National Aeronautics and Space Administration

2006 NASA

Strategic Plan
Table of Contents

Cover: On December 24, 1968, the Apollo 8 crew were the first humans to see Earth rise above the Moon’s horizon. (Photo: 

NASA)

MESSAGE FROM THE ADMINISTRATOR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

NASA’S MISSION AND VISION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

NASA’S STRATEGIC GOALS: 2006 THROUGH 2016 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Strategic Goal 1: Fly the Shuttle as safely as possible until its retirement, not later than 2010.. . . . 6

Strategic Goal 2: Complete the International Space Station in a manner consistent with 

 NASA’s International Partner commitments and the needs of human exploration. . . . . . . . . . . 7

Strategic Goal 3: Develop a balanced overall program of science, exploration, and aeronautics

 consistent with the redirection of the human spaceflight program to focus on exploration. . . . . . 8

Strategic Goal 4: Bring a new Crew Exploration Vehicle into service as soon as possible 

 after Shuttle retirement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Strategic Goal 5: Encourage the pursuit of appropriate partnerships with the emerging 

 commercial space sector. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Strategic Goal 6: Establish a lunar return program having the maximum possible utility for 

 later missions to Mars and other destinations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

INSIDE NASA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

NASA’S STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

NASA’S EXTERNAL ADVISORS AND PARTNERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

EXTERNAL CHALLENGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

SCENARIOS FOR THE FUTURE: LOOKING BEYOND 2016 . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

APPENDIX: NASA’S STRATEGIC GOALS AND OUTCOMES. . . . . . . . . . . . 41
1

As NASA approaches its 50th year, we are proud to be 

the Nation’s leading research and development organization in the fields of space and aeronautics. Together with 

our partners, we are using NASA’s unique skills and capabilities to continue the American tradition of exploring 

and settling new frontiers for the benefit of humankind.

Two years ago, President George W. Bush gave NASA 

a defining challenge for the 21st century with compelling 

new objectives outlined in the Vision for Space Exploration. The Vision commits our Nation to a new journey of 

exploration of the solar system, beginning with the return 

of humans to the Moon by the end of the next decade, 

and leading to subsequent landings on Mars and other 

destinations, such as near-Earth asteroids.

The fundamental goal of the Vision is “to advance U.S. scientific, security, and economic interests through a robust space exploration program.” NASA already is working to develop a new generation of spacecraft and launch vehicles that will enable the 

achievement of these goals within the modest expenditure of tax revenues—fifteen 

cents per day from the average citizen or seven-tenths of one percent of the federal 

budget—that our Nation invests in space exploration and research. 

By pursuing the goals of the Vision for Space Exploration, NASA will contribute to 

American leadership in defining and pursuing the frontiers that expand humankind’s 

reach, and we will help keep our Nation at the cutting edge of science and technology. We also will work with other nations to do those things that fulfill the dreams of 

humankind, dreams that always have included the desire to see what lies beyond the 

known world.

To ensure the success of the space program through generations to come, we must 

have simple, but compelling, long-term goals and a coherent, thoughtful plan to 

achieve them. This NASA Strategic Plan embraces the goals articulated in the Vision 

for Space Exploration and addresses our strategy for reaching them.

As we look forward to the events that will define this century, there is no doubt that 

the expansion of human presence in space will be among the great achievements of 

this era. We have the opportunity and the obligation to lead this enterprise, to explore 

worlds beyond our own, and to help shape the destiny of this world for centuries to 

come. I am proud that America, through NASA, will lead the way.

Michael D. Griffin

Administrator

Message from the Administrator
2 2006 NASA Strategic Plan
3

Congress enacted the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 to provide 

for research into problems of flight within and outside Earth’s atmosphere and 

to ensure that the United States conducts activities in space devoted to peaceful purposes for the benefit of humankind. Nearly 50 years later, NASA proudly 

pledges that the Agency will continue the important work begun in 1958 by pursuing the American tradition of pioneering and exploration to redefine what is possible for the benefit of all humankind and by using NASA’s unique competencies 

in scientific and engineering systems to fulfill the Agency’s purpose and achieve 

NASA’s Mission:

To pioneer the future in space exploration, 

scientific discovery, and aeronautics research.

