pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Space Port (MARS) on 

Wallops Island is mid-October. Our Orbital/MARS/NASA team of over 400 scientists, engineers and technicians, including our teammates from around the industry, is working with great dedication toward this major milestone. Yet as we look 

forward to the first launch of Taurus II, we are well aware that there are significant 

risks to the schedule, as there are in any major aerospace development program. 
59 

Orbital and our government partners are developing a rocket, a spacecraft, and a 

launch and control infrastructure simultaneously. This is a significant undertaking, 

which for the most part has gone extremely well. The Taurus II vehicle planned for 

the Test Launch is currently undergoing tests at the newly opened Horizontal Integration Facility, or HIF, at Wallops Island. The MARS-developed launch pad and 

liquid fueling facility are completing construction, and will begin certification testing 

in early July. 

Like most of the aerospace industry, Orbital uses Earned Value Management Systems to track our progress on schedule and cost performance. I can tell you today 

that based on our internal budgeted costs of work scheduled we are 95 percent complete with Taurus II development and have completed successfully the first 41 

months of the 46 month Taurus II schedule. There is also great progress to report 

at Wallops, where the HIF and Payload Processing Facility are essentially ready to 

support launches. Development of the launch pad and related support facilities is 

90 percent complete. 

With respect to development of the Cygnus Advanced Maneuvering Spacecraft, 

the first flight unit is on track for a December 2011 launch that will demonstrate 

our capabilities of providing cargo to the ISS. We developed Cygnus on an aggressive 45 month schedule, and are on track to finish the final six months on time. 

The Cygnus Service Module for the Demonstration mission is being assembled at 

our Dulles, VA, facility, and has begun our normal ISO-certified Integration and 

Test process, which will be followed by thorough environmental testing of the fully 

assembled spacecraft, tests which we require prior to launch for all of our spacecraft. 

The service module for our first CRS mission is in the manufacturing flow as well, 

following closely behind the Demonstration mission hardware, and hardware for the 

second CRS mission is arriving at the plant. The hardware acceptance review for 

our Pressurized Cargo Module (PCM) is occurring this week with our industrial 

partner, Thales Alenia, with the PCM and its support equipment being essentially 

complete and ready for shipment to the US. Last December we completed a very 

successful cargo loading demonstration of the PCM to be used for the first CRS mission, and just this month we conducted a very successful crew equipment interface 

test with the astronauts and representatives from NASA’s mission operations directorate in the actual PCM slated for the COTS Demonstration mission. 

The COTS Demonstration mission in December will mark the first use of a dedicated Mission Control Center for Cygnus flight operations. Mission Control Center 

Dulles, a state of the art facility at Orbital’s headquarters five miles north of Dulles 

airport, was dedicated last November, with the participation of NASA Administrator 

Charles Bolden, and our operators will work hand in hand with ISS Mission Control 

at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, and other ISS partner nation control centers, to 

manage the critical rendezvous and berthing of the Cygnus at the ISS. The COTS 

demonstration mission will be a culmination of all the hard work that has gone into 

the design, development, and the safety reviews for operations in proximity with the 

ISS, as well as the many hours of joint testing we are conducting with NASA. Orbital has worked closely with NASA to move further into the ISS Human 

Spaceflight mode of operation, successfully completing the first two phases of 

NASA’s Safety Review Panel, and are well on the path to completing the requirements of the third and final Safety Review Panel, a prerequisite for approaching the 

Space Station. 

Success on the December COTS demonstration mission will then lead directly to 

CRS, the actual contract covering the repetitive delivery of cargo to the ISS, with 

two Orbital CRS missions slated every year from 2012 to 2015. Again, this is a very 

ambitious schedule, and we will know with greater certainty the exact dates to target for cargo delivery once we have the experience of our first test launch and demonstration flight. 

To address our current schedule status versus the original program plan, there 

are two significant factors that prevented us from achieving the original target 

dates for the COTS demonstration: First, the change from an unpressurized cargo 

module to a pressurized cargo module, executed at Orbital expense in response to 

a desire from NASA to duplicate the requirements of the CRS contract on the Demonstration mission; and secondly, the unexpected challenges encountered in the development of a minimally equipped Pad 0A into the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Medium Class Launch Facility at Wallops Island. These challenges have been 

addressed, and while all activities are not yet complete, the threats to the remaining 

schedule are small compared to what we have encountered in the past two years. 

That in summary is our progress to date. Our Orbital-NASA partnership for the 

development of a cargo delivery capability to ISS is on track, moving ahead steadily, 

and, in fact, nearing completion. 
60 

The subcommittee has also asked Orbital to respond to three specific questions, 

which I’m pleased to do. First, you asked about the justification and rationale for 

each of the risk-reduction milestones funded by the COTS Augmentation that was 

supported by Congress in the FY 2010 NASA Authorization Bill. 

Some history may be useful in this regard. The original NASA COTS competition for $500M resulted in NASA selecting Space X and Kistler Aerospace for the program in August 2006, with Space X receiving the majority of the funding, and 

Kistler a lesser amount of the $500M. After NASA decided to terminate its funded 

space act agreement with Kistler, the remaining $170 million was re-competed and 

awarded to Orbital in February 2008. In determining how best to utilize the reduced 

funding available for COTS, Orbital was placed in the position of bidding a single 

demonstration mission along with the development of the Cygnus spacecraft. 

Both the Orbital and NASA COTS program offices recognized the elevated risk 

in the plan for launching the first Cygnus maneuvering spacecraft on the first Taurus II launch vehicle flight. Due to the limited funding remaining in the program, 

however, this was viewed as a necessity. There is acceptance in the industry that 

first flight missions of new launch vehicles historically have elevated risk associated 

with them, largely due to the complexity inherent in launch vehicles, the necessarily 

small margins of safety in vehicle designs to meet performance-to-orbit goals, and 

the fact that critical elements of the launch vehicle can never be fully tested in exact 

flight-like conditions through ground testing. 

When the possibility of additional funding for risk reduction was presented, Orbital and NASA mutually agreed that a Test Flight of the Taurus II launch vehicle 

prior to the COTS demonstration mission was the best use of risk reduction funding. 

This approach added significant content and value to the program as well as an additional meaningful test of the system. The concept for the Test Flight is to launch 

a Taurus II vehicle with an instrumented Payload Simulator that mimics the mass 

properties and other key characteristics of the Cygnus spacecraft. This Test Flight 

would verify the operation of the launch vehicle and also return valuable launchenvironment data from the Payload Simulator. After completing the test flight, the 

COTS Demonstration mission can be properly focused on the operation of the Cygnus spacecraft and its rendezvous and proximity operations with the ISS. 

Therefore, in the context of the above discussion of risk at the programmatic level 

for the COTS program, Orbital and NASA worked together to develop the 10 COTS 

Augmentation Milestones that authorized the Test Flight as a top priority, and then 

added other Cygnus-related risk reduction elements to the program that were 

deemed beneficial to reducing risk on the spacecraft. Milestones 25 and 26 require 

the development and installation of additional ground simulators of the Cygnus system to facilitate joint testing and verification between NASA and Orbital prior to 

acceptance for flight. Milestones 22–24 and 27–31 are associated with deliveries of 

key components of the test flight and completion of critical readiness reviews. The 

criteria for success are clearly described for each of the milestones in an amendment 

to the SAA. 

To further discuss the addition of the test flight and the risk that Orbital assumed in adding content to the program, a typical launch service procurement spans 

24 months. This span is necessary to authorize subcontracts for long lead suppliers 

such that all hardware elements can be delivered to the launch site with sufficient 

time to integrate and test the launch vehicle prior to flight. In the case of Taurus 

II, the 2nd stage solid rocket motor is the longest lead item requiring 18–21 months 

lead time. The liquid first stage tanks require 18 months lead time. The plan to incorporate the Test Flight into the program is to utilize the first hardware set previously assigned to the COTS–Demo mission for the Test Flight, and then to re-assign the second hardware set previously assigned to Orb-1 CRS mission to COTS– 

Demo, and so on. In this way, the earliest opportunity for the Test Flight can be 

accommodated while minimizing the impact to the COTS–Demo launch date. 

To protect for the possibility for the Test Flight, Orbital proceeded at risk in summer 2010 to order a replacement Stage 2 motor assembly from ATK along with 

other long lead purchases of ordnance and separation joints. This hardware was necessary to backfill the hardware queue to ensure later flights could still be executed 

on time given the insertion of the Test Flight into the manifest as the first flight 

of Taurus II. These long lead purchases were made prior to receiving any COTS 

Augmentation funds and prior to being sure that the COTS Augmentation funds 

would ultimately be added to the program due to the extended debate on the budget 

and continuing resolution in Congress. This decision to proceed at risk was based 

on Orbital’s desire to protect for the earliest opportunity for a Test Flight given the 

uncertain FY11 budget situation for NASA that existed last fall. Two incremental 

amendments to the COTS Space Act Agreement occurred prior to negotiation of the 

full suite of milestones authorizing the Test Flight mission. 
61 

Your second question was about Orbital’s plan to recover in the event of a launch 

failure or loss of a COTS demonstration flight or a CRS missions. I assure you that 

Orbital is placing maximum emphasis on identifying and addressing risks, as well 

as ensuring that testing and analysis are in place to minimize the chance of failure. 

Based on my experience in this high-risk, high-reward business, the most significant 

thing an organization can do is to inculcate in its members from top to bottom the 

strong belief that we will do everything possible to successfully complete our mission, and that each person who has a job to do on the project will be held to the 

highest level of accountability for their work. This includes taking the approach that 

safety and mission success will never be a lower priority than schedule, which will 

occasionally result in delays. And that we are doing, including using every company 

resource, engineering expertise, and operational experience available, as well as the 

advice and insight of both NASA and our own outside experts. Yet, if we do suffer 

a setback, as occasionally happens in this business, what we will do to recover, and 

our schedule for recovery will very much depend upon the circumstances of the setback, what is learned from a careful review of the available data to determine root 

cause, and what corrective actions are necessary to be taken. An additional factor 

to consider is that since we will have three or four Cygnus spacecraft and four or 

five Taurus II vehicles in production at any one time, we will be able to quickly 

move to the next mission and provide the needed cargo, providing we are able to 

identify and correct the cause quickly. This makes a lengthy stand-down in operations unlikely. Having participated in accident investigations in both NASA and 

the Navy, I know that it is impossible to tell exactly what course will be followed 

in recovering from an accident, but having the correct program discipline, data retention, and attention to detail prior to an incident will facilitate that recovery. We 

have instilled those values in our team, which should also minimize the chance of 

it occurring. 

Finally, you have asked Orbital to discuss the biggest challenges confronting us 

in the development and demonstration of our launch and cargo systems. I will address some of the technical challenges for the launch vehicle first: 

The development of a new launch vehicle system is a very complex and expensive 

task. If the development is done from scratch, meaning that every subsystem and 

component and software item is brand new, it is an extremely difficult task to complete on schedule and on budget. 

In the case of Taurus II and Cygnus, Orbital is able to take advantage of many 

heritage flight-proven design features. These include: 

a. Launch vehicle avionics—Using heritage common hardware for flight control 

and sequencing, navigation, flight termination, tracking, and telemetry subsystems. 

These common subsystems are used on Minotaur, Pegasus, Taurus XL, and GroundBased Midcourse Defense Orbital Boost Vehicle. 

b. Launch vehicle software—Using Object-Oriented code base common across Orbital rocket programs. 

c. Stage 1 tanks structure—Using 3.9m diameter core based directly on the Zenit 

Ukranian launch vehicle design, using same pressurization components as Zenit. 

d. Stage 1 Propulsion—Using existing AJ26 LOX/RP engines with large stock in 

inventory at Aerojet. 

e. Stage 2 Propulsion—Using Castor 30 motor assembly built by ATK based on 

Castor 120 heritage design. 

f. Cygnus Service Module—Star Bus and Leo Star heritage design for propulsion, 

command and data handling systems, and software 

g. Pressurized Cargo Module—Thales Alenia heritage for the development of pressurized modules for NASA and ESA, to include several ISS pressurized modules. 

However, there are other critical program areas where Taurus II was not able to 

utilize heritage designs and new developments were required: 

a. Launch Pad With Liquid Fueling Facility—Despite performing extensive 

searches early in the program, there was no launch pad available on a US federal 

range that could accommodate the Taurus II vehicle without significant modification. A new launch pad was therefore required, and a trade study between Florida/ 

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Virginia/NASA Wallops Flight Facility was 

conducted. Wallops was ultimately selected and Pad 0A was razed and completely 

rebuilt to accommodate a medium class liquid rocket. 

b. Stage 1 Propulsion Test Facility—Despite performing a search through the National Rocket Propulsion Test Alliance (NRPTA), no existing stage test facility was 

available that could accommodate the Taurus II vehicle Stage 1 Static Fire Test 

without significant upgrade/modification or modernization. It was decided to utilize 

Launch Pad 0A as the stage test facility and pad systems were designed and built 

at increased cost to accommodate the increased loads on the pad induced by the 

Stage 1 Static Test firing. 
62 

c. Stage 1 Engine Propulsion Test Facility—After performing a search through the 

NRPTA for a test stand to use for single engine testing for the AJ26 engine, two 

were identified as primary candidates—one at the Air Force Research Laboratory/ 

Edwards AFB, and one at the NASA Stennis Space Center. However, both stands 

required significant funding to bring to a test ready condition. The Stennis E–1 

stand was chosen but had to be significantly modified from horizontal test configuration to vertical test configuration along with other areas of modification. 

The above three areas of the program that required significant development resources to be applied constituted the biggest challenges to the development of the 

Taurus II launch vehicle. The fixed price nature of the COTS program funding 

meant that cost and schedule overruns experienced during the development of the 

three facilities listed above were largely the responsibility of Orbital to resolve. 

Some may see the challenge of estimating costs for the fixed price Cargo Resupply 

Contract so soon after our late award of the recompeted COTS SAA, and before development costs or risks were completely understood as a significant risk, and in 

many ways it is. This issue is somewhat offset by the fact that a contract was indeed awarded, and provided we execute the contract well, this will somewhat justify 

both the risk and expense of the development effort. It is true, however, that the 

CRS contract is a financial risk to Orbital, requiring the submittal of fixed delivery 

mission prices so far in advance of the actual mission execution, with the period of 

performance spanning a five year period, and before critical development risks were 

completely identified or addressed. 

In summary, the biggest challenge to the company is that a complex program with 

three major new elements is being developed in essentially a fixed price environment through Space Act Agreements, which provide no company protection for cost 

overruns or changes in government requirements. And the subsequent business is 

also fixed price and totally dependent on the success of the work under the SAA. 

These are challenges that Orbital accepts as good for the nation in the long run, 

and worth the risk from a long-term business viewpoint. It is important to take a 

long view on this job. The ISS must be successfully resupplied, possibly for decades. 

It’s true that the technical challenges are also large, but these will be resolved over 

time by the professionals working the program. 

We hope these responses will help serve the needs of the subcommittee as you 

work with NASA to help ensure that our nation’s new path forward to utilize the 

private sector in support of critical space program objectives is successful. Our company and our team recognize that we have an important role in the ISS mission, 

and we will take all of the steps necessary with our NASA partner to ensure that 

our flights are safe and missions successful. Thank you again for the opportunity 

to testify before this important hearing. 
63 

BIOGRAPHY FOR MR. FRANK CULBERTSON, JR., SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND DEPUTY

GENERAL MANAGER, ADVANCED PROGRAMS GROUP, ORBITAL SCIENCES CORPORATION

Frank Culbertson is Senior Vice President and Deputy General 

Manager of Orbital’s Advanced Programs Group. In this capacity, 

Mr. Culbertson’s responsibilities include the execution and performance of all Orbital programs related to human space flight including the Commercial Orbital Transportation System and Commercial Resupply Services Programs as well as the Launch Abort 

System Program for the Orion spacecraft. Prior to this position at 

Orbital, Mr. Culbertson was a Senior Vice President at SAIC, following an eighteen-year career as a NASA Astronaut. 

He has flown three space missions and logged over 144 days in 

space as shuttle commander, pilot, and station crewmember. His 

last mission launched on the Shuttle Endeavour and lasted for 129 

days, from August 10 until December 17, 2001. During that mission, he lived and worked aboard the International Space Station 

for 125 days and was in command of the Station for 117 days. Mr. 

Culbertson also held several key management positions within the 

NASA Shuttle and ISS programs and was Program Manager of the 

Shuttle-Mir Program. 

Mr. Culbertson is a 1971 graduate of the US Naval Academy at 

Annapolis. He was a naval aviator, a fighter pilot, and a test pilot, 

and he retired from the Navy as a Captain in 1997. Mr. Culbertson 

has received numerous honors, including the Legion of Merit, the 

Navy Flying Cross, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the NAA/ 

FAI Gagarin Gold Medal, and the NASA Distinguished Service 

Medal. 
64 

Chairman PALAZZO. Well, you went over your time budget here, 

but we don’t want you to go over your time budget on the COTS 

or CRS. 

