Commercial Space 

Transportation

FY-2007

Research and Development 

Accomplishments

October 2007
Available from

Federal Aviation Administration

Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation

800 Independence Avenue, S.W., Rm. 331

Washington, D.C. 20591

NOTICE

Use of trade names, services, or images associated with corporate 

entities in this document does not constitute official endorsement of

such products, services, or corporate entities, either expressed or 

implied, by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Photo credits for front cover: 

Upper right corner image, courtesy of NASA.

Lower right image, courtesy of NASA.

Center image, courtesy of NASA.

Upper left image, courtesy of NASA

Lower left image: Sea Launch Company, LLC. (Long Beach, California)
AST FY 2007 R&D Accomplishments

Commercial Space Transportation



Mission

AST’s mission is to ensure protection of the 

public, property, and national security and 

foreign policy interests of the United States 

during a commercial launch or reentry activity 

and to encourage, facilitate, and promote 

U.S. commercial space transportation.
Commercial Space Transportation

AST FY 2007 R&D Accomplishments

Introduction

This document describes three Research and Development (R&D) 

projects undertaken by the Associate Administrator for Commercial Space 

Transportation (AST) in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) during 

fiscal year 2007. Each of the three new research projects selected was 

assigned to an AST division to lead the research effort. In addition to a 

description of each project, we provide a summary of accomplishments 

to date. 

The AST safety research supports the development of the policy, 

standards, and guidance material needed to meet FAA goals and objectives. 

Such research is also essential in developing the knowledge necessary to 

maintain and improve FAA/AST materials used to verify that the products 

and procedures of launch vehicle and site operator licensees, permitees, 

and applicants adequately comply with applicable safety standards. 

To that end, AST formulated and instituted an R&D activity to support 

its mission and the FAA’s strategic goal of safety. The AST Research and 

Development Plan provides a process for effectively applying resources for 

research based on clearly identified safety priorities each fiscal year. This 

Plan was used to solicit candidate research projects from internal sources, 

such as AST aerospace engineers and projects. External sources, such as 

the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee’s (COMSTAC) 

Reusable Launch Vehicle Working Group (RLVWG) and Launch Operations 

Support Working Group (LOSWG), were also solicited. 

First, the AST R&D Advisory Board evaluated candidate research projects 

for relevance to AST’s mission, relative importance, and cost. Second, the 

AST R&D Advisory Board ranked the candidate research projects to arrive 

at a prioritized list to present to the AST R&D Senior Steering Committee 

for review. Third, the AST R&D Senior Steering Committee selected the 

R&D projects to undertake in FY 2007 that had the greatest potential to 

fulfill AST’s mission and to meet its budgeted requirements. Lastly, the R&D 

Advisory Board and Senior Steering Committee held periodic R&D project 

status reviews throughout the year.
AST FY 2007 R&D Accomplishments

Commercial Space Transportation



Human Space Flight Training

Preparation Study

The recent development of commercial launch vehicles designed to 

carry humans has created a need to assist the FAA in determining if space 

flight crews meet the training requirements to ensure the safety of the 

crew and the uninvolved public. 

The Futron Corporation conducted a Commercial Space Flight Launch 

and Reentry Vehicle Pilot Training Survey for the FAA’s Office of Commercial 

Space Transportation. 

The Survey was developed to help the FAA understand the opportunities 

available in critical aviation and space flight training fields, by supplying 

profiles of training providers as well as a final report summarizing the 

survey.

The following disciplines were surveyed:

Physiological Training

High Performance Jet

High Performance Gliders

Altitude Chamber (hypobaric and hyperbaric)

Parachute Training

Unusual Attitude Training

High Altitude Flight

High-g (gravity)

Low-g (gravity)

Pressure Suit Training

Flight Simulation

Spaceflight Operations
Commercial Space Transportation

AST FY 2007 R&D Accomplishments



Each profile includes the following items:

List of the training area(s) that the organization provides

Contact information

Description of the training course(s) 

Brief background and professional training experience of the 

organization 

Description of the equipment and facilities that the provider 

owns or uses to conduct the applicable training

Data on the cost of the training offered
AST FY 2007 R&D Accomplishments

Commercial Space Transportation

OPTIMAL

WORST

ALERT

SLEEPY

1100

12001300140015001600170018001900200021002200230024000100020003000400050006000700080009001000

NADIR

Circadian

Trough

PEAK

PERFORMANCE

SLEEPNESS

Time of Day (24 hour)

The human circadian rhythm



Safety Operations Personnel

Duty and Rest Analysis

In the interest of ensuring the safety of commercial space transportation, 

the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) developed rest and duty 

restrictions. These regulations were based on crew rest requirements 

imposed by the Air Force at Federal launch ranges.