On January 14, 2004, President George W. Bush announced A Renewed Spirit of 

Discovery: The President’s Vision for U.S. Space Exploration, a new directive for 

the Nation’s space program. The fundamental goal of this directive is “to advance 

U.S. scientific, security, and economic interests through a robust space exploration program.” In issuing it, the President committed the Nation to a journey of 

exploring the solar system and beyond: 

returning to the Moon in the next decade, 

then venturing further into the solar system, ultimately sending humans to Mars 

and beyond. He challenged NASA to 

establish new and innovative programs to 

enhance understanding of the planets, to 

ask new questions, and to answer questions that are as old as humankind.

NASA enthusiastically embraced the 

challenge of extending a human presence 

throughout the solar system as the Agency’s Vision, and in the NASA Authorization Act of 2005, Congress endorsed the 

Vision for Space Exploration and provided 

additional guidance for implementation. 

NASA is committed to achieving this 

Vision and to making all changes necessary to ensure success and a smooth 

The White House released A Renewed 

Spirit of Discovery, a new directive for 

the U.S. space program, on January 14, 

2004. This document laid the foundation 

for NASA’s strategy to extend the frontiers 

of human exploration.

NASA’s Mission and Vision
4 2006 NASA Strategic Plan

transition. These changes will include increasing internal 

collaboration, leveraging personnel and facilities, developing strong, healthy NASA Centers, and fostering a 

safe environment of respect and open communication 

for employees at all levels. NASA also will ensure clear 

accountability and solid program management and 

reporting practices. 

Over the next 10 years, NASA will focus on six Strategic 

Goals to move forward in achieving the Vision for Space 

Exploration. Each of the six Strategic Goals is clearly 

defined and supported by multi-year Outcomes that will 

enhance NASA’s ability to measure and report Agency 

accomplishments in this quest. (For a complete list, see 

Appendix: NASA’s Strategic Goals and Outcomes.)

NASA’s Strategic Goals

Strategic Goal 1: Fly the Shuttle as safely as possible until its retirement, not later than 2010.

Strategic Goal 2: Complete the International Space Station in a manner consistent with NASA’s 

International Partner commitments and the needs of human exploration.

Strategic Goal 3: Develop a balanced overall program of science, exploration, and aeronautics 

consistent with the redirection of the human spaceflight program to focus on exploration.

Strategic Goal 4: Bring a new Crew Exploration Vehicle into service as soon as possible after 

Shuttle retirement.

Strategic Goal 5: Encourage the pursuit of appropriate partnerships with the emerging commercial space sector.

Strategic Goal 6: Establish a lunar return program having the maximum possible utility for later 

missions to Mars and other destinations.
5

NASA’s Mission Directorates and Centers will collaborate on an affordable, evolvable strategy to accomplish NASA’s Strategic Goals. The Science Mission Directorate, through its robotic missions and space observatories, will continue to 

collect key data and provide stunning images of distant galaxies and planets in 

the solar system, including Earth. The Space Operations Mission Directorate will 

operate the Space Shuttle until its retirement and will manage completion and use 

of the International Space Station to ensure its continued availability as a unique 

space outpost and laboratory. The Exploration Systems Mission Directorate will 

develop future transportation systems and technologies to return humans to the 

Moon and to maintain a human presence in space. This Directorate, through its 

commercial and prize programs, also will stimulate new ideas and invite entrepreneurs to provide space capabilities from the private sector. The Aeronautics 

Mission Directorate will re-establish NASA’s dedication to the mastery of core 

competencies in subsonic, supersonic, and hypersonic flight. This Directorate will 

develop system-level, multi-disciplinary capabilities to meet the needs of both civilian and military communities.

Missions to the International Space Station are yielding much information about 

the human impacts of long-duration space exploration. NASA and the International Partners are using this information to set the standards for longer missions 

to the Moon and Mars. Techniques demonstrated in robotics, assembly, and 

maintainability on the International Space Station will guide development of nextgeneration space vehicles that will fly farther, faster, and for longer duration. 

NASA’s lunar plans are coming into focus through the Exploration Systems 

Architecture Study. NASA soon will select a prime contractor to develop, test, 

and produce the Crew Exploration Vehicle. This vehicle will provide access to 

low Earth orbit and exploration destinations beyond for up to six people in a safe, 

affordable manner. The Crew Launch Vehicle project is developing the crew and 

cargo rockets of the future. 

In 2004, the President charged NASA with the responsibility for planning and 

implementing an integrated, long-term robotic and human exploration program 

structured with measurable milestones and executed on the basis of available 

resources, accumulated experiences, and technology readiness. Congress 

endorsed this directive with two appropriations and the NASA Authorization Act. 