Mr. CULBERTSON. We are working it. 

Chairman PALAZZO. All right. I now recognize our final witness, 

Ms. Gwynne Shotwell, President of Space Exploration Technologies. 

STATEMENT OF MS. GWYNNE SHOTWELL, PRESIDENT OF 

SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Chairman Hall, Chairman Palazzo, and Ranking 

Member Costello and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for 

the opportunity to appear before you today and thank you, Congressman Flores, I am honored by your introduction and appreciate 

the support for the work that we do in the fine town of McGregor, 

Texas. 

SpaceX is an all-American company that was founded in 2002. 

Our singular goal was to provide safe, reliable, and cost-effective 

access to space for cargo and eventually crew. In just nine years 

the company has grown to over 1,300 men and women who embody 

the best American ideals of intelligence, hard work, ingenuity, and 

excellence. 

In an era of increased outsourcing and off shoring, especially in 

critical manufacturing technologies, SpaceX maintains an all-American workforce. Every day at SpaceX there are hundreds, nearly a 

thousand engineers and technicians bending metal, wiring circuits, 

testing engines, and pushing the boundaries of aerospace engineering and manufacturing. 

With the Space Shuttle’s imminent retirement I am pleased to 

testify that in partnership with NASA SpaceX is on track to support the ISS with cargo. Under the support and guidance of 

NASA’s innovative, cost-effective commercial Orbital Transportation Services Agreement, otherwise known as COTS, we have developed and successfully flown a launch vehicle that for the first 

time since the 1990s has brought launch dominance back to the 

United States. We are winning launches from French, from the 

Russians, and from the Chinese. 

In addition to this grand achievement and also under the guidance and support of NASA, we have developed, launched, operated 

on orbit, and reentered the Dragon Capsule. Notably, after the 

Shuttle retirement in just a few weeks Dragon will be the only capability of carrying cargo back from the International Space Station. 

On December 8, 2010—it was a great day—SpaceX became the 

first commercial company ever in the history to launch, reenter, 

and recover a spacecraft from earth’s orbit. From SpaceX Cape Canaveral launch site Falcon 9 lofted the Dragon spacecraft to where 

it orbited the earth twice before splashing down in the Pacific 

Ocean. The mission was truly an American success story. Until late 

last year only six nations have accomplished what we did, never a 

private company. These achievements are nothing short of extraordinary, and I am pleased to be able to share this success with you 

here today as well as our NASA partner. 
65 

Including last year’s mission SpaceX has completed 25 milestones under the COTS Agreement. Since 2006, NASA has paid us 

$298 million under the COTS Agreement. SpaceX has matched dollar for dollar NASA’s investment to date. It is critically important 

to understand that we only get paid when we complete milestones 

according to the success criteria laid out in our Space Act Agreement. We do not get paid merely for expending effort. We have to 

achieve something. 

If we overrun on an effort that we agreed to execute, we must 

make up for that difference either through investment or capital 

that comes from our operating expenses. The financial facts are important to digest here. The Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon 

spacecraft were each developed from a blank sheet to first flight in 

4–1/2 years for approximately $300 million each. 

SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 Dragon flight is on schedule to occur later 

this year. If all goes as planned, Dragon will berth with the International Space Station, deliver cargo, and return cargo to earth. 

The final parameters of this flight are under discussion with 

NASA. 

At NASA’s request SpaceX has been conducting additional tests, 

cargo enhancement studies and demonstration, and demonstrations 

on the spacecraft. These additions to our COTS Agreement are 

known as the augmentation milestones. They were designed to reduce overall risks, both technical and programmatic. Once COTS is 

complete SpaceX will begin regular cargo delivery to the International Space Station under our Commercial Resupply Services or 

CRS contract. 

Consequently, SpaceX is preparing for an increase in the number 

of Falcon 9 and Dragon flights per year by expanding our production capabilities, doubling our structural and production test facilities in Texas, and streamlining our production operations at both 

the Cape and Hawthorne, California. We are working diligently to 

ensure that we successfully meet the needs of our government and 

commercial customers. 

I would like to show a video that shows some of the capabilities 

that we have at our factory, our test site, and our launch site. It 

is a quick, one-minute video. 

[Video] 

I am slightly over, but Mr. Chairman, thank you for inviting 

SpaceX to participate in today’s hearing, and I do look forward to 

continue my cheerleading and answering your questions. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Shotwell follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MS. GWYNNE SHOTWELL, PRESIDENT, SPACE EXPLORATION

TECHNOLOGIES

Mr. Chairman, Congressman Costello and the Members of the Space Subcommittee, 

On behalf of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and our more than 1,300 

employees across the United States, I thank you for the opportunity to participate 

in today’s hearing. 

With the imminent retirement of the Space Shuttle and the United States’ forthcoming reliance on Russia to carry astronauts to the International Space Station 

(ISS), the readiness of commercial providers to support the ISS is a timely and critical topic. I am pleased to testify that, in partnership with NASA, SpaceX is on 

track to support the ISS, for cargo and eventually crew carriage. 

To date, under the auspices of NASA’s innovative and cost-effective Commercial 

Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehi-
66 

cle and Dragon capsule have flown successfully and SpaceX has become the firstever private commercial entity to successfully launch, orbit, reenter and recover a 

spacecraft. These achievements are unprecedented in terms of their scope, pace, and 

low level of expenditure. Let me repeat for emphasis here—what SpaceX achieved 

last year with the support and guidance from our NASA partner is nothing less 

than extraordinary. Indeed, in the history of space development efforts, we believe 

that the United States Government has never before received so much output and 

value relative to dollars spent. The COTS program serves as a model for public-private partnerships, focused on results-oriented, cost-effective, rapid prototyping, design and development. 

All praise for COTS aside, there remains work to be done and challenges to overcome as the Nation looks to domestic commercial providers like SpaceX to support 

the ISS. I will begin my testimony by providing the Subcommittee with a brief overview of SpaceX and our operations. Next, I will address key achievements realized 

to date, then focus on remaining challenges in development, testing and demonstration. Finally, I will discuss where SpaceX stands with respect to the remaining 

COTS milestones with a focus on our upcoming mission to the ISS, technical and 

operational risk reduction efforts and contingency planning as we transition from 

COTS to our Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) missions. 

SpaceX: Innovation Yielding Highly Reliable, Affordable Launch Services 

Founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the singular goal of providing highly reliable, 

cost-effective access to space to eventually facilitate carrying crew, SpaceX is 

headquartered in Hawthorne, California. The Company has developed a state-of-the 

art propulsion and structural testing facility in Texas and maintains offices in 

Huntsville, AL, Chantilly, VA, Washington, D.C., and shortly, Houston, TX. SpaceX 

has established launch sites at Cape Canaveral Florida, Vandenberg Air Force Base 

California, and the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. 

Recently ranked as one of the world’s fifty most innovative companies by MIT’s 

Technology Review, SpaceX is governed by the philosophy that simplicity of design, 

reliability and affordability go hand-in-hand. We hard-wire that philosophy into our 

Falcon rockets and Dragon spacecraft by focusing on simple, proven designs, keeping a tight control over quality and ensuring a tight feedback loop between the design and manufacturing teams. To be clear, safety and reliability are paramount for 

any commercial company; and cost-reduction without safety and reliability is meaningless. 

Our workforce, which has grown rapidly from two employees in 2002 to more than 

1,300 employees today, embodies the best American ideals of hard work, ingenuity 

and excellence. Our particular emphasis on developing U.S. engineering and manufacturing capabilities has yielded SpaceX (and, by extension, the Nation) deep domestic, in-house expertise in propulsion, structures, avionics, safety, quality assurance, mission operations, launch, mission management and systems integration. 

SpaceX’s operational vehicles currently include the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 launch 

vehicles and the Dragon spacecraft. Critically, SpaceX’s Falcon 9/Dragon system offers an affordable, American-made, end-to-end transportation solution for carrying 

cargo and potentially crew to the ISS. With respect to development efforts, the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle development (which is not to be confused with NASA’s 

heavy-lift development efforts) is underway, with an expected launch in 2013, and 

SpaceX is a recent recipient of a CCDev2 award focused on the development of an 

integrated launch abort system for the Dragon spacecraft. 

SpaceX has executed at an unprecedented pace of development and success for an 

aerospace company, with nearly 40 Falcon 9 missions on manifest, approximately 

$3 billion in contracts and a customer base that spans the government, commercial 

and international markets in just nine years. As a result, SpaceX has been profitable every year since 2007, despite dramatic employee growth and major infrastructure and operations investments. Our ability to successfully compete in the domestic 

and international commercial market demonstrates the long-term viability of our 

business model and allows us to keep our costs to the U.S. taxpayer low. 

To ensure that SpaceX is not dependent upon a single source for any key technology, we have developed the capability to manufacture the majority of our launch 

vehicle and spacecraft in-house. This provides us with control over quality, schedule 

and cost, for all key elements from component manufacturing through launch operations. It also allows SpaceX designers to work directly with manufacturing personnel located just steps away, which streamlines the development process. 

Total SpaceX expenditures from 2002 through 2010 were less than $800 million, 

inclusive of all Falcon 1, Falcon 9 and Dragon development costs. That $800 million 
67 

includes the cost of building launch sites at Vandenberg, Cape Canaveral and Kwajalein, as well as the SpaceX corporate manufacturing facility. The total also includes 

the cost of five flights of Falcon 1, two flights of Falcon 9 and one launch and reentry of Dragon. It is fair to say that this level of output versus expenditure is unprecedented in the aerospace community. 

Indeed, NASA recently conducted a predicted cost estimate of the Falcon 9 launch 

vehicle using the NASA–Air Force Cost Model (NAFCOM), its primary cost estimating tool. It was determined that had the Falcon 9 been developed under a traditional NASA approach, the cost would have been approximately $4 billion. The analysis also showed development of the Falcon 9 would have been approximately $1.7 

billion based on the traditional commercial models and assumed factors. However, 

NASA independently verified SpaceX’s total development costs of both the Falcon 

1 and Falcon 9 at approximately $390 million in the aggregate ($300 million for Falcon 9; $90 million for Falcon 1). 

COTS: Key Achievements to Date 

The COTS program was the first of its kind for NASA: a ?pay for performance? 

partnership between the government and private business to rapidly design and 

prototype critical technologies. NASA structured the COTS program as a collaborative partnership with the commercial space industry, sharing the risks, costs and 

rewards of developing new space transportation capabilities. Under the program, 

NASA provides seed money for the development of private spaceflight capabilities, 

but issues payment only after a company meets technical and financial performance 

milestones. The participating COTS contractors, likewise, invest in the program and 

put their own financial ‘‘skin in the game.’’ 

To date, SpaceX has completed 25 milestones under its COTS Agreement for efforts associated with the development, manufacture and testing demonstration of 

the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft for cargo carriage to the ISS. (The milestones completed under SpaceX’s 2006 COTS Space Act Agreement, prior to amendment for augmentation milestones, are listed in Appendix A, attached.) Critically, 

SpaceX is well on its way to completing the integration process with the ISS. To 

date, NASA’s Commercial Cargo program has contributed $298 million towards this 

end. And, in doing so, the United States also has helped facilitate the development 

of the first internationally competitive launch vehicle in more than a decade and 

the first-ever operational, private, orbiting and reentry capsule. In terms of ‘‘bang 

for the buck,’’ the United States Government has made a savvy investment. 

At present, SpaceX has performed two successful Falcon 9 flights. Each flight carried a Dragon spacecraft—the first mission carried an inert, non-separating Dragon, 

and the second carried an operational Dragon. The second Falcon 9 launch was the 

first official launch under the COTS program. It bears noting that the Falcon 9 

launch vehicle features nine SpaceX Merlin engines in the first stage, which allows 

the Merlin engine to rapidly attain heritage by means of each flight. 

The Merlin is the first new all-American hydrocarbon engine for an orbital booster 

to be flown in forty years and Falcon 9 is the first U.S. launch vehicle with engineout capability after liftoff since Saturn V. 

On December 8, 2010, SpaceX became the first commercial company in history to 

launch, reenter, and successfully recover a spacecraft from Earth orbit. SpaceX’s 

COTS demonstration mission blasted off at 10:43 AM EST from Launch Complex 

40 at Cape Canaveral. Falcon 9 lofted the Dragon to orbit where it twice circled the 

Earth at speeds greater than 7,600 meters per second (17,000 miles per hour). Dragon reentered the Earth’s atmosphere and splashed down just after 2:00 PM EST in 

the Pacific Ocean. The mission was nothing short of a complete success. 

Until late last year, launching, orbiting, reentering and recovering a spacecraft 

was a feat previously performed by only six nations or government agencies: the 

United States, Russia, China, Japan, India, and the European Space Agency. 

NASA’s expert advice and mentorship throughout the development process helped 

SpaceX build upon 50 years of U.S. space achievements to reach this goal. 

Once again, the financial facts are import to digest here: the Falcon 9 launch vehicle was developed from a blank sheet to first launch in four-and-a-half years for approximately $300 million. The Falcon 9 is an EELV-class vehicle that generates 

roughly one million pounds of thrust (four times the maximum thrust of a Boeing 

747) and carries more payload to orbit than a Delta IV Medium. Likewise, the Dragon spacecraft was developed from a blank sheet to the first demonstration flight in 

just over four years for about $300 million. The Dragon is a free-flying, reusable 

spacecraft capable of delivering pressurized and unpressurized cargo to the ISS and 

safely returning cargo to Earth. 
68 

COTS Augmentation Milestones 

At NASA’s request, prior to Dragon’s successful orbital flight, SpaceX began conducting additional tests on the launch vehicle and spacecraft and performed additional Dragon component system capability demonstrations. Those tests and demonstrations contribute to the eighteen new COTS milestones, known internally as 

‘augmentation milestones,’ that have presently been added to our COTS Agreement. 

The uncertainty in Fiscal Year 2011 funding profiles led NASA to divide COTS 

funding among multiple amendments to its COTS agreements. 

The COTS augmentation milestones exceed the tests and demonstrations originally agreed to by SpaceX and NASA for COTS when the parties first signed their 

Space Act Agreement. Specifically, certain milestones augment pre-planned ground 

and flight testing, and others accelerate the development of enhanced cargo capabilities with the remaining focusing on infrastructure improvements. The additional 

milestones further develop the ground infrastructure needed for cargo carriage operations and help improve the launch and recovery operations, test site and production facility infrastructure. In short, COTS augmentation milestones are meant to 

further reduce risk and enhance the execution of the cargo demonstration and operational missions to be performed under the COTS and CRS programs. The COTS 

augmentation milestones that have been completed to date total $40 million. NASA 

recently added eleven augmentation milestones as an additional amendment to the 

COTS agreement. Those tests, reviews, demonstrations and infrastructure enhancements are planned to be completed prior to the next COTS mission. (The augmentation milestones and associated rationale for each are listed in Appendix B, attached.) 

Fulfilling the COTS Objectives: Next Steps and Remaining Challenges 

SpaceX’s next flight of Falcon 9 with the Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to occur 

later this year. The final parameters of that flight are under discussion with NASA; 

however, SpaceX’s goal is to have that COTS flight culminate in Dragon delivering 

cargo to the ISS and returning cargo safely to Earth. The mission will require 

SpaceX to accomplish all of the criteria for Demonstration Flight 2 prior to beginning the Demonstration Flight 3 criteria, which include berthing with the ISS. In 

effect, SpaceX will have fully achieved the development and demonstration goals of 

the COTS program and be prepared to undertake its CRS missions. Importantly, if 

SpaceX does not meet the mission success criteria for Demonstration Flight 2, then 

we would be prepared to fly once more under the COTS agreement if necessary. 

Here, it bears noting as a point of comparison that the European ATV and Japanese 

HTV conducted ISS operations on their maiden voyages. Orbital’s current plan likewise calls for berthing on their first flight to the ISS. 

A number of modifications have been made to Dragon to ensure a successful next 

flight and ISS berthing. To reduce the risk involved with Dragon approaching the 

ISS, redundancy has been added to the safety-critical systems. As an example, the 

initial mission flew one flight computer and one inertial measurement unit (IMU), 

while the ISS-missions fly multiple flight computers and IMU’s to meet the ISS required fault tolerance. 

To facilitate safe ISS berthing, the Dragon will be flying a proximity operations 

suite, including space-to-space communication systems and proximity navigation 

sensors. These are complex systems that present challenges. Additionally, Dragon 

will be flying a grapple fixture and a Passive Common Berthing Mechanism 

(PCBM), which are the physical attachment mechanisms for the ISS. As the next 

mission will be longer in duration than the first, a new power generation system, 

including solar arrays and new batteries, are in development. Star trackers and an 

active thermal control system have been added to sustain Dragon on orbit. 