The FAA in cooperation with the Volpe Center and Aerospace 

Corporation commissioned Clemson University to review the scientific 

literature pertaining to crew rest and duty restrictions and provide 

recommendations for those involved in commercial space transportation. 

The goal of this effort was to contribute to an improved commercial space 

transportation safety system by ensuring that ground support personnel 

and flight crewmembers are afforded the opportunity to obtain sufficient 

rest to safely perform their routine and emergency duties. 

The study focused on sleep, circadian rhythms, stages of sleep, best time 

to sleep, effect of sleep disruptions, sleep requirements, countermeasures 

to fatigue and insomnia, shift-work, shift-work scheduling tools, present 

aviation and space flight crew rest and duty time requirements.

 
Commercial Space Transportation

AST FY 2007 R&D Accomplishments

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00

Awake

REM

NREM-1

NREM-2

NREM-3

NREM-4

Sleep stages

The typical sleep cycle for an adult

Sleep (hrs) in 24 hours 8 8 8 8

Crew rest (hrs) before and after shift 12 12 12 12

Max. flight time (hrs) in 24 hours (nonaugmented) 8 N/A 8 N/A

Max. flight time (hrs) in 24 hours (augmented) N/A N/A 12 N/A

Max. duty time (hrs) in 24 hours (non-augmented) 11 12 11 12

Max. duty time (hrs) in 24 hours (augmented) N/A N/A 14 N/A

Max. flight time (hrs) in 7 days 30 N/A 30 N/A

Max. duty time (hrs) in 7 days 60 60 60 60

Duty and Rest Recommendations for Suborbital and Orbital Flights

and Their Corresponding Flight and Ground Crews

 Suborbital Flights Orbital Flights

 Flight Crew Ground Crew Flight Crew Ground Crew 



The study found that

While all sleep is beneficial, slow wave sleep is more 

recuperative; 

The best time to sleep is during the circadian trough

(between 2200-0800);

Interruptions of nighttime core sleep reduce sleep quality and 

effectiveness; 

Individuals need roughly 8-hours of sleep to be properly 

refreshed; 

Sleep loss is cumulative and it may take a person multiple nights 

of sleep to fully recover. 

This study concluded by reviewing current vehicle and launch 

operations in the commercial space transportation industry. It went on to 

examine what the future may be and made recommendations for managing 

commercial space transportation crew duty and rest. The table details 

some of the recommendations.
AST FY 2007 R&D Accomplishments

Commercial Space Transportation

Historical Database of Failures & Reliability of

Rocket-powered Vehicles

At the suggestion of the of the Commercial Space Transportation 

Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) Reuseable Launch Vehicles (RLV) Working 

Group, the FAA/AST initiated a database review of historical failure modes of 

rocket powered vehicles (both expendable and reusable) using open source 

literature. The ultimate goal was to provide the emerging commercial 

space transportation industry with insight into what components of rocketpowered vehicles fail and why. 

In this database, the definition of “failure” draws from a clause in FAA/

AST Guide to Probability of Failure Analysis for New Expendable Launch 

Vehicles. 

“An in-flight failure occurs when a launch vehicle does not

complete any phase of normal flight.”

Note that this definition excludes failures where a vehicle’s lower stages 

had already placed the spacecraft in orbit. An example is the failure of an 

apogee kick motor attached to a satellite that had already been placed in 

a transfer orbit by the lower stages of its launcher.

The study progressed in two phases:

1. U.S. and foreign expendable launch vehicles over the last 50 

years (i.e., Atlas), and

2. Rocket powered aircraft (i.e., X-15).

For the 255 expendable launches for which a failure reason could be 

determined during the 1957-2007 period, propulsion anomalies were 

found to be the salient failure mode (51%). Guidance and navigation 

were the next leading causes of failure (20%). 

Upon review of the 142 launch failures with known causes occurring 

since 1980, propulsion anomalies remained the salient failure mode 

(54%). Guidance and navigation remained the next leading causes of 

failure although they have dropped significantly (12%). The proportion 

of software and computing-related failures is growing and has become 

significant (9%). The database for rocket powered aircraft has been 

completed but is still under review and will be finalized in FY2008.
HQ-028807.indd

Commercial Space Transportation

Federal Aviation Administration

Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation

800 Independence Avenue, S.W., Rm. 331

Washington, D.C. 20591