NASA will focus on six major Strategic Goals over the next 10 years to achieve 

this Vision of extending humankind’s presence across the solar system, developing innovative technologies and promoting international and commercial participation in exploration to further U.S. scientific, security, and economic interests.

NASA’s Strategic Goals:

2006 Through 201

6
6 2006 NASA Strategic Plan

Finally, a comprehensive Flight Readiness Review will 

provide Shuttle program and Space Operations Mission 

Directorate leadership with an opportunity to review the 

readiness of the Shuttle and its supporting assets prior 

to each launch.

Managing the retirement of the Shuttle is particularly 

challenging since NASA will conduct a series of complex International Space Station assembly and Hubble 

servicing missions using the Shuttle while simultaneously 

exploring and developing future transportation alternatives, including a new Shuttle-derived replacement 

transportation system. Simultaneous operations and 

development activities will require that NASA find new 

ways to use existing Shuttle workforce, hardware, and 

infrastructure assets efficiently and effectively. In conjunction with these activities, NASA will identify Shuttle 

capabilities required for new exploration systems and 

preserve them for potential future use. The Agency also 

will identify capabilities no longer required for near-term 

missions or future vehicle development so that their 

associated resources can be allocated to other investments and their important contributions to the history of 

human spaceflight can be recorded and preserved.

Strategic Goal 1: 

Fly the Shuttle as safely as 

possible until its retirement, 

not later than 2010.

The Space Shuttle is the Nation’s only human-rated 

launch vehicle. It also is the only vehicle in the world 

with the launch, return, and on-orbit capabilities needed 

to complete the planned assembly of the International 

Space Station.

The Vision for Space Exploration focuses the Shuttle 

program on completing assembly of the International 

Space Station, using as few Shuttle flights as possible, 

and retiring the Shuttle by 2010. NASA expects elements of the Shuttle’s systems, including the external 

tank, solid rocket boosters, and main engines, to serve 

as the basis for future exploration systems that will carry 

crew and cargo to the International Space Station, the 

Moon, Mars, and beyond.

The Shuttle manifest through 2010 will assemble the 

International Space Station and, pending the results 

from the second return to flight test mission, the potential for a servicing mission to the Hubble Space 

Telescope. NASA’s success in executing this manifest 

depends on the Agency’s ability to safeguard critical 

Shuttle workforce, hardware, and infrastructure assets.

NASA will continue to ensure the safety of the Shuttle 

workforce, systems, and processes through an extensive engineering analysis and testing program supported 

by a rigorous and multi-layered review process. These 

processes include regular project and program-level 

reviews of ongoing analyses, tests, and mission activities. The NASA Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, the NASA Office of the Chief Engineer, the NASA 

Engineering and Safety Center, and the Aerospace 

Safety Advisory Panel will provide additional expertise 

and oversee or perform safety assessments for Shuttle 

program managers and senior Agency leadership. 

Astronaut Stephen Robinson photographed Shuttle Discovery as 

it was docked to the Destiny laboratory of the International Space 

Station during a spacewalk he conducted on August 3, 2005, as 

part of mission STS-114. (Photo: NASA)

STS-121 second 

Return to Flight 

test mission

(2006)

Retire Shuttle fleet

(no later than 2010)

International Space Station 

assembly
NASA’s Strategic Goals: 2006 Through 2016 7

Strategic Goal 2: 

Complete the International 

Space Station in a manner 

consistent with NASA’s International Partner commitments 

and the needs of human 

exploration.

Completing assembly of the International Space Station is a vital part of NASA’s program of exploration. 

The International Space Station demonstrates the utility 

of working with an international partnership on a permanently crewed platform in space and enables the 

Agency to develop, test, and validate the next generation of technologies and operational processes needed 

to continue exploring. 

NASA will complete assembly of the International Space 

Station and meet the Agency’s commitments to the 

International Partners. Once the Space Shuttle returns 

to flight, NASA will launch the remaining U.S. and International Partner elements. Before its retirement in 2010, 

the Agency also will use the Space Shuttle to carry 

spare equipment and other items to the International 

Space Station that are needed for maintenance and 

continued operations. 

When the Space Shuttle returns to flight, NASA will 

return to supporting three-person International Space 

Station crews, then work to expand to larger crews as 

soon as feasible with a goal of providing the on-orbit 

capability to support a crew of six by the end of 2009. 