Ensuring Safe, Highly Reliable Access to Space 

Given the purpose for our founding, SpaceX is first and foremost devoted to safety 

and reliability. By the nature of the business, commercial spaceflight providers cannot afford to take unnecessary risks that would endanger cargo or crew. As is true 

with respect to commercial aviation, businesses will fail unless safety and reliability 

come first, regardless of price. The need for a laser-like focus on safety and reliability becomes even more acute when commercial space companies have their own 

financial skin in the game, offer services on a firm, fixed price basis, and only get 

paid in full if they perform. 

Per the Subcommittee’s inquiry, SpaceX has plans in place to investigate, understand and take action, if necessary, for any anomaly that occurs during a mission. 

SpaceX has worked with the FAA, NASA, Air Force and National Transportation 
69 

Safety Board in this respect. The time required to complete the process would, of 

course, depend on the actual nature of the situation being addressed. 

SpaceX has demonstrated the capability to react rapidly in the event of test or 

flight anomalies. As an example, during the Falcon 1 flight 3, which was a demonstration mission of our smaller launch vehicle in mid-2008, a failure occurred in 

flight. SpaceX arrived at the root cause of the failure within a day, quickly implemented the fix, and less than seven weeks later, successfully launched Falcon 1 

flight 4. 

In the case of a COTS or CRS mission, SpaceX maintains an active Falcon 9 and 

Dragon production line. The subsequent Falcon 9 and Dragon spacecraft are always 

in production and able to be readied for launch quickly after making any modifications that might be indicated by an anomaly. Notably, due to our unique capabilities 

whereby we design, develop, build and test the majority of our hardware, we can 

achieve far faster turnaround on anomaly and failure investigations more quickly 

than anyone else in the industry. Instead of getting bogged down with an army of 

lawyers and subcontractors after a failure, our engineering and test team can rapidly determine root cause and resolution. 

Commercial Resupply Services 

In 2008, SpaceX competed for and was awarded a Commercial Resupply Services 

(CRS) contract to deliver cargo to the ISS. Over the term of the CRS contract, 

SpaceX will deliver pressurized and unpressurized cargo to the ISS, including plants 

and animals, as well as return cargo to Earth. The $1.6 billion contract represents 

a minimum of 12 flights with an option to order additional missions. 

It bears noting that the average price of a full-up NASA Dragon cargo mission 

to the International Space Station is $133 million including inflation, or roughly 

$115 million in today’s dollars. That price includes the costs of the Falcon 9 launch, 

the Dragon spacecraft, all operations, maintenance and overhead and all of the work 

required to integrate with the ISS. Under SpaceX’s firm, fixed price contract with 

NASA, if there are cost overruns, SpaceX will cover the difference, not the taxpayers. 

SpaceX is preparing for an increase in the number of Falcon 9 and Dragon flights 

per year by expanding our production capabilities. Currently, SpaceX’s near-term 

production capacity supports five to six Falcon 9 vehicles per year. The expansion 

plans will increase production capacity to produce ten to twelve Falcon 9 launch vehicles by 2013, and then twenty by 2015. This is roughly a 50% increase annually. 

In preparation for increased production, SpaceX has more than doubled the footprint 

of its structural and propulsion test facility in Texas. We have also reorganized the 

production teams into a more efficient, streamlined organization. SpaceX is working 

diligently to ensure that we successfully service our government and commercial 

customers. 

Recapturing Commercial Launch Services Market Share 

For the first time in more than three decades, an America company has begun 

to recapture international market-share in the commercial satellite launch sector— 

a sector in which the U.S. has seen steady erosion relative to Chinese, Russian and 

French competitors. SpaceX has begun successfully competing for and winning commercial satellite launch contracts. Whereas in 1980, 100 percent of commercial 

launches took place from within the United States; today, it is less than 12 percent. 
70 

Bringing back commercial launches to the United States is just one example of 

the benefits of NASA’s targeted investment in SpaceX. By leveraging private funding with federal investment, controlling our costs and developing a diverse customer 

base, we are able to offer competitive pricing to our commercial and government 

customers. Likewise, safe, reliable and affordable transportation of cargo and astronauts to low Earth orbit by an American company will keep jobs in the United 

States, eliminate reliance on Russia to support the ISS, and save U.S. taxpayers significant money that instead can be invested in what NASA does best, pursuing the 

next frontier. 

Mr. Chairman, thank you for your support and for the opportunity to participate 

in today’s hearing. I would be pleased to respond to any questions you or the other 

Members of the Subcommittee may have. 
71 
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73 
74 
75 

Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you, Ms. Shotwell. I thank the panel 

for their testimony and remind the Members that Committee rules 

limit questioning to five minutes. The chair will at this point open 

the round of questions. The chair recognizes himself for five minutes. 

As was originally presented to Congress for an investment of $500 million, the COTS Program would allow NASA to enter into 

Space Act Agreements, excuse me, with two potential launch service companies to enable them to develop the capability of delivering 

cargo to the International Space Station, provided they could meet 

all milestones and were competitively selected for the follow-on delivery contract. 

Congress was supportive and provided the money beginning in 

fiscal year 2005, but as Chairman Hall noted, what began as a reasonable step-by-step approach to develop and improve capabilities 

first to be followed by a competitive acquisition did not happen. 

NASA simply ran out of time and is now gambling the future of 

Space Station and the success of two very new launch systems— 

on two very new launch systems. Excuse me. 

The original cost estimates to be borne by the Federal Government for COTS have escalated dramatically. What started as a 

demonstration program for $500 million has not been completed, 

and yet to date NASA has spent or obligated over $1.25 billion 

under COTS, COTS Augmentation and Cargo Resupply Services 

Contract. 

So my first question to Mr. Gerstenmaier, why did NASA origi- nally sell COTS to Congress as a $500 million effort only to later 

seek additional sums by asserting that further risk reduction efforts were necessary? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. Again, as originally envisioned we went into 

the COTS Program with the idea that we would do the development activity for the $500 million that you recognized, and then 

later as time progressed and we now are in the situation where we 

no longer have the Constellation Program as a backup, it became 

important to us that the delivery service to keep Space Station viable and to provide a reasonable backup capability we needed to 

look at a way that we could augment that additional funding with 

some additional milestones to lower the overall risk and help us ensure that we deliver cargo to station. 

And it is kind of a fine point but is that augmentation absolutely 

required, or is it just prudent management, and I think where we 

are in this situation with the requirement to deliver this cargo in 

a timely manner to Space Station we needed to invest in activities 

that lowered the overall risk. You could say they are not absolutely 

required. The thermal vacuum test that we have added. You could 

learn that in space, but if that didn’t work in space, you would be 

questioning why you didn’t do that testing on the ground ahead of 

time to help you pull back in schedule. 

So when we looked at it overall, we developed these activities, these $300 million of other activities we thought would help lower 

the risk to help us ensure that we keep Space Station viable. So 

the reason for the change was we recognized the criticality of the 

situation we were in, and we needed an adequate backup plan to 

be prepared for the oncoming cargo delivery of the cargo to Station. 
76 

Chairman PALAZZO. And so you initiated that decision in 2008, 

even before the announcement of the cancellation of the Constellation Program? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. Yes, and again, I think it is driven by the 

overall requirement. We knew the criticality of this, we saw the 

Shuttle Program coming to an end, we knew our spares and our 

supplies, and we thought it was prudent at this point to add some 

additional margin, some additional risk mitigation to the program 

by recommending that we added these augmentation milestones. 

Chairman PALAZZO. So NASA basically underestimated the cost 

of meeting the COTS Program as originally laid out to Congress. 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. And I would say that the environment when 

we initiated the COTS Program was one environment, and then 

later as we went through time that environment and the criticality 

of the cargo delivery became more important to us, and as prudent 

managers we saw that, and we recommended an augmentation approach, which we provided to you to go ahead and help us augment 

to provide some additional assurance that we could provide the 

cargo when it was needed. 

Chairman PALAZZO. When does NASA realistically expect the 

commercial partners will have these systems ready to fly CRS 

flights? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. We expect the COTS demonstrations to be 

late this year, and we expect the actual services to occur next year 

in 2012. 

Chairman PALAZZO. Does NASA anticipate asking for additional 

money to buy down further risks before these systems become operational? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. No. 

Chairman PALAZZO. Mrs. Shotwell, Mr. Culbertson, how much 

confidence do you have in your company’s ability to meet the latest 

schedule using available COTS and augmentation funds? 

Mr. CULBERTSON. Go ahead. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. We are only months away from the completion 

of the development of the Dragon spacecraft that will berth with 

the International Space Station. Once development is complete 

schedules are much easier to predict. It is a production environment, not a development environment. So we are very confident. 

Mr. CULBERTSON. We are in a similar position. We are in production on the first two of the Cygnus spacecraft that will deliver 

cargo already. The demo spacecraft is going through I&T on the 

Taurus II side, and once we complete the test flight, we will have 

increased confidence in the launch vehicle itself and should be able 

to move rapidly through the missions as we are scheduled. 

The remaining challenges that we have are relatively small compared to the ones that have been behind us that have affected our 

schedule. So we don’t see a lot of risk to the upcoming schedule. 

Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you. I have consumed my time. 

I now recognize the Ranking Member, Mr. Costello. 

Mr. COSTELLO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

To follow up on the Chairman’s last question, Ms. Shotwell, you 

are confident, I mean, under the contract you are doing a final 

demonstration launch the last quarter of this year and then you 
77 

have four that you will be doing next year. Is that correct? So a 

total of five in a one-year period. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. That is correct. 

Mr. COSTELLO. And you are confident that—are you building the 

necessary components fast enough to meet these missions and the 

schedule over the next three years of the contract? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. We have produced six first stages for Falcon 9 

and we are in the fourth—second stage for Falcon 9, and I believe 

we are in production on the fourth Dragon spacecraft. So we do understand the timeframes associated with building these capabilities. As I said earlier, it is much easier to predict how long it takes 

to build something rather than develop something. 

Mr. COSTELLO. Mr. Culbertson. 

Mr. CULBERTSON. Yes, sir. We, as I said, we are in production 

on the follow on to the demo missions. We have a great deal of confidence that we will be able to continue that, and so I believe we 

will be able to deliver, as I said, the four launches that we intend 

to do by the end of 2012, including the two demonstration flights 

and the two CRS missions. 

Mr. COSTELLO. Associate Administrator Gerstenmaier, let me ask 

you, has NASA independently verified, I mean, not only your opinion but have you independently verified what they have just testified to? Do you believe that they are building the necessary components not only to meet the short term but the three-year contract 

schedule for instance that SpaceX has with NASA? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. We have insight, and they have produced 

the hardware that they have described, and they have plans and 

schedules to go deliver to the schedules that they just described. 

But then as kind of a prudent buyer, we have made sure that there 

is margin in our systems, and we can accept some delays in processes that occur or start-up problems occur or we discover something in flight that doesn’t work right, we have overall margin that 

will not affect the operation of Space Station. 

So we understand their schedules, they are very reasonable, they 

are good schedules the way we see them, but then we have gone 

above and beyond to protect on the Space Station side to make sure 

that we are not absolutely 100 percent dependent upon those 

schedules that they have to be on there at exactly those times. We 

have some margin in the overall system that will allow us to continue to effectively utilize Space Station. 

Mr. COSTELLO. Ms. Chaplain, would you like to comment? 

Ms. CHAPLAIN. Just in our general experience things happen 

even at the last minute and in the late stages of development, and 

it is well that they could happen here. If we are conducting vacuum 

tests, they typically reveal problems, and we don’t know how difficult they would be to fix in late stages. So I would agree with 

what Mr. Gerstenmaier was saying. There is still the risk that 

there will be delays. It is typical with a lot of spacecraft development. 

Mr. COSTELLO. Just—I think it would be helpful for the Members 

of the Subcommittee, Associate Administrator Gerstenmaier, if you 

would explain to us NASA’s oversight in the interaction that you 

have, that NASA employees have with both companies here. On a 
78 

day-to-day basis do you have employees from NASA in the facilities, both SpaceX and Orbital? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. Yeah. We have minimum insight into their 

activities. I think we have one employee basically at both contractors that kind of just oversee what is happening in a general sense. 

They are not involved in any of the processing, any of the details. 

They are more of a facilitator, understanding schedules, passing 

data back and forth. 

We do numerous technical interchanges and meetings with the 

teams. They are in the process of going through some safety review 

functions for the Space Station. They have been involved in the activities to approach Space Station. We spend a lot of time in meetings understanding technical requirements, working back and forth 

in that sense. 

Mr. COSTELLO. So you have one employee that physically is 

there, assigned on a day-to-day basis? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. Yes. 

Mr. COSTELLO. Switching to another issue, let me ask you, Russia has expressed publicly some unease about commercial providers 

docking at the International Space Station, and these reports come 

just months before SpaceX plans to dock at the ISS during its final 

demonstration flight. 

Can you explain the concerns of Russia to the Subcommittee and 

how NASA intends to address their unease? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. Their concerns are fairly typical that we 

have seen as a vehicle comes to station. We have pretty stringent 

visiting vehicle requirements of what it takes to approach Space 

Station, and we need to make sure that the vehicle not only gets 

there safely but if it has to abort or stop the motion coming in, that 

it won’t do any damage to Space Station. You know, we need to 

make sure that there is not a collision potentially. We have very 

stringent requirements. We are in the process of reviewing the way 

the individual spacecraft meet those requirements. We are doing 

that activity right now. We are working through some technical 

problems that we need to understand, and we are working with 

SpaceX and with Orbital on both of those. 

When we complete those safety reviews probably in the June 

timeframe, we will do a bunch of simulations to make sure we have 

a high probability of doing this activity. Then we will schedule the 

appropriate reviews with our international partners, not only the 

Russians but the Europeans, and we will go through the process 

of ensuring to them and showing to them why we think it is safe 

and prudent for us to allow these vehicles to come up and stop and 

be picked up by the SSRMS on the Space Station and ultimately 

berth to the station. 

So we are working through the same methodical process that we 

used to bring the Automated Transfer Vehicle to orbit. That is the 

European cargo transfer vehicle, and we did the same process with 

the Japanese transfer vehicle that delivers cargo. We are following 

exactly the same process with them. Both of those spacecraft on 

their maiden flights, in the case of the Japanese it was the first 

launch of their rocket, and it was the first actual berthing of their 

spacecraft to the ISS. So this isn’t unprecedented territory for us. 

We are following the same processes we did with the international 
79 

partners with our commercial providers, and once we understand 

to our level of satisfaction and we are ready for that approach to 

Space Station, we will then bring it up with the partners, and I 

think we will get acceptance from the partners at that point. 

Chairman PALAZZO. The chair now recognizes the gentleman 

from Texas, Chairman Hall. 

Mr. HALL. Mr. Chairman, I thank you and thank you for your 

questions, and I subscribe to your questions and Mr. Costello’s sincere approach to it. 

Mr. Culbertson, you and I are probably the few that remember 

some of these things because of our age but—— 

Mr. CULBERTSON. Thanks, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. HALL. I call you back to June 25, 1997. Mr. Gerstenmaier 

just mentioned something there that accidents do happen and 

things can happen that are unforeseen and not predicted, but I 

think you remember the day the Russian progress vessel collided 

with Space Station Mir. I call you back to that time, and I say that 

because there can be occasions like that. 

I think, Frank, you were the manager of the Shuttle Mir at that 

time, and Mr. Gerstenmaier was, operations manager, I think, but 

at any rate, you both remember that. You remember that the Space 

Station lost pressure, and it was a very dangerous situation we 

thought, and you thought, all of us thought. Luckily with your good 

work nothing happened, and no one was hurt. 

But those things make me wonder about whether the cargo delivery providers, whether they are commercial providers or one of our 

own international partners, bear any liability if they cause an accident to the Space Station. 

I am sure you have thought about that, and we go back to that, 

even we have had the Discovery, those that have just returned 

from up there that had some immediate problems we thought. So 

those things can happen. 

How are we assured that we can be compensated or made whole 

by mistakes made by those that we contract with? More than that. 

Let me ask this. How much non-NASA business are you going to 

have to have to survive? You are going to enter into contracts and 

Frank, I have every ability, belief in you that a person can have. 

I have been told that Mrs. Shotwell is very capable and her boss, 

Elon Musk, is a can-do person that has succeeded, been successful, 

and I am very hopeful that all that is true, but you are signing a 

contract. It is just a paper contract, and we are going to have to 

know that they can—that you can produce that that you are saying 

that you are going to produce, and you have a chance to demonstrate that, and I think you have a time set to do that in, and 

we will wait and see when that time comes. 

But to sustain your business model under the Cargo Resupply 

Services Contract I guess I would like to know what percent of the 

businesses have to come from customers other than NASA in order 

to meet your internal rate of return projections to where you can 

keep our contract. 

Can your companies continue to be a reliable contractor to NASA 

if a few or say no other contracts are secured from commercial customers? 
80 

Mr. CULBERTSON. Mr. Chairman, as far as Orbital goes, right 

now we are focused on the CRS contract, and we have set our business model up so that we can support it from a business standpoint 

and from a rate of return. It is pretty tight in the beginning because of all the development, but we think that by the end of the— 

this phase of the contract we will at least not be under water. 

We are hoping for additional business from NASA since the Station will be extended and—— 

Mr. HALL. And it is logical that you will have. 

Mr. CULBERTSON. Yeah, and it is something that we are thinking 

about now, but right now we are really focused on the immediate. 

As far as additional customers for cargo, that really depends on 

how other things develop both in the commercial world and in the 

government. We are prepared to address those markets, and our 

Taurus II vehicle as well as our Cygnus spacecraft are available for 

other customers for other uses. But right now we are not counting 

on that for the success of the program. Orbital has about $1.25 billion worth of annual revenue, and we 

have lots of other lines of business that the company continues to 

thrive on, and this is an area that is very special to us, and we 

hope to continue to grow. But we do it because we are committed 

to the success of the Station and not because we have to try to 

make a pile of money on it. 

Mr. HALL. Ms. Shotwell, you are here in the place of Mr. Musk, 

and we are probably going to ask him to come before us sometime 

in the future, and we wish you well, and if you have any comments 

you want to add to Mr. Culbertson’s comment, I probably have 

maybe five seconds left. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. I speak fast. SpaceX, even given the tremendous 

amount of development activities that we have had over the past 

few years, we have been profitable since 2007, NASA represents 

less than half of the missions that we currently have under full 

contract for Falcon 9. We have 38 missions contracted for Falcon 

9, and, as I said, less than half of those are for NASA. 

So we can sustain a business without NASA. We like NASA’s 

business. We like the activity that we are executing both under 

COTS and CRS. We are actually proud to be NASA’s partner, but 

we can survive without that activity. 

Mr. HALL. And Frank, I will write you a letter to ask for a question on whether or not you bear any—the liability of any accident 

that is caused at the Space Station. I will write a letter to both of 

you for that, and the chairman will ask you to answer it. Thank 

you. 

I yield back what time I don’t have. 

Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I now recognize the gentleman from Oregon, Mr. Wu. 

Mr. WU. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Gerstenmaier, I would like to start with you and ask for your 

assessment of what could cause further schedule delays in the 

COTS demonstrations and as they say in biochemistry, what are 

the rate-limiting steps which remain to be taken? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. Again, I think it as both Gwynne and Frank 

have talked about, they have got a lot of development behind them 

and things are very good from a hardware standpoint. I think the 
81 

next phase will be the operational phase, and it is the approach to 

Space Station and how we actually close the loop with the rendezvous, proximity operations sensors that provide the information 

to the spacecraft as it comes and docks. 

So it is those kind of activities that I think will be the next challenge, is how you actually take the vehicle and not only get it to 

orbit but now you bring it into close proximity where it can essentially stop and then be picked up by the Space Station arm and 

then berth to the station. 

So I think there is some challenges in that area. I think we will 

see some surprises in the hardware as it gets on orbit and operates. We try to mitigate those problems as much as we can on the 

ground and through ground testing, but I think we will see some 

potential surprises there that we will have to deal with to make 

sure that we can accommodate those and have a safe berthing to 

station. 

So the concern there is you don’t want to put yourself in a situation like we did before with Progress where we were essentially 

pushing so hard to get to station that we cut some safety corners 

and then we had the accident and the collisions with Mir. So we 

need to make sure that we have got the right measures in place 

so we do this in a measured, straightforward fashion, and we have 

enough margin in the overall system if there is some little delays 

associated with that they can recover so we can still meet what we 

need to. 

Mr. WU. So, Mr. Gerstenmaier, these are of an operational nature. How would you test for that without actually endangering the 

Space Station? I also would like the rest of the panel to comment 

on that. 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. We have a very methodical approach. We do 

an activity called a collision avoidance maneuver. So we allow the 

spacecraft to get to a distance where it cannot hit the Space Station, and then we ask the spacecraft to do a collision avoidance maneuver. It does that maneuver, we actually monitor the performance of that maneuver on the ground, we compare the performance 

that we observe in space with the performance that we predicted 

on the ground pre-flight, and we certify that that vehicle is now 

ready to move into a closer point to Space Station. 

We then allow them to move into a closer distance, we do a similar verification and test maneuver, we go back and validate that 

possibly even over an evening, and then we let them move in. 

So we have a series of steps or gates as we approach Space Station where we learn more and more about the capabilities of the 

vehicle, is it operating the way it was designed, and that lowers the 

overall risk as we approach. That is exactly the same approach we 

used with both of the international cargo carriers we took to station. 

Mr. WU. Well, I would like the rest of the panel to comment on 

that and also the additional question of if there is a delay or a failure, who bears the financial risk and who has the reserves? Is it 

the private company, or is it NASA, or both? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. We have a very methodical approach to addressing this exact concern. The first part is to ensure that you have a 

fundamentally-reliable design. We do that by architecting to reduce 
82 

failure modes, and then we also make sure that we have redundant 

hardware. Our Dragon spacecraft is two-fault tolerant to issues. 

So once you believe you have a good design or you have put in 

place a good design, then you do extensive testing on the ground. 

I agree with Mr. Gerstenmaier that one of the riskiest subsystems 

is this proximity operations piece. We do still have some activity 

left before we are ready to fly that, of course, and so we do extensive ground testing. We have done ground testing at Marshall. It 

is pretty extensive ground testing at the Marshall Spaceflight Center. They have a great prox-ops test capability there. We will be 

doing some additional ground testing in our factory as well. 

So you have a fundamentally reliable design, you do as much 

ground testing as you possibly can, you do extensive software work 

in coordination with NASA, and then you have to fly, and then you 

get into this spaceflight test program and getting through those 

gates on orbit, you do a little bit, you test it, you look at your data, 

you fly a little bit closer, you again review the data before you continue on. 

Mr. WU. Who is going to bear the risk of delay or technical difficulties? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. As far as the financial risk goes, SpaceX bears 

that burden. We have signed a contract to do activities, and it is 

our responsibility to execute. 

Mr. WU. Mr. Culbertson. 

Mr. CULBERTSON. As to that part it is the same for us. I mean, 

this is—there is no additional funding, so if we are delayed, it costs 

us money, so we keep schedule in mind, but as I said before, it 

doesn’t reach a higher priority than mission success or safety. 

In terms of the safety of the Space Station, we take a similar approach to SpaceX. In addition, just like them, we have hired people 

with experience in this area. We use the NASA expertise as advisors and insight into what we are doing, and then in the critical 

approach phase there is actually NASA oversight through the Safety Review Panel of what we are doing. The simulations we go 

through are very realistic, they are very mature, and very thorough. We have the same fault tolerance, and our rendezvous design 

is such that if we have a problem at some point and we lose control 

of the spacecraft, it will just sail past the ISS because we don’t get 

on the final approach until the last few—couple of hundred meters. 

At that point we do have to demonstrate the avoidance maneuver. We have to show that we can back out, that we can clear the 

Station, and that we have sufficient redundancy in the system to 

do that. 

So this is an area that we have paid a lot of attention to. It is 

the most critical phase of the flight, and we have to protect the 

Station. This is more important than delivering the cargo. 

Mr. WU. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman PALAZZO. I now recognize the gentleman from California, Mr. Rohrabacher. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and 

that last description of your company’s ability to complete that part 

of the mission was very impressive considering the fact that you 

personally have gone through this and so I think of anybody in the 
83 

room, we have got some fellow that actually went through the procedures that we are talking about. Well, I say at the desk there. 

So let me ask a couple questions. Mr. Chairman, with all due respect to the concept of gambling on two companies, if we are, indeed, gambling on two companies, I think it is a good bet, a much 

better bet than gambling on patching up the Shuttle. We have 

spent a little over $1 billion now on trying to achieve a commercial 

and competitive approach. It is fascinating to see we have two competitors sitting right next to one another here today offering us 

their services and continuing to want to win this competition. We have spent in order to achieve this a little over $1 billion. Let us just note one flight of the Shuttle is a little over $1 billion without the payload, and that is a system that we know does not have 

the reliability that we need to have in order to rest assured that 

the Space Station can be resupplied and that we can meet other, 

our other goals in space. 

So that billion dollars that has been spent rather than spending 

it on another Shuttle flight I think has been a very good decision. 

With that let me also note, and let me see if I can get this right, both SpaceX, you have received about $300 million in government 

money so far, in NASA money in the development of Falcon 9? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. We have received $298 million under the COTS 

Program for Falcon 9 and Dragon development. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Orbital has received how much? 

Mr. CULBERTSON. A little bit less than that. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Okay. So we have had—and is Orbital like 

the SpaceX match dollar for dollar? 

Mr. CULBERTSON. It is not really a dollar for dollar. It is whatever it takes to complete the program once you have spent the 

Space Act funds. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. All right. 

Mr. CULBERTSON. And so the onus is on the company to complete 

the project no matter what the government is funding. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. But how much have you spent so far in the 

project non-government money? 

Mr. CULBERTSON. Probably a little more than the government 

has. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Okay. So what we have if we really look at 

this, the government . . . 

Mr. CULBERTSON. Actually quite a bit more than that when you 

count Taurus II. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Okay. Well, America, if we are not saying 

that the Space Program belongs to the government but instead belongs to the people, America has received for $300 million each, 

let’s say, we have received at least $600 million in benefit to the 

Space Program, unless, of course, we think the Space Program is 

a government program and is owned by the people who work for 

the government and not the people who are of this country who are 

paying for, out of their pockets for whatever is achieved into space. 

So I would suggest that gambling on these two new systems, as 

I say, and the price that we are talking about is—was a very good 

bet indeed. I take it that both of you, the Orbital and SpaceX, are 

operating on a fixed price contract, and you have—now, we know 

that the cost has gone up a little bit as has been noted as this com-
84 

mercial space endeavor has moved forward, but the costs that have 

gone up have been basically going up because new milestones were 

set for your companies by NASA. Is that correct? 

Mr. CULBERTSON. Additional content was added to the development program under the Space Act Agreement that we agreed to 

add to the program, and NASA agreed to invest in that partially. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. So but no, there has been no additions of cost 

to the taxpayers that was generated by something that you didn’t 

foresee but were not required to do. In other words, you have done 

what you were required to do for the price that you agreed to do 

it at as compared to, I might add, the development of other programs for NASA that are not fixed price that seem to always go 

over and need more money, not based on meeting NASA milestones 

but just because they underestimated what their costs would be. Is 

that correct? Go right ahead. 

Mr. CULBERTSON. It is probably better for Bill to answer that. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. What do you think, Bill? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. Again, in this case we added these augmentation milestones to help assure where we needed to be. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Right. 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. They weren’t absolutely required, and this is 

a better way from a cost risk to the government for us to go enter 

into these activities. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Right, but let’s just note this was not that 

this program cost more money because as we have seen in so many 

other NASA programs because the people who had contracted were 

being unrealistic about what they could achieve or what they were 

willing to put in. What we have here is, again, examples of when 

we deal with the private sector, we make things a private endeavor 

rather than just a totally government endeavor, it costs the American people less, we end up getting more for the dollars that are 

being put in rather than less and more risky. 

And, again, when we talk about the risk factor, I, when I look 

at the Shuttle, the risk compared to what we are talking about is 

overwhelming, and it always has been, and the Shuttle went from 

being—I was—I happened to be a young reporter when that, when 

the decision was made to move forward with the Shuttle and covered some of the earlier press conferences, and the Shuttle was 

going way, way over everything, whatever anybody believed it 

would cost. And there was no reliability on the people who were 

building the Shuttle to keep those costs down. 

In fact, they were operating on cost plus, which gave them free 

reign. I think that now we are dealing in a very responsible commercial way. So I appreciate this hearing, Mr. Chairman, and I 

think we have learned a lot. Thank you very much. 

Chairman PALAZZO. I now recognize the gentlelady from Maryland, Ms. Edwards. 

Ms. EDWARDS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to our 

witnesses today. 

Mr. Gerstenmaier, you commented to Committee staff that your 

decisions frequently involve consideration of different risks, the 

source of the risks, and the mitigating measures, and I know this 

hearing is focused on commercial cargo but I think some of the les-
85 

sons that are learned for commercial crew, if any, are too valuable 

not to be highlighted right now. 

And so I wonder if you could tell us whether the risk and mitigating measures involved in testing the industry’s ability to bring 

crew to the Space Station is likely to be similar to those in developing commercial cargo transportation? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. I like to think our experience in this cargo 

activity will help inform us on how we move forward into the crew 

activity so we can take what we have learned through this process 

through cargo and dealing with the commercial providers in a kind 

of a non-traditional government manner with both the space act 

and also with the fixed price contracts, and we can see what works 

well, what doesn’t work well from an overall product standpoint, 

and that can inform the approach that we take as we move forward 

into the cargo or into the crew activity. 

So I think we can learn the lessons of working with these guys 

from a cargo standpoint. We can understand some of the risks, 

some of the things we understand, we don’t understand, and understand how to move forward as we move into crew with the proper 

safeguards in place for the criticality of transporting crew to orbit. 

Ms. EDWARDS. Are there factors that you would anticipate make 

it more challenging to develop commercial transportation of crew 

than cargo? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. I think crew is more—is less fault tolerant 

from an overall standpoint. We have a very high regard for life and 

so we want to make sure that the crew is protected in all aspects, 

whereas the cargo, if it is lost, it is an impact to us, but it is recoverable. We can manufacture more hardware on the ground and fly 

again. 

So crew carries a higher burden for perfection in order to make 

sure that the activity is performed in the best manner possible. So 

I think we need to factor that into our thinking, into our logic, into 

our acquisition approach for those activities to make sure we have 

got those proper safeguards that are proportional to the criticality 

of the cargo that we are carrying. 

Ms. EDWARDS. And how important are the mitigating measures 

that are available under CRS such as pre-positioning by the STS– 

135 and availability of partner spacecraft and giving you the needed margin to ensure the continued Space Station viability? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. Those are extremely important to us from a 

Space Station standpoint. Our philosophy of putting all the necessary cargo to keep Station viable for roughly about a year period 

on orbit is tremendously valuable to us. That allows some schedule 

slips to occur, that allows some of these flights to move around, 

and it is not an immediate impact to us. We had the critical items 

to make sure we can effectively utilize Space Station with minimal 

resupply for about a year. 

So it has been really important for us to take these remaining 

Shuttle flights to get the cargo up to Space Station. It has also 

been very important for us during this phase to have the ability to 

return cargo from Space Station so we can understand what failures are occurring on orbit so we can make repairs in the next generation of hardware that we deliver to Station. 
86 

So I think we have utilized the Shuttle in the most effective 

manner for this lead-up period, and we have postured ourselves 

with the proper margin to allow us to bring these new providers 

online in a safe and reasonable timeframe. 

Ms. EDWARDS. And how are you going to ensure that the margin 

will be available during the industry’s attempt to demonstrate the 

ability to provide commercial crew transportation safely and reliably? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. Again, this overall margin sits there 

throughout that period of time. It doesn’t go away instantaneously 

on one particular date. We also assumed pretty conservative failure 

rates for our components on orbit, and we are in a pretty good period with Space Station where there is not a lot of failures occurring. Typically when you launch a spacecraft the first period on 

orbit there is a lot of failures as new systems come online. Then 

you reach a period where there is not many failures. Then towards 

the end of life as components start aging you start seeing more failures. We are in that low part of the curve, but we have assumed 

in our estimates that we would be in the higher part where more 

components are failing, so we have margin in the overall systems 

design on Station. 

So I think we have a very reasonable margin to move forward. 

We need them to keep moving forward as fast as they reasonably 

can. We will encourage them to stay on the schedules they described to you, but we recognize that we won’t push those schedules so far that we take risks to Space Station or we take risks to 

overall goal that we end up with a major failure on our hands. 

So we will balance that risk of delivering on time as much as we 

can versus the margin we have on orbit, and we will balance those 

two as we do all along in all of our activities in space. 

Ms. EDWARDS. Thank you very much. I just want to get in really 

quickly with Ms. Shotwell and Mr. Culbertson, I wonder if you can 

tell me as you talked about absorbing the potential for delay or for 

catastrophic failure, are you holding reserves in place of—in order 

to be able to, you know, to pay for those risks should they happen? 

I mean, how do we know that your company isn’t just going to go 

belly up and then the taxpayers are left holding the bag? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Under our cost agreement with NASA we meet 

quarterly with their program management and show them our financials and show them what we have on our books. We do have 

some reserve right now. 