A six-person crew will be able to maintain and utilize 

fully the Space Station’s capabilities. The size of the 

crew, however, is largely dependent on the capacity of 

the Space Station’s life support systems. Over the next 

This photograph of the International Space Station was taken 

during the Shuttle Discovery’s fly-around after it undocked on 

August 5, 2005. Visible are the Zarya module and the Zvezda 

Service Module. (Photo: NASA)

few years, NASA will deliver, fly, and test on-orbit the 

U.S. Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System, demonstrating a technology that will be 

vital for future exploration missions. 

NASA will focus future International Space Station 

research primarily on supporting space exploration 

goals, looking particularly at how the space environment affects astronaut health. Researchers also will use 

this unique, orbiting laboratory environment to validate 

important science conducted in ground-based facilities. 

Over the next year, NASA will develop plans for designating the U.S. segment of the International Space 

Station as a National Laboratory. In the long term, 

NASA will evaluate the costs and benefits of the 

International Space Station as an ongoing test bed in 

the space environment for exploration technology development and demonstration. The Agency will ensure 

that research on board the International Space Station 

matches exploration requirements. 

Return to flight and 

three-phased Station assembly

(through 2010)

Station utilization provides for 

exploration goals

(2010 and beyond)
8 2006 NASA Strategic Plan

challenges, both civilian and military. NASA will work 

with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to develop a national policy that articulates 

federal agency roles and responsibilities and guides the 

aeronautics research and development programs of the 

United States through 2020. 

This Strategic Goal is broad and far-reaching. Therefore, NASA established six supporting Sub-goals to 

ensure a balanced focus.

Sub-goal 3A: Study Earth from space 

to advance scientific understanding 

and meet societal needs. 

Earth is changing on 

all spatial and temporal 

scales. The purpose of 

NASA’s Earth science 

program is to develop a 

scientific understanding 

of Earth’s system and its 

response to natural or 

human-induced changes 

and to improve prediction 

of climate, weather, and 

natural hazards.

Earth science is science 

in the national interest. 

While scientific discovery 

from space is inherent 

in the Agency’s mission, 

Strategic Goal 3: 

Develop a balanced overall 

program of science, exploration, and aeronautics consistent with the redirection of the 

human spaceflight program to 

focus on exploration.

The Vision for Space Exploration includes robotic exploration of planetary bodies in the solar system, advanced 

telescope searches for Earth-like planets around other 

stars, and the study of the origins, structure, evolution, and destiny of the universe. Other initiatives guide 

NASA’s study of Earth from space and build on NASA’s 

rich heritage of aeronautics and space science research.

In their endeavors to explore, researchers in aeronautics 

and astronautics, biomedical and physical sciences, 

Earth science, and space science will continue to develop new technologies and capabilities with the potential to benefit billions of people on Earth. In addition, the 

Vision for Space Exploration provides unprecedented 

opportunities for the United States to continue to lead 

peaceful and productive international partnerships in the 

world community. 

Science both enables, and is enabled by, exploration. 

NASA’s access to space makes possible research into 

scientific questions that are unanswerable by conventional means. Space-based telescopes observe 

the farthest reaches and earliest times in the universe. 

Robotic spacecraft travel to, land on, rove over, and 

even return from planetary bodies throughout the solar 

system. And, Earth-orbiting satellites keep watch over 

Earth, making regular observations of global change 

and enabling better predictions of climate, weather, and 

natural hazards.

NASA also is the lead government agency for civil aeronautics research, and aeronautics remains a core part 

of the Agency’s Mission. NASA’s aeronautics research 

initiatives will expand the capacity and efficiency of the 

Nation’s air transportation system and contribute to the 

safety, environmental compatibility, and performance of 

existing and future air and space vehicles. To achieve 

these objectives, NASA will reinvest in the Agency’s inhous expertise to ensure that NASA retains the worldclass skills, knowledge, and facilities needed to guarantee the Nation’s innovative contributions to aeronautical 

This artist’s concept shows the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter 

(MRO) during the critical process of Mars orbit insertion. To be 

captured into orbit, the spacecraft must conduct a 25-minute 

rocket burn just before reaching the planet. As MRO begins its 

insertion burn, it will pass under Mars’ southern hemisphere, as 

shown here. (Image: NASA)

This image was created using 

gravity field data from the Gravity 

Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) twin satellites, 

launched in 2002, which study 

changes to Earth’s gravitational 

fields over both land and sea. 

Red indicates the strongest 

gravity field; blue indicates the