Ms. EDWARDS. How much? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. In our bank account? 

Ms. EDWARDS. How much do you have in reserve that you are 

holding in case there is a delay or failure? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Currently we have about $30 million worth of reserve, and that grows monthly. 

Ms. EDWARDS. And that is going to pay for a delay or a failure? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Not quite yet. No. 

Ms. EDWARDS. Thank you. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. It will build up by the time we reach the Station. 

Ms. EDWARDS. Thank you. 

Chairman PALAZZO. I now recognize the gentleman from Oklahoma, Mr. Lucas. 
87 

Mr. LUCAS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Ms. Shotwell, in your testimony you say that NASA independently verified SpaceX’s total development costs for Falcon 1 and 

Falcon 9 at $390 million. Does that include the cost of development 

for the Dragon Capsule? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. No, sir. That was just for the Falcon 9 and the 

Falcon 1 Program. 

Mr. LUCAS. So how much more was spent to develop the Dragon 

Capsule? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. As of December last year another $300 million. 

Mr. LUCAS. As of December last year. Okay. So what is the total 

development cost then for the entire Falcon and Dragon system? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. We are not quite done with the Dragon development. I anticipate the entire development to be—— 

Mr. LUCAS. I have been led to believe maybe $690 million. Is that 

a fair number? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. No. It will be $50 or $60 million more than that, 

sir. 

Mr. LUCAS. So $700 million then. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. That is correct. 

Mr. LUCAS. Did NASA independently verify SpaceX’s total development cost for the entire Dragon 9 and—Falcon 9 and Dragon 

Systems? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. They had access to our financial data for that. I 

don’t know the extent of the analysis they did on the data. 

Mr. LUCAS. And maybe this is a question for the director as well 

as yourself then. Who exactly performed that kind of verification? 

An entity from within NASA or—— 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. I will need to take that question for the 

record. I don’t know the specifics of how that detailed cost accounting was done. 

Ms. LUCAS. Well, as you can well expect just looking at this from 

the perspective of the taxpayer, we are curious about the money 

and the details and the verification. 

You told our staff, Ms. Shotwell, that SpaceX does not assign engineering costs to individual vehicles. Is that correct? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Our engineers do not sign timecards. On the 

other hand, we can estimate the numbers of engineers that are 

working individual projects, but it is just estimates. 

Mr. LUCAS. So I guess my question then doesn’t that make it 

kind of hard for SpaceX or NASA to know what the true development cost is? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. It makes it difficult to understand the exact cost. 

On the other hand, the overall cost for the total program is not. It 

is the money that we have expended. 

Mr. LUCAS. So then I would ask thinking about that and looking 

at what the real costs are involved to both yourself and the associate administrator, so do either one of you keep track of the value 

of the technical services received from NASA since you mentioned 

using various facilities and testing equipment? Has that just been 

a freebie so to speak, or is that accounted for by either entity? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. We pay for the facilities that we use from NASA, 

for example, the Marshall Spaceflight Center facility. We have le-
88 

veraged the Arc Jet facility testing out of Ames, and we pay for 

that. 

Mr. LUCAS. So that is all tracked, that is all verified, that is all 

of public record then? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. Yes. 

Mr. LUCAS. To you, Associate Administrator, NASA has told us 

that the average cost to deliver a kilogram of cargo to the International Space Station by the RS—CRS contract is $59,000 per 

kilogram. I believe CRS providers are expected to deliver 40 metric 

tons, 40,000 kilograms times $59,000 per kilogram. By my math 

that is about $2.36 billion, and the CRS contract total is $3.5 billion, totals on the contracts. 

So what is the remaining trillion—billion, sorry, we are into too many trillions in this town anymore, billion, $140 million paying 

for? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. The way we—the numbers we talk about in 

cargo, we talk about the 40 metric tons of cargo, 20 to each contractor. That is what we consider usable cargo. So for that, for us 

that is the actual cargo that is delivered to space. That is the thing 

that we can actually use, but you can’t just deliver it. You actually 

have to pack it, it has to go into flight support equipment in the 

spacecraft, and there is other things that hold it in place or allow 

it to be delivered, and that is the difference in price. 

So we are paying for a price per rocket and then we have been 

asked to provide the price per kilogram, so then we just divide 

those out, and whether we include that other support equipment or 

not, you can get two different prices for the price for kilogram. And 

we can show you all the accounting and all the math and all the 

details behind that if you would like to go review that in detail. 

Mr. LUCAS. I suspect we will look at all the numbers because it 

on the surface appears to be about a $1 billion prize here for successfully prevailing in this contract. 

With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time. 

Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you. I recognize the gentleman from 

Alabama, Mr. Brooks. 

Mr. BROOKS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I am looking at what the Committee staff has prepared for us, 

and there are some things that kind of stood out, and I would like 

any of the witness’s response to it, and this is on page five of 12 

of our handouts. 

The following chart lists approximate cost to deliver one pound 

of cargo to the International Space Station under various programs. Development costs are not included in these calculations 

and are considered proprietary information by the COTS partners. 

We have got for the Space Shuttle $21,268 per pound, $21,268. We 

have got for the Russian Progress $18,149 per pound, and then we 

have the Commercial Resupply Services, CRS, of $26,770 per 

pound. 

So if this information is accurate, CRS costs 26 percent more to 

deliver a pound to the International Space Station than does the 

Space Shuttle and 47 percent more per pound than if we used the 

Russian Progress. And then there are some further notes. Costs for 

the Russian Progress and the Commercial Resupply Program are 

NASA estimates. The CRS estimate would be higher at around 
89 

$39,700 per pound if derived using a method similar to that used 

for the Space Shuttle. Now, if that ends up being the correct number, $39,700 per 

pound using the CRS Systems, well, that is 118 percent higher cost 

to American taxpayers than the Russian Progress and 21,000—excuse me. Eighty-seven percent higher cost to American taxpayers 

than the cost of using the Space Shuttle. 

My first question is are these numbers accurate or inaccurate, 

and if they are inaccurate, where did the Committee staff make 

their mistakes, and second, just your general thoughts concerning 

this information. 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. I think I would like to go ahead and we can 

take that for the record. We need to understand exactly what went 

into those calculations and then compare them with what we have 

got for estimates. It is difficult on how you assume what costs are 

where, whether we have—we look at new obligation authority, we 

look at actual costs during the year, you know. How many Shuttle 

flights occur per year drives that clearly right. If we only fly one 

or two Shuttle flights, that dramatically changes that number in 

that table. 

Mr. BROOKS. Well, this is assuming four missions per year. 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. Okay. 

Mr. BROOKS. According to another one of the footnotes. Again, I 

don’t know if this information is accurate or inaccurate, but I do 

find it startling that at least according to what the staff has handed me that the Commercial Resupply Service approach is so much 

higher for American taxpayers than is either the Russian Progress 

or the NASA Space Shuttle. 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. Again, we also have to look at how we— 

those are calculated, the development costs for the Shuttle Program are not in those numbers. There is lots of things that we need 

to talk about specifically, so it is not as simple as the table implies. 

I would like to take the question for the record, and we can provide 

you much more detail behind those numbers, and we can understand better what is in the table, and we can do much more of a 

fair comparison between the two and show you the range of how 

you can look at these numbers, and it is not—there is not a single 

number as you described. There will be a range of numbers for 

each one of those columns that you described in the table, and we 

can show you those ranges and how they fit across all three providers. 

Mr. BROOKS. Well, please, if you could have some of your staff 

get with the Committee staff and consult about this, would that be 

satisfactory? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. We will do that. 

Mr. BROOKS. Thank you. 

[The information can be found in Appendix II.] 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Could I respond? 

Mr. BROOKS. Certainly. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. I appreciate that. One of the assumptions used 

to calculate at least our dollars per pound here in the charter 

was—it is an erroneous assumption. It was purely taking the $1.6 

billion under the CRS contract and dividing that by 20 metric tons. 

The fact is that NASA has bought 12 flights from SpaceX. We could 
90 

take much more than 20 metric tons to orbit on those flights. We 

don’t charge NASA extra for anything above the 20 metric tons as 

long as we are still doing the 12 flights. 

Depending largely on the density of the cargo that we take and 

we haven’t packed the Dragon yet with actual cargo, but in the 

best case from a taxpayer perspective, if we can take the full Falcon 9 performance capability to the ISS, the cost per pound of cargo 

is under $10,000 a pound using our system. It is not $26,000 a 

pound. 

Mr. BROOKS. Thank you, and would you please get with the Committee staff at some point, either you or someone else, and try to 

ascertain what the true numbers are in as much as that is critical 

I am sure to the decision making process that the Congress will 

make. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Yeah. I would be happy to. 

Mr. BROOKS. Thank you. 

Chairman PALAZZO. I now recognize the gentlelady from Florida, 

Mrs. Adams. 

Mrs. ADAMS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I appreciate you 

holding this hearing. 

We are working through an incredible time in the history of the 

American Space Program. I would be shocked if you would find 

anyone on this panel who didn’t understand this. You know, yesterday was the 50th anniversary of those famous words from our 35th 

President, John F. Kennedy, who said, you know, we are going to 

go to the moon, and he inspired all of us to believe we could beat 

the Russians, and we could make it to the moon, and American ingenuity was limitless in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. 

Mr. Chairman, in my district people are hurting. Their families 

are hurting, they are fighting tooth and nail to scrape together to 

pay their mortgage, they are looking for change to pay for their 

gas, and now here comes the layoffs, lots of layoffs. And I understand sometimes layoffs happen, but what is most troubling is this 

one was unnecessary. It was unnecessary because we didn’t have 

to get to this point. It was poor planning, poor management, and 

a lack of vision that led us here. And as I see it we must continue 

to invest in our exploration capabilities, we must continue to invest 

in our cargo transport capabilities, and we must continue to invest 

in job creation. 

This all starts by NASA following the directives of Congress. We 

cannot lose sight of the fact that an Authorization Bill exists, and 

if we don’t like the direction of the Authorization Bill, if we think 

that as a Nation we need to move in a different direction or change 

something in that Authorization Bill, then we should have that 

conversation rather than trying to start a different direction 

through budget requests. 

Ms. Shotwell and Mr. Culbertson, I hope you both fully understand the awesome, awesome responsibility being laid on your respective companies. This is not some meaningless investment or 

some contract that your country—company can just simply hope to 

fulfill. The future of our international commitments, the bond and 

the promise of the United States is on the line, and you signed up 

for the responsibility to ensure those promises have been met. 
91 

History has trusted the United States of America to lead the way 

in space technology and exploration. I hope you and your companies understand what is being asked of you by the American people 

and the trust that the American people have put in you because 

it is not something I take lightly, and I will not be able to let you 

forget that either. 

With that said, I would like to start with Mr. Gerstenmaier. This 

country has spent over $1.25 billion on the commercial cargo effort 

to date. When is our first cargo mission going to supply Station? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. The demonstration flights will be later this 

fall, and the first cargo resupply mission will be in 2012. 

Mrs. ADAMS. How much more money do you expect NASA will 

request for this effort before the commercial companies will be able 

to resupply on a regular basis? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. We will request no more funds than what 

are there. These are fixed price activities as we described earlier, 

and the cost that we have laid and we brought forward are the 

costs we expect, and so we—there will be not any more increase to 

deliver the cargo that we have purchased through these service 

contracts. 

Mrs. ADAMS. How many people does NASA expect to hire to manage our Commercial Cargo Program as the flight manifest starts to 

fill up? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. We will not hire any NASA civil servants beyond what we currently have monitoring the Cargo Program as the 

flights ramp up. 

Mrs. ADAMS. What confidence level does NASA have in each contractor meeting the latest revised schedules for their first cargo resupply missions? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. I think the schedules they have laid out are 

optimistic but realistic schedules. I think I would also as we have 

discussed here earlier, I would also say that I would be remiss if 

I didn’t expect to see some schedule delays and delays in those 

schedules, and we will be prepared for those delays. They will not 

have financial penalties to us for those delays, but we have to 

make sure we had the right margin on Space Station that we don’t 

impact the operations of Space Station when those inevitable 

delays occur. 

Mrs. ADAMS. Now, when asked about the article in the paper 

about possible problems with docking, SpaceX docking and doing 

the test docking, you said there were technical problems that needed to be understood. What type of technical problems? I mean, are 

they such problems that could delay any kind of test docking for 

a length of time, a longer length of time? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. No. They are understandable problems that 

we have seen before. There are some hardware differences. As 

Gwynne described earlier, there is a lot of software activity that 

needs to be done. We are very closely monitoring that software activity to make sure that it gets done correctly. 

I don’t see anything there that is an extraordinary problem, but 

they are not easy technical problems to solve. We will work 

through the contractors as we have before. We will apply our best 

folks to help where we can, and the companies have been doing a 

great job of responding and helping and working with us in those 
92 

areas. The activities they are doing at Marshall to actually verify 

software and hardware functionality is a tremendous testimony 

that SpaceX has stood up, to recognizing this as an area that needed extra help. They went and procured some extra help from NASA 

in that area. 

Mrs. ADAMS. So you don’t believe it will be delayed? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. There will be some delays, but they will be 

manageable within the overall margin we have onboard. 

Mrs. ADAMS. Ms. Shotwell, I know but SpaceX has received $250 

million of the American tax dollars so far for Region 18 of your 22 

COTS. Are you going to be ready to deliver on your promise to supply the Station when this country needs it? 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Yes, we are. 

Mrs. ADAMS. Thank you. 

Chairman PALAZZO. All right. Thank you. 

I now recognize the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Olson. 

Mr. OLSON. Well, thank you, Chairman Palazzo and Ranking 

Member Costello, for your courtesy and the opportunity to come 

back to Science and Aeronautics Subcommittee. While I am no 

longer on the Subcommittee, I still represent the heart of human 

spaceflight, the Johnson Space Center in Space City, USA. I am 

grateful to our witnesses for being here today, excuse me, to give 

us your insights and perspectives. 

The commercial industry has been part of the human spaceflight 

program since its inception. The only thing that has changed is the 

means in which we contract with the commercial sector for the critical services and support they provide to NASA with change, prudent management, and forthright accountability by all parties, 

Congress, NASA, and industry is imperative. 

Adherence to the goals, objectives, safety requirements, and 

budgets and milestones are critical to the agency’s success. If we 

falter in any one of these areas, we risk failure, and in our business failure can cost lives, waste precious funding, result in irreversible damage to the industry, and in some cases result in the 

failure of an entire program. 

In this business failure is not an option. We must avoid failure 

at all costs, and in doing so it is imperative that we provide candid 

and factual updates of the program accomplishments and issues so 

they can be mitigated before failure. This is the essence of why we 

are here today, to assess where we are in the NASA COTS Program that began in 2005, six years ago. 

My first question is for you, Mr. Gerstenmaier. First of all, I 

want to tell you you were missed at the Art at NASA Gala in Houston a couple weeks ago, and I understand the COTS Program is behind schedule relative to the pronouncements over the past year by 

the COTS providers. In your view where do we stand today relative 

to both program investment and schedule now that we are five 

years and $1.2 billion into the program? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. Again, I think as we have discussed earlier, 

the development activity is a very tough time for these, for the contractors to do development, and we see that. We wanted to make 

sure we got the development right, and we didn’t rush that, so we 

had some schedule delays in the development activity. I think that 

is appropriate and reasonable for where we are, and we have re-
93 

tired some of those development activities. We now entered into the 

operational phase, and we need to continue to monitor that moving 

forward. 

So I think I see the scheduled delays that have occurred. I think 

they are reasonable with what we have seen. I have seen these 

companies rise to the challenges that they have encountered during 

these development delays, and they both have done a very good job 

of working through those problems. I think there will be problems 

in the future. They need to address those in a very straightforward 

manner as you described, and we need to make sure we get to the 

right technical solution and don’t shortchange things or cut things 

to move forward because it is absolutely important we get this 

service to Station as soon as we can and make sure we get it there 

safely. 

Mr. OLSON. Yes, sir. I agree completely. We do have to minimize 

that gap, but just following up with that question, is it your view 

that the COTS providers had the capacity and resources in place 

to successfully execute this manifest, their manifest on this 

timeline? 

Mr. GERSTENMAIER. I think they have the appropriate resources 

to do that, but I think we, again, need to be prepared that if they 

run into problems, we have some ability to absorb some delays, and 

we don’t force them into a situation where they have to take undue 

risks. 

Mr. OLSON. Appreciate that. 

Ms. Shotwell, Mr. Culbertson, would you like to comment on that 

question? 

Mr. CULBERTSON. Well, as far as how we are executing here, I 

want to, first of all, I want to apologize to Bill for tossing my customer a grenade a few minutes ago and without taking it back, and 

I will take it back right now. What we are doing is a combination 

of Space Act Agreements with, as I said, fixed funding and fixed 

price contracts under the FAR, which are to protect both parties 

from—on a contractual basis. But they are fixed price, and if we 

have to go redo a test, we absorb the cost of that test. If we have 

to figure out a different way to ship our first stage to Wallops, we 

have to absorb the cost of doing that. We don’t transfer that cost 

to the government. This is not a cost-plus contract. 

So there is not going to be a growth in cost on the CRS to the 

government, but there may be cost to us, and so that affects our 

ability to continue on the program in the future, and we will have 

to evaluate as we go forward whether it is profitable and worth the 

risk or not. Right now it is worth the risk because we see it as very 

important to the Nation that we provide this cargo delivery. But 

we see it important to the industrial, the space industry that commercial companies step up to this responsibility and figure out a 

way to accomplish this. 

This is a precedent for what is coming in the future, I believe, 

and the amount of money that has been paid to us on the CRS contract has been mentioned several times as extra money that has 

been sent to the contractors. That is not the case. When you do 

business in a commercial world, you are given milestone payments. 

You are given progress payments in order to make sure that you 

can buy your long-lead items, you can pay your staff, you can pay 
94 

your engineering development and keep the program moving until 

you reach that final goal, and we have 20 to 30 percent at stake 

on every mission if we don’t execute it. So we are not going to get 

paid ahead of time. We have to execute it, and so we are committed 

to making it happen, but it is a commercial endeavor and not a traditional government cost plus development, and that is a really big 

difference from what people are used to, and I think some folks in 

the community might be having trouble understanding that. 

We are very sympathetic to the impact of layoffs and what is 

going on. If I could hire all the people that are being laid off in the 

Shuttle Program, I would do it, but then I couldn’t control my costs 

in order to provide you the service you need. 

Mr. OLSON. Ms. Shotwell. 

Ms. SHOTWELL. Yes. Just to be clear, we have built enough hardware and we are far enough along in our development, we are very 

confident of our costs and thus our prices. We will execute, we will 

complete the COTS demonstration, and we will execute the CRS 

missions to Station for what we have proposed. 

Mr. OLSON. Thank you, ma’am, and since I have crossed into the 

realm here where the clock is actually increased, I have a red light, 

I yield back the balance of my time. 

Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you, Mr. Olson. 

That is it for our questions today. I do want to thank our witnesses for their testimony. 

Mr. OLSON. Mr. Chairman, one question. I would like to ask 

unanimous consent that I enter—I have a statement to enter into 

the record about my concerns, some of my concerns elaborated on 

my concerns with the course our country is following. I apologize. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Olson appears in Appendix II:] 

Chairman PALAZZO. Without objection, so approved. 

Several things seem clear from today’s testimony, namely that 

there is still tremendous challenges both companies need to address, and time is growing short. NASA has obligated 1.25 billion 

over the last five years, and it is my firm hope that before the year 

is out we will have real proof that this investment has been worthwhile. 

Congress has been very supportive and has provided significant 

additional funding, but the burden of proof is now on NASA and 

its commercial partners to accomplish what they have signed up to 

do. 

I thank the witnesses for their valuable testimony and the members for their questions. The members of the Subcommittee may 

have additional questions for the witnesses, and we will ask you to 

respond to those in writing. The record will remain open for two 

weeks for additional comments from members. 

The witnesses are excused, and this hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 11:41 a.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.] 
(95) 

Appendix I 

ANSWERS TO POST-HEARING QUESTIONS
96 

ANSWERS TO POST-HEARING QUESTIONS

Responses by Mr. William H. Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator, Space Operations Mission Directorate, National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

Questions submitted by Chairman Steven Palazzo 

Q1. If a reduction of ISS crew size were implemented because of delays in CRS, how 

would the reductions be apportioned among the ISS member nations? Would a NASA 

astronaut continue to serve on board even if it was the U.S. who failed to maintain 

a reliable cargo delivery system? 

A1. Any impacts caused by Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract delays 

would need to be jointly worked with the International Space Station (ISS) International Partners. NASA has kept the Partners apprised of the progress of these 

vehicles. Any impacts to overall ISS crew complement planning will be negotiated 

with the Partners along with the other impacts to science and cargo. 

Q2. Do the cargo delivery providers, whether they are commercial providers or one 

of the international partners, bear any liability if they cause an accident to the space 

station? 

A2. The Intergovernmental Agreement (IOA) for the International Space Station 

(ISS) contains a broad cross-waiver of liability clause to encourage participation in 

the exploration, exploitation and use of outer space through the ISS. The United 

States and its international partners waive claims against each other, and against 

each other’s contractors, for damages caused during space operations, except for 

damages caused by willful misconduct. The IGA requires NASA to flow down this 

cross-waiver to its contractors. The CRS contract also includes this cross-waiver of 

liability. Neither the CRS contractor nor NASA is liable for damage to the other’s 

property that occurs during space operations, including damage to the ISS, except 

for damage caused by willful misconduct. If the contractor damages the ISS, the 

mission is deemed a failure and the contractor forfeits the final milestone payment 

for that mission. 

Q3. If a commercial cargo provider loses a mission, do they have to replace the cargo? 

A3. In the event of a failed mission, the contractor forfeits the final milestone payment (20 percent of the mission price). The contractor is not required to replace the 

cargo. 

Q4. If they lose a mission do they owe NASA a replacement flight? If no, why not? 

A4. In the event of a failed mission, the contractor forfeits the final milestone payment (20 percent of the mission price). The contractor is not required to re-perform 

the flight. 

Q5. NASA is investing considerable sums to stand-up two new launch providers. 

What were the factors that led NASA to take this path instead of using existing capabilities of the EELV program? Current Delta and Atlas launch systems have proven 

to be highly reliable, but they’re also under-utilized. How and why did NASA come 

to the conclusion that using a clean-sheet approach with new launch systems was 

more cost-effective? 

A5. The Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contracts were awarded through a 

full and open competition for the delivery of a minimum of 40 metric tons of cargo 

from 2011 through 2015. None of the proposals that were received by NASA in the 

competition proposed the use of an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV). 

The successful bidders—Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Orbital 

Sciences Corporation (OSC)—were selected on the basis of the responsiveness of 

their proposals to the requirements of the announcement. These proposals involved 

the use of the new Falcon-9 and Taurus-2 launch vehicles. 

Q6. Have NASA and FAA clearly worked out roles and responsibilities regarding the 

safe launch and reentry of cargo payloads? 

Q6a. Are there any unresolved issues between the two agencies relative to the licensing of NASA-contracted cargo payloads to ISS? 

A6a. Launches under the CRS contract are commercial launches, not Government 

launches. The contractor is required to obtain a FAA license for launches and reentries. 
97 

Q6b. Is FAA treating the resupply flights in the same manner as any other commercial launch? 

A6b: NASA cannot speak for the FAA with regard to how it treats other commercial launches. Launches under NASA’s CRS contract are commercial launches, not 

Government launches. The contractor is required to obtain a FAA license for 

launches and re-entries. 

Q7. It’s my understanding that fixed-price contracts are generally used to buy commodities or other services that have relatively low risk. Since CRS is not a low risk 

venture why did NASA choose to use a fixed-price contract for the cargo resupply 

services program? 

A7: The CRS acquisition was conducted under Part 12 of the Federal Acquisition 

Regulation (FAR), Acquisition of Commercial Items. The contract complies with the 

Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act (FASA), which requires that acquisitions of 

commercial services must be fixed-price contracts. Cost-type contracts are prohibited 

for commercial services. 

Q8. Why was FAR Part 12 chosen over FAR Part 15 for Cargo Resupply Services 

acquisition? 

A8. The Commercial Space Act of 1998 states that space transportation services 

are considered to be commercial items for acquisition purposes. NASA complied with 

this requirement by using Part 12 of the FAR, Acquisition of Commercial Items, to 

acquire ISS cargo resupply services under the CRS contract. 

Q9. Given the degree of risk using newly developed launch systems to deliver critical 

cargo to the ISS, do one or two demo flights equate to a mature system? 

A9. NASA recognizes that one or two missions do not equate to a mature system. 

The commercial cargo contractors and NASA will be learning new things about 

these cargo vehicles as they fly their test launches, demonstrations, and the CRS 

missions. Even after the Space Shuttle had flown for several years, NASA was 

learning new things about the operation of the vehicle. NASA recognizes that there 

is risk in these new systems that will only be reduced through continued safe and 

reliable performance. One of the reasons NASA invested in two cargo providers was 

to mitigate the normal start -up issues that may occur with these new cargo launch 

systems. 

Q10. Your testimony said, ‘‘NASA sees no reason to doubt either company’s objectives,’’ yet there have been no demonstrations flights to the ISS so their capabilities 

are unknown. 

a. If the demonstration flights are unsuccessful, what is NASA’s plan? 

A10a. The COTS partners are strongly incentivized to successfully complete their 

demonstration flights. The companies do not get paid for their milestones unless 

they are successful. In addition, both companies have over a billion dollars at stake 

for the services missions under the CRS contracts. If either company has an unsuccessful demonstration flight, NASA expects them to keep trying until they are successful. However, in the event that one of the CRS contractors cannot meet its obligations under CRS, then NASA could rely on the remaining CRS contractor to fly 

additional cargo flights. Both companies have indicated that they can increase their 

flight rate for CRS missions if required by NASA. In addition, NASA could contract 

for additional HTV, ATV, and/or Progress flights for more cargo delivery. 

Q10b. Does NASA have any recourse, monetarily or otherwise, if the providers fail 

to meet NASA’s requirements? 

A10b. Under the terms of the SAA, the partners are only paid for milestones that 

are successfully completed. If milestones are missed, NASA may unilaterally terminate the agreement if it is determined that sufficient progress is not being made 

and it is in the best interest of the Government. See the response to Question 10 

for a non-monetary recourse. The CRS contracts include termination for cause provisions. They also contain clauses regarding recovery of interim milestone payments 

and require the contractor to forfeit the final milestone payment in the event of a 

failed mission. 

Q10c. Do the CRS contracts contain any ‘‘look back’’ provisions which would allow 

NASA to recover damages if the providers fail to fulfill their obligations? 

A10c. In the event of a failed mission the contractor forfeits the final milestone 

payment. Once the contractor reaches the final milestone event, prior milestone payments for that mission are not recoverable. 
98 

Q11. In briefings by senior NASA officials leading up to this hearing, committee staff 

was told, ‘‘NASA did not get the level of detail with Space Act Agreements that they 

expected.’’ 

Q11a. What was missing and what were the weaknesses NASA found in dealing with 

a complicated development activity under a Space Act Agreement? 

A11a: There has been no information missing from the data provided to NASA. 

Under the COTS SAAs, the partner proposes its own milestones and provides NASA 

with the data needed to verify that the milestone was successfully accomplished. To 

date, this has been done for every performed milestone under the COTS SAAs. It 

should be noted that after the SAA partners chose to use the ISS as their on-orbit 

test bed, the provision of key development data related to meeting safety requirements for conducting proximity operations and berthings to the ISS was made a requirement of their SAA agreements. To date, the information required by NASA to 

determine that the SAA partners are meeting those safety requirements has been 

provided. 

Q11b. What lessons were learned from this? 

A11b. NASA believes that it is important to have the option of using different 

mechanisms to work with its partners. In this case, use of SAAs for the COTS demonstration flights and contracts for CRS operational missions was appropriate. The 

former approach maximized flexibility for the COTS providers in preparing for a 

demonstration of their commercial capabilities, while the latter obtained cargo delivery services specifically for NASA including the insight required for an operational 

system. 

Questions submitted by Acting Ranking Member Jerry Costello 

Q1. What types of in-kind or non-reimbursable services allowed by Space Act Agreements are being provided to COTS companies? Has NASA analyzed and estimated 

the value of those in-kind services? If so, what are the results of the analysis and 

estimated values? 

A1: NASA provides limited technical assistance to the COTS partners from the 

Commercial Advisory Team (CAT). The CAT is made up of technical experts 

throughout the Agency who assist NASA and the COTS companies in the disposition of technical milestones. NASA has not estimated the value of these services, 

as the Agency does not track the time providing assistance only and specifically to 

the COTS partners. Their function supports both the COTS partners and NASA 

management. Other than the CAT, NASA has offered use of the Tracking and Data 

Relay Satellite Services (TDRSS) for space communications with the ISS and has 

provided some equipment to facilitate ISS ground testing and integration. The estimated value of these equipment and services has not been calculated. 

Q2. What insight and oversight mechanisms is NASA using to ensure that CRS contractors are on track to meet their production goals and scheduled flight milestones? 

Are they the same mechanisms for either COTS or CRS? 

A2. NASA has weekly schedule meetings with the CRS providers, SpaceX and Orbital, and so has considerable insight into the progress that the contractors are 

making. In addition, under the contract, each provider delivers monthly detailed 

schedule updates on not only the CRS missions but also their demo activities. The 

schedules show progress on major vehicle hardware, software and integration activities including insight into their schedule slips. In addition, the ISS Program has key 

design, test, and analysis deliverables that are required from the providers to verify 

safety and interface requirements are met, and to perform integrated analysis and 

verification that ensures that the final vehicle can be successfully integrated with 

the on orbit ISS vehicle. The ISS Program also has insight into the conditions that 

drive these deliveries. And finally, the program performs independent analysis of 

the schedules and deliverables that SpaceX and Orbital provide and assesses their 

performance. 

Q3. What is the nature of your insight into COTS contractors and what specific areas 

do you have exposure to? 

A3. NASA has significant insight into the COTS partners’ technical and schedule 

status. The COTS program office has frequent and thorough communications with 

the partners ranging from daily telecons for technical integration issues to formal 

quarterly management reviews with the NASA program manager and company executives. NASA also has limited insight into company financial status to assess the 
99 

company’s financial viability and verify that both the company and NASA contributions are consistent with the terms of the agreements. 

Q3a. Why have the COTS launch dates slipped, and how much advance insight did 

you have that the slips would occur? 

A3a. The COTS partners have experienced delays due to development challenges 

as their program transitions from design to integration and testing. Both partners 

continue to make technical progress toward their development and demonstration 

milestones. Schedule status is formally reported by NASA, using its own judgment 

regarding estimated dates at the quarterly management reviews. 

Q3b. Will NASA’s level of insight be any different under the CRS contracts? 

A3b. NASA’s level of insight is different under the CRS contract than under the 

COTS SAAs. Under a contract, NASA has the ability to levy specific contractual requirements and the responsibility to verify them. Under the CRS contract, the contractors have to demonstrate that they meet specific cargo configuration requirements and environmental constraints (and provide the relevant data to NASA). In 

addition, NASA is performing a risk assessment on the launch system design for 

the contracted missions that are not being performed for the demonstration missions. 

Q3c. What indicators from CRS provider activities, for which NASA currently has 

no insight into, might enhance the accuracy of projected mission launch dates? 

A3c. NASA receives detailed schedules from the contractors, and believes that it 

currently has sufficient, continuing insight into CRS provider activities to be able 

to make reasonable projections of mission launch dates. This is an important consideration, as it impacts the cargo complement to be flown on a given CRS mission. 

Q4. If cargo delivery flights fall behind schedule, how will NASA prioritize what 

cargo is carried on those flights? What priority is given to utilization payloads in 

CRS mission manifesting and scheduling? 

A4. If CRS cargo delivery flights fall behind schedule, NASA will prioritize the 

cargo carried on those flights on the basis of payload criticality to the maintenance 

and operation of the International Space Station (ISS). Beyond meeting these requirements, NASA will first satisfy additional requirements associated with NASA 

utilization missions involving the Human Research Program and Technology Development and Demonstration projects necessary to NASA’s exploration mission. Finally, NASA would work together with the Non-Profit Organization managing the 

National Laboratory aspects of the ISS to determine the priority of utilization-related cargo, including equipment and samples supporting research objectives by organizations other than NASA. The success of the CRS cargo delivery flights and use 

of the ISS as a National Laboratory have always been directly linked. 

Q5. How will NASA respond if a commercial provider experiences a failure and indicates to NASA that the cost of recovering puts the financial viability of its company 

at risk? 

A5. NASA would assess the specific situation before determining an appropriate 

course of action. The Government may terminate the CRS contract if the contractor 

fails to perform or fails to provide, upon request, adequate assurances of future performance. 

Q6. How do the CRS contracts deal with last minute payload additions on CRS 

flights? For instance, if NASA determines that there is a need for a critical life support component to be shipped up to the Station, is there flexibility to allow NASA 

to add that payload to a CRS flight at the last minute? Would there be a financial 

implication for such a late addition to the payload? 

A6. The CRS contract allows flexibility in the specific manifest as long as the 

cargo bag complement and overall weights of the bags remain within the negotiated 

limitations of the mission. NASA specifically designed the contract this way to allow 

late-load items and the ability to fly critical life support spares at the last minute. 

Q7. Does NASA plan to include National Laboratory payloads on the scheduled 2012 

commercial cargo flights? If not, why not? What will be the impact on that research 

if commercial providers are not ready to deliver cargo to the ISS next year? How can 

researchers plan for ISS utilization under these circumstances? 

A7. NASA does plan to include National Laboratory payloads on 2012 CRS cargo 

flights. Should the CRS capabilities be delayed, delivery of material in support of 

National Laboratory research would be delayed, as well. While NASA and its CRS 
100 

providers are working to establish a routine cargo delivery capability to the ISS to 

enable maximum use of the Station for research in a wide variety of science disciplines, it is important that researchers build a degree of flexibility into their 

schedules to accommodate possible slips in the availability of these new services. 

Q8. What do any CRS delays mean for the number of scientific experiments that can 

utilize the ISS, the nature of science that can be conducted, and the duration of potential experiments on ISS? 

A8. The specific impacts of a potential delay in the availability of CRS capabilities 

would depend on the length of the delay, the planned duration of a given experiment, and whether such a delay involved resupplying an experiment already in 

progress aboard the ISS. In most cases, a delay in the operational availability of 

cargo services would mean a delay in the commencement of a particular experiment. 

NASA and its CRS providers are working to ensure that cargo resupply will be 

available in a timely manner, both to support scientific research and utilization and 

to maintain Station operations. 

Questions submitted by Congresswoman Donna Edwards 

Q1. As with any space mission, commercial cargo providers are at risk of suffering 

a launch failure.a. How will NASA respond if a commercial provider experiences a 

failure and indicates to NASA that the cost of recovering puts the financial viability 

of its company at risk? 

A1a. With regard to COTS, NASA’s response to a commercial partner’s failure and 

resultant financial uncertainty would depend on the nature of the failure, the financial risk posture of the company, and its plan for recovery after the failure. However, in general, if a company is unable to complete the milestones listed in the 

SAA, NASA may terminate the agreement and is under no obligation to make any 

further payments. 

With regard to CRS, NASA’s response would be dependent on the particular circumstances of the failure and the company’s performance. The Government may terminate the CRS contract if the contractor fails to perform or fails to provide, upon 

request, adequate assurances of future performance. One of the NASA mitigations 

for this risk was the award of two CRS contracts. 

Q1b. Who is responsible for funding any technical work needed to address the failure 

to meet technical objectives? 

A1b. With regard to COTS, NASA pays for a milestone only if the milestone is 

successfully completed. The COTS partners are responsible for funding any work 

needed to address the failures of any technical objectives in order to retry and successfully complete the objective for payment in a subsequent milestone. 

With regard to CRS, the CRS contractor is responsible for ensuring that its 

launch system and spacecraft provide the required service and meet the technical 

requirements of the services contract. NASA makes fixed-price payments for the 

services, regardless of the actual costs the contractor incurs to ensure its system 

meets the requirements or to address failures to meet the requirements. NASA does 

perform insight activities of the contractor and pays for those activities. 

Q1c. Are there any reserves being held at NASA should a major failure to meet 

COTS [or CRS] objectives occur? 

A1c. With regard to COTS, there are no reserves held in the COTS program for 

additional payments to the COTS partners since NASA is not financially responsible 

for additional costs associated with failures. NASA is responsible only for the investments included in the Space Act Agreements and those payments are only made 

upon successful completion of milestones in the Space Act Agreements. 

With regard to CRS, NASA does not hold specific reserves to address a major failure. Program reserves or other Agency reserves would need to be used if additional 

flights were required. 

Questions submitted by Congressman David Wu 

Q1. Is NASA assuming any liability risk or providing any indemnification for the 

CRS missions? 

A1. Launches and re-entries under the CRS contract are licensed by the FAA, and 

are covered by the FAA’s statutory provision for Government payment of third-party 

liability claims exceeding the contractor’s required insurance. NASA does not have 
101 

authority to indemnify the CRS contractors, and contractually has not assumed the 

risk of third-party liability for the CRS contractors. 

Q2. Do the.CRS contracts protect NASA’s assurance of cargo delivery in the event 

that a commercial provider experiences a launch failure? 

A2. In the event of a failed mission, the contractor is not required to re-perform 

the mission. One of the mitigations for this risk was the award of two CRS contracts. 

Q3. Do the COTS Space Act Agreements and CRS contracts allow for non-NASA 

payloads to be flown on the same NASA mission? 

A3. With regard to CRS, the contractor is performing a service specifically for 

NASA. In the case of a shared CRS cargo flight to ISS, NASA and non-NASA payloads would have to meet the same requirements. Payloads are prohibited from 

interfering with each other, with the function of the cargo delivery vehicle, or with 

ISS systems and functions. 

With regard to COTS, the partner is conducting its own demonstration of its capability and may choose to fly other payloads on the demonstration flights. However, 

other payloads cannot interfere with ISS systems and functions. 

3a. Can NASA veto such a shared mission? 

A3a. With regard to COTS, yes, NASA can disapprove any payload for missions 

to the ISS that does not meet ISS safety requirements. Under the CRS contract, 

NASA has the ability to disapprove a shared mission that has an impact to the CRS 

mission, does not meet ISS safety requirements, or causes NASA to perform additional work for which NASA has not received consideration. 

3b. What precautions must NASA take if it shares the same mission and what is required of NASA? 

A3b. With regard to COTS, all payloads proposed to be flown to or near the ISS 

must be approved by the ISS Safety Review Panel. 

With regard to CRS, in the case of a shared CRS cargo flight to ISS, NASA and 

non-NASA payloads would have to meet the same requirements. Payloads are prohibited from interfering with each other, with the function of the cargo delivery vehicle, or with ISS systems and functions. 

3c. Does NASA get any cost-reduction from the CRS contractors if it allows them to 

fly non-NASA commercial payloads on a CRS mission? 

3d. If not, why not? 

A3c&d: NASA purchases CRS services in terms of kilograms of up mass, not 

flights; the NASA cargo upmass on a particular CRS flight might or might not take 

up the total upmass capacity of that flight. Therefore, NASA does not receive a cost 

reduction from the CRS providers if a given flight is able to take up some non-NASA 

cargo in addition to that upmass procured by NASA. 
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ANSWERS TO POST-HEARING QUESTIONS

Responses by Ms. Cristina Chaplain, Director, Acquisition and Sourcing Management, U.S. Government Accountability Office 

Questions submitted by Chairman Steven Palazzo 

Q1. What were the weaknesses that were found with the government’s use of Space 

Act Agreement for complicated development activities like CRS? 

A1. Space Act Agreements were not used in the procurement of Commercial Resupply Services(CRS). In June 2009, we reported that the International Space Station program office awarded, under a separately competed procurement from COTS, 

two commercial resupply services contracts in December 2008 to SpaceX and Orbital. In prior reports we have noted weaknesses on DOD development activities 

that were conducted through the use of the other transaction authority including 

the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) and Future Combat Systems (FCS). 

For more information on these weaknesses in these programs, please see question 

2 below. 

Q2. In your testimony you state, ‘‘Going forward, it will be important for both NASA 

and the commercial sector to avoid hinging strategies on assumptions that we know 

have negatively impacted previous efforts to adopt commerciallike approaches in 

space.’’ Would you please elaborate on some of these erroneous assumptions and explain by providing examples from other government procurements that you think are 

applicable? 

A2. We have previously reported that DOD’s EELV program was begun under the 

assumption that there would be a large national and international marketplace for 

commercial satellites and therefore, for launch vehicles. However, this 

commercialmarketplace never materialized. As a result, the government became the 

lonepurchaser, increasing costs above the original baseline. Additionally, because 

thisprogram was begun under an ‘‘other transaction authority’’ (DOD’s authority 

similarto NASA’s Space Act agreement authority), DOD has been unable to 

fullyunderstand the costs associated with the program. This lack of knowledge 

canimpact the government’s ability to negotiate costs when awarding a contract. 

In 2003, the Army and Boeing entered into an ‘‘other transaction’’ agreement for 

the system development and demonstration phase of the FCS program. The Army’s 

rationale for using such an agreement was to encourage innovation and to use 

itswide latitude in tailoring business, organizational, and technical relationships to 

achieve the program goals. The FCS program faced significant challenges in setting 

requirements, developing systems, financing development, and managing the effort. 

Congress raised concerns over the use of the agreement for the development of a 

program as large and risky as FCS, and the Secretary of the Army directed that 

the other transaction agreement be converted to a FAR-based contract. 

In addition, the X-33 and X-34 programs were developed as an effort to significantly reduce the cost of access to space by partnering with private industry to develop and demonstrate technologies needed for future reusable launch vehicles 

reaching orbit in one stage. Both programs experienced difficulties achieving their 

goals primarily because NASA did not develop realistic cost estimates, timely acquisition and risk management plans, and adequate and realistic performance goals. 

In particular, neither program fully assessed the costs associated with developing 

new, unproven technologies; provided for the financial reserves needed to deal with 

technical risks and accommodate normal development delays; developed plans to 

quantify and mitigate the risks to NASA; or established performance targets showing a clear path leading to an operational reusable launch vehicle. Underlying these 

difficulties were problems with the agreements and contracts that established the 

relationship between NASA and its industry partners and eventual erosion of commercial prospects for the development of new reusable launch vehicles. As a result, 

both programs were cancelled. 

Questions submitted by Acting Ranking Member Jerry Costello 

Q1. How timely has the response been to delays in SpaceX’s second COTS demonstration flight due to the need to redesign components for the propulsion system, producing the launch vehicle tank, and in testing of the Dragon spacecraft’s navigation 

sensor? 

A1. As of June 2011, no new delays have been reported and SpaceX has completed 

two additional milestones as part of its risk reduction efforts. 
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Q1a. Should we expect that SpaceX will need to address other technical issues following the second and third COTS demonstrations, and even after the initial CRS 

flights, given that the launch vehicle is so early in its flight history? 

A1a. We reported last November that NASA certifies rockets based on payload 

risk classifications, which require anywhere from 3 to 14 successful launches for the 

highest classification category (lowest risk tolerance), depending on various certification alternatives. 

Officials at the Aerospace Corporation told us that while the causes of a given system’s failures can change over time (i.e. from the first three to seven flights, or even 

later in the design-life of the system), early failures are heavily weighted toward engineering design or process errors, especially in the first three launches. Once these 

errors are caught and ‘‘driven out’’ of a system, workmanship errors are the next 

most frequent cause of failures. After about the seventh launch, the frequency/severity of workmanship errors exhibits a steady state throughout the flight history of 

a system. Aerospace officials said this basic trend is the same for both expendable 

and reusable launch vehicles, as well as for both government and commercial systems, although the failure rate is much higher for the latter. 

As such, there is a reasonable expectation that SpaceX will need to address additional technical issues following future demonstration missions; however, the incidence or duration of any delays resulting from such issues is a matter of speculation. 

Q1b. If so, has time been added to the schedule to accommodate these types of 

changes? 

A1b. This question would best be addressed by SpaceX and NASA. Nevertheless, 

as of June 2011, there have not been any apparent changes to the company’s COTS 

schedule from what we testified on May 26th. It has been reported in the media 

that NASA has given tentative approval for SpaceX to combine its second and third 

demonstration missions into one mission to be completed near the end of 2011. 

Q2. What do any CRS delays mean for the number of scientific experiments that can 

utilize the ISS, the nature of science that can be conducted, and the duration of potential experiments on ISS? 

A2. We reported in November 2009 that if these vehicles are delayed, NASA officials said they would pursue a course of ′′graceful degradation′′ of the space station 

until conditions improve. Under such conditions, the space station would only conduct minimal science experiments. International Space Station program officials told 

us in May 2011 they have taken steps to mitigate the short-term impact of CRS 

flight delays through prepositioning of cargo on the last space shuttle flights. Officials added that these flights and the planned European Space Agency’s Automated 

Transfer Vehicle and Japan’s H-II Transfer Vehicle flights in 2012 will carry enough 

cargo to meet science-related cargo needs through most of 2012. Despite these steps, 

NASA officials said they would still need one flight each from SpaceX’s and Orbital’s 

vehicles in order to meet science-related cargo needs in 2012. Beyond 2012, NASA 

is highly dependent on SpaceX’s and Orbital’s vehicles in order to fully utilize the 

space station. 

Questions submitted by Congresswoman Donna Edwards 

Q1. You say in your statement that GAO’s work looking at other government acquisitions has shown that the government is required to make additional investments to 

mitigate risks and that the amount of investment can be lessened by securing, early 

on, accurate knowledge of costs, schedule, and risks. You also say that NASA has 

limited influence over the approaches taken by cargo providers. What does this say 

about the appropriateness of using the NASA cargo model to acquire crew transportation services? 

A1. NASA has performed extensive analysis to determine if Space Act agreements 

are appropriate for remaining phases of its commercial crew effort and has tentatively concluded that such agreements would not be appropriate. Specifically, 

NASA’s entire commercial crew certification process is based on partners’ compliance with NASA safety requirements for human spaceflight, but according to NASA, 

such requirements cannot be levied in a Space Act agreement. 

Q2. Mr. Culbertson stated that for Taurus II and Cygnus, Orbital was able to take 

advantage of heritage flight-proven design features although new developments were 

required for other program areas. In the partnership between NASA and the commer-
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1 ‘‘Invention’’ is defined by both SpaceX’s and Orbital’s Space Act agreements as ‘‘any innovation or discovery that is or may be patentable or otherwise protectable under title 35 of the 

U.S.C.’’ Title 35 relates to patents. 2 ‘‘Made’’ is defined by both SpaceX’s and Orbital’s Space Act agreements, in relation to any 

invention, as ‘‘the conception or first actual reduction to practice of such invention.’’ 

cial cargo providers, who is credited with the invention of the capabilities according 

to the Space Act agreements? 

A2. The Space Act agreements between NASA and Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) and Orbital Sciences Corporation (Orbital) state that 

′′NASA has determined that to stimulate and support the capability of a United 

States commercial provider to provide space and orbital transportation services to 

the public and the Federal Government, the interest of the United States would be 

served′′ by waiving the government’s rights to inventions 1 made 2 by the partners 

in the performance of work under these agreements. The Space Act agreements include a provision that provides a means for NASA to waive rights to any or all inventions that may be made under the agreements. We contacted NASA about 

whether the waivers were granted, but have not yet received a response. Because 

GAO has not specifically analyzed issues related to intellectual property rights and 

the commercial cargo Space Act agreements, we do not know whether or not the 

partners petitioned for such a waiver or if NASA granted it. Ultimately, the determination of whether or not a certain invention falls within the parameters of these 

provisions will be made on a case by case basis. 

Questions submitted by Congressman David Wu 

Q1. Your prepared statement notes that ‘‘additional resources have been allocated to 

development of the launch complex in Wallops Island to mitigate further slips.’’ 

Q1a. Who is supposed to be responsible for developing the launch complex—NASA 

or Orbital? 

A1a. To support its COTS demonstration mission, Orbital and the Mid-Atlantic 

Regional Spaceport are responsible for funding the construction of several new facilities, including a horizontal integration facility (to integrate the Taurus II with 

the Cygnus spacecraft); a launch pad, mount, and ramp; and separate fueling facilities for the Taurus II and the Cygnus spacecraft. As required by its Space Act 

agreement with NASA, Orbital completed an initial review in September 2008 of the 

launch site facilities to be developed and prepared a concept of operations for its 

launch activities. NASA provided Orbital with $10 million for completing this milestone. 

Q1b. What is the extent of additional funding that has been provided to develop the 

launch complex and what is the source of that funding? 

A1b. We have not conducted audit work to determine the extent and source of the 

additional funding. This question would best be addressed by Orbital and NASA. 

Q1c. In your view, is the plan and schedule to complete the launch complex viable? 

A1c. We previously reported that Orbital’s development schedule was aggressive 

and the company continues to experience delays in developing its launch complex 

at Wallops Island. In June 2009, we reported that Orbital’s construction schedule 

indicated that its launch pad, mount, and ramp would be completed by the end of 

2009, its horizontal integration facility was planned for completion in May 2010, 

and the Cygnus space vehicle fueling facility was planned to be completed by October 2010. In May 2011, we testified that the completion of the company’s launch 

facilities remained the key program risk to meeting its COTS demonstration mission 

schedule. Orbital officials told us that an around-the-clock schedule would be initiated later in the summer to expedite the completion of verification testing of the 

liquid fueling facility, which is the primary risk factor in completing the launch facility. Orbital officials indicated in July 2011 that its COTS demonstration mission 

would slip from December 2011 to February 2012 to allow for the completion and 

certification of its rocket propellant and pressurization facilities at Wallops Island. 
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ANSWERS TO POST-HEARING QUESTIONS

Responses by Mr. Frank Culbertson, Jr., Senior Vice President and Deputy General 

Manager, Advanced Programs Group, Orbital Sciences Corporation 

Questions submitted by Chairman Steven Palazzo 

Q1. Under the COTS agreement your company has to meet milestones in order to receive progress payments: 

Q1a. How would you describe NASA’s responsiveness to data submissions made by 

your company when seeking to prove compliance with a milestone? 

A1a. NASA has been very responsive to our data submissions. Our approach has 

been to pre-coordinate with NASA the type of data they expect as part of the milestone completion criteria, which has helped to avoid confusion when milestone completion letters are submitted. Further, when submissions are made, NASA has been 

very responsive in reviewing the data and responding with questions, allowing us 

to satisfy their concerns in a timely fashion and meet our milestone plans. 

Q1b. How responsive has NASA been with requests for technical assistance? 

We have generally worked any requests for technical assistance through NASA’s 

Commercial Cargo and Crew Program Office and in all cases, they have been very 

responsive to our requests. They have coordinated the support on the NASA side 

and the resulting support has been very good. 

Q2. In your testimony you state, ‘‘. . .this is a compressed development schedule compared to traditional government programs, it has challenges, but it is using commercial development and production practices with NASA insight.’’ NASA has always 

used commercial suppliers to build and operate launch vehicles and spacecraft, so 

please explain exactly what these ‘‘commercial development and production practices’’ 

are and how they differ from any other NASA development and production. 

A2. While NASA has certainly purchased goods and services from privately owned 

companies throughout its history, the federal acquisition regulations impose restraints on NASA’s purchases which are quite different from commercial practices. 

Orbital Sciences’ continuing analysis over several decades indicates that the spacecraft we build for private companies cost between one-third and one-half of the cost 

of U.S. government spacecraft. That difference is largely accounted for by the additional oversight required by the government at all levels (e.g. technical, managerial 

and financial). 

Q3. Orbital is planning its first demonstration flights in October; when do you expect 

the launch pad at Wallops Island, Virginia will be ready? 

A3. Orbital has relatively little influence on the readiness date of the launch pad 

that is owned by MARS. It is our understanding that MARS plans a dedication ceremony for the launch pad in October. The first demonstration flight cannot occur any 

sooner than three months after the pad becomes available. 

Q4. When does Orbital plan to fly its first non-NASA commercial mission with the 

Taurus 2 launch vehicle? 

A4. Orbital continues to discuss non-NASA Taurus II flights with potential customers. Since no contract has been signed, it is not yet appropriate to announce a 

mission. 

Question submitted by Ranking Member Jerry Costello 

Q1. To what extent does Orbital purchase insurance for the launch and payload associated with a CRS cargo launch? What, if any, other steps does Orbital take to mitigate against the potential failure of a CRS cargo launch? 

A1. Orbital plans on procuring insurance against the final payment of our milestone based contract with NASA which is approximately 20% of the total mission 

cost. 

Orbital has performed satellite launches dating from 1990 and has developed a 

solid performance record over two decades of missions for commercial and government customers. The keys to Orbital’s success include well documented design, 

verification, and operations processes that are certified to AS 9100/ISO 9001 industry standards. These documented processes allow Orbital to incorporate lessons 

learned from earlier launches into the mission cycle for the CRS cargo launches. An-
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other key attribute is Orbital’s use of hardware and software that is common across 

multiple programs within Orbital, meaning that teach rocket component benefits 

from an active production line and extensive testing performed on several different 

products. In addition, Orbital takes several active steps to mitigate against the potential failure of a CRS cargo launch, including: 

1) Independent Peer Review: One of Orbital’s ingrained internal processes is an 

Independent Design review performed by peers within each engineering department 

but outside of the program to ensure the vehicle is ready to fly. 

2) Independent ‘Gray Beard’ Review: Orbital has retained an Independent Readiness Review Team (IRRT) comprised of experts with long careers with NASA, the 

Air Force and industry leading technical organizations. The IRRT has attended each 

of the Taurus II design reviews dating to the start of development to actively apply 

technical expertise and industry lessons learned. 

3) Independent Safety and Mission Assurance Organization: Orbital has created 

an independent S&MA reporting chain that is outside of the program and which reports directly to the General Manager of the Launch Systems Group. Patterned 

after NASA lessons learned from the Challenger disaster, the S&MA group places 

quality inspectors and safety engineers in positions of active oversight on the Taurus II program while maintaining independence from the program. 

4) Component Qualification Program: Orbital has developed an internal process 

for verifying the design of flight hardware prior to flight that is based on MIL–STD– 

1540, which is a recognized aerospace industry standard. This process ensures that 

each hardware component is tested to environmental levels exceeding the flight environments to demonstrate design margin (called Qualification Testing). In addition, 

each flight component is tested to flight environment levels to screen out workmanship defects (called Acceptance Testing). The combination of Qualification and Acceptance Testing provides confidence that the rocket components will function properly during flight. Flight software goes through a disciplined Functional Qualification Test that similarly verifies that he software meets all design requirements and 

that it functions in a reliable manner. 

5) Test Like You Fly: Orbital has created the simulation tools necessary to rigorously test the software and hardware together in realistic ‘hardware in the loop’ environments that exercise the integrated system throughout multiple mission sequences prior to flight. Off nominal logic and redundant functions are also tested 

as part of the rigorous ground test program. Statistical methods such as Monte 

Carlo analysis are utilized in simulation environments to ensure mission success is 

still achieved even while varying critical subsystem parameters to worst case deviations. 

Questions submitted by Congresswoman Donna Edwards 

Q1. Are there any reserves being held at Orbital should a major failure to meet 

COTS objectives occur? How much reserve is being held? 

A1. Orbital’s contract for the Commercial Orbital Transportation System (COTS) 

and Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) with NASA is a fixed price contract with 

Orbital responsible for additional costs for tasks above and beyond what NASA requires us to do to fulfill our obligations under the contract. Orbital has an extremely 

healthy balance sheet including hundreds of millions of dollars of cash on hand, and 

thus is in no risk of not meeting its obligations. 

Q2. In the partnership between NASA and Orbital, who is credited with the invention of the capabilities according to the Space Act Agreements? 

A2. Orbital owns the intellectual property associated with our launch vehicle, the 

Taurus II, which is being entirely developed by Orbital with its own money. The 

development of the Cygnus is partially funded by NASA-the COTS Space Act agreement signed in 2008 gives intellectual property rights associated with the development of Cygnus to Orbital. 
107 

ANSWERS TO POST-HEARING QUESTIONS

Responses by Ms. Gwynne Shotwell, President, Space Exploration Technologies 

Questions submitted by Chairman Steven Palazzo 

Q1. Under the CQTS agreement, your company has to meet milestones in order to 

receive progress payments: 

a. How would you describe NASA’s responsiveness to data submissions made by your 

company when seeking to prove compliance with a milestone? 

A1. NASA has created an efficient and effective process for receiving and responding to data submissions. NASA has been prompt in providing comments or additional data requests with respect to milestone reviews, notices of successful milestone completion, and timely payments. 

b. How responsive has NASA been with requests for technical assistance? 

To date, NASA has been highly responsive in providing SpaceX with technical assistance as requested in the context of COTS. Here, NASA and SpaceX technical 

teams have worked as partners towards achieving the objectives of the COTS agreement. Separate from the COTS Space Act Agreement, SpaceX also has executed Reimbursable Space Act Agreements (by which SpaceX pays NASA for the use of the 

agency’s time and facilities) with other NASA centers. For example, SpaceX has executed Reimbursable SAAs with NASA AMES Research Center and the Jet Propulsion Lab for technical assistance and use of facilities. 

Q2. When does SpaceX plan to fly its first non-NASA commercial mission on the Falcon 9 launch vehicle? 

A2. SpaceX has already flown a non-NASA Falcon 9 mission. The first Falcon 9 

flight, launched successfully on June 4, 2010 under an FAA commercial launch license, was a nonNASA demonstration mission. At present, SpaceX’s next flight of 

the Falcon 9 for a commercial customer is scheduled for the third quarter of 2012. 

Q3. In your testimony you said, ‘‘SpaceX, even given the tremendous amount of development activities that we have had over the past few years, we have been profitable 

since 2007.’’ Is this based on GAAP reported earnings? Has SpaceX had positive free 

cash flow each year since 2007? 

A3. We consider the most important financial metric related to profitability to be 

positive cash flow. SpaceX has experienced a stronger ending cash balance through 

positive cash flow each year since 2007. 

Q4. In your testimony you said that NASA represented less than half of SpaceX’s 38 

contracted Falcon 9 missions. Who are the non-NASA customers, and how many missions are scheduled for each customer? 

A4. Per the attached, SpaceX’s current NASA, commercial and international missions under contract include 33 full Falcon 9 missions plus 5 optional flights to total 

38. Of those flights, thirty-seven percent are NASA resupply missions to the International Space Station (ISS). The list of customers and the number of missions are 

indicated on the attached manifest; please see Attachment 1—SpaceX Manifest. 

Question submitted by Acting Ranking Member Jerry Costello: 

Q1. Please explain to what extent SpaceX purchases insurance for the launch and 

payload associated with a CRS cargo launch. What, if any, other steps does SpaceX 

take to mitigate against the potential failure of a CRS cargo launch? 

A1. SpaceX will comply with all contractual and regulatory requirements for each 

launch mission it performs. In accordance with the terms of its CRS contract and 

the applicable FAA regulations, SpaceX will purchase insurance at least in the 

amount prescribed by the FAA to cover the potential claims of third parties for bodily injury or property damage arising out of any particular licensed activity. Thirdparty launch liability insurance, however, does not cover any loss or damage to the 

payload on a CRS mission. The FAA’s regulatory regime requires NASA (or any 

other purchaser of launch services) to bear the risk of loss to the payload during 

a licensed activity. 

Specifically, the FAA’s regulatory regIme requires (and the CRS contract reflects) 

the implementation of a reciprocal waiver of claims for each licensed activity, under 

which each party waives and releases claims against all the other parties to the 

waiver and agrees to assume financial responsibility for property damage it sustains 
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and for bodily injury or property damage sustained by its own employees, and to 

hold harmless and indemnify each other from bodily injury or property damage sustained by its employees, resulting from a licensed or permitted activity, regardless 

of fault. 

The risk of loss is minimized, however, as SpaceX performs extensive testing and 

analyses to ensure the success of each mission. In addition, NASA maintains extensive insight and approval rights under the CRS contract in order to allow NASA 

to assess the risk to the cargo itself and to its safe and timely delivery. Finally, 

NASA reserves the right to utilize Government-performed technical assessments of 

launch and cargo vehicles/configurations to evaluate the readiness of the Contractor 

to deliver NASA cargo to the ISS. The combined efforts of the SpaceX–NASA team 

effectively mitigate the risk of potential failure of a CRS cargo launch. 

Questions submitted by Representative Donna Edwards: 

Q1. I take from your testimony that SpaceX will be able to sell its designs, vehicles, 

and capabilities to partners other than NASA. Can you estimate the market value 

of this transfer? How much could SpaceX stand to gain from selling its capabilities 

in the private market? 

A1. As described by NASA in its initial COTS solicitation of January 2006, the 

COTS program was established to: (a) implement U.S. Space Exploration policy with 

an investment to stimulate commercial enterprises in space, (b) facilitate U.S. private industry demonstration of cargo and crew space transportation capabilities 

with the goal of achieving reliable, cost effective access to low-Earth orbit, and (c) 

create a market environment in which commercial space transportation services are 

available to Government and private sector customers. As the product of joint public-private funding, there is no ‘‘transfer’’ and the work performed under COTS is 

meant to be commercialized. SpaceX, like all U.S. entities, is bound by export control laws and other restrictions from selling designs, vehicles or capabilities to nonU.S. entities, absent State Department approvals. SpaceX may sell services, for 

which some of the underlying technologies were developed under the COTS program, into the commercial and governmental space transportation markets. Demand 

in the private commercial market varies from year-to-year and market share potential depends on a wide range of factors; however, as noted in hearing testimony, 

whereas in 1980, 100 percent of commercial launches took place from within the 

United States; today, it is less than 12 percent. For the first time in more than 

three decades, via SpaceX, an America company has begun to recapture international market-share in the commercial satellite launch sector—a sector in which 

the U.S. has seen steady erosion relative to Chinese, Russian and French competitors over the three previous decades. 

Q2. In the partnership between NASA and SpaceX, who is credited with the invention of the capabilities according to the Space Act Agreements? 

A2. Under the standard Invention and Patent Rights Clause included by NASA 

in Space Act Agreements under which the nongovernmental partner performs work 

of an inventive type for NASA, the partner may obtain title to inventions it makes 

under the SAA through an advance or individual waiver, and NASA benefits 

through retention of a government purpose license in the invention, as well as from 

the available commercial source of a needed technology. In this case of the partnership between NASA and SpaceX, NASA has determined that in order to stimulate 

and support the capability of a United States commercial provider to provide space 

and orbital transportation services to the public and the Federal Government, the 

interest of the United States would be served by waiving to SpaceX the rights to 

any inventions made by SpaceX in the performance of work under the COTS SAA. 

With respect to each SpaceX invention for which a waiver of rights is applicable, 

however, NASA reserves (a) an irrevocable, royalty-free license for the practice of 

such invention throughout the world by or on behalf of the United States or any 

foreign government in accordance with any treaty or agreement with the United 

States; and (b) march-in rights. 
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(111) 

Appendix II 

STATEMENT SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD
112 

STATEMENT SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD

PREPARED STATEMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE PETE OLSON

Since I have been a Member of Congress, I have been a strong advocate of NASA, 

its mission, and the significant importance that space has had around the world and 

to our country. NASA’s programs profoundly impact almost all aspects of the U.S. 

economy and our daily lives through technology development and influence in national security, medical science, aeronautics, planetary science, research, education 

and many other areas. 

However, what is no longer clear to me and many of my colleagues is . . . NASA’s 

current mission. The U.S. space industry needs a path forward that sets a clear direction with attainable goals and an appropriate balance of human space flight, exploration, technology, science, and aeronautics programs that can assure U.S. competitiveness and a strong future for our country and the industry. 

Collectively, the agency and programs have been studied and evaluated extensively in the past decade by Presidential Commissions, independent commissions, 

The Government Accountability Office, NASA’s Office of the Inspector General, professional organizations and NASA, resulting in complete instability due to too many 

changes in direction, policy, budget and programs, to safely, affordably, and successfully move forward in any U.S. space endeavor. This trend must stop—NASA is 

wasting billions of tax payer dollars as a result of ineffective management, and imprudent decisions. The agency, a proud symbol of U.S. exceptionalism and regarded 

as one of the most technically capable, worthy of our national investment, has now 

deteriorated to an agency whose future and purpose is in question and programs 

under constant scrutiny. 

Right now we face a gap with an unknown end . . . a gap in U.S. space capability 

that was unnecessary, risking our future and global leadership in space, and creating a detrimental and irreversible impact to our industrial capability for years to 

come. The position we find ourselves in was entirely avoidable and must now be corrected with explicit direction, clearly articulated goals, and the commensurate funding. Performance and accountability to these goals—safety, cost, program milestones, and succeeding or failing—is our collective responsibility. The viability of 

NASA’s future and our nation’s future in space depends on our success, right now. 

The civil space program needed to evolve in order to move beyond Low Earth 

Orbit where our expertise and resources have been the focus for more than 30 years. 

There is challenge in this necessary evolution but methodical, strategic planning 

could have preserved the critical capabilities required for the next step. Instead, the 

Administration opened up a revolution in February of 2010 that has led to our fragmented industry. By evidence of actions on the part of NASA and the Administration, we are operating under two government policies—the NASA Authorization of 

2010 enacted last October and the President’s National Space Policy released last 

June. Now, as Congress has stepped in, in partnership with the Agency and industry to bring stability back into the agencies programs, we must understand where 

our programs are in accomplishing the goals and objectives of their programs. In 

order to equitably manage our precious government resources, we must hold all segments of the industry—The Administration, NASA, and contractors—accountable 

for their actions and performance. 

There is only one policy that should be directing NASA and the civil space industry . . . the Authorization Act of 2010, funded through the Continuing Resolution. 

NASA must move forward, without hesitation, in implementing the actions detailed 

in the NASA Authorization of 2010, enacted by the President and Congress, last October. 

The Authorization directs NASA to continue the development of a commercial 

cargo and crew capability to support the International Space Station and accelerate 

the development of the Space Launch System (SLS) and Multipurpose Crew Vehicle 

(MPCV) that will take the U.S. beyond low earth orbit (LEO) order to develop capabilities to take humans to Mars. The Authorization is the most prudent action at 

this point, well thought out in the context of the budget environment, current capabilities, and industry development to assure a strong future in space for the U.S. 
113 

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD BY MR. WILLIAM H. 

GERSTENMAIER, ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR, SPACE OPERATIONS MISSION DIRECTORATE, NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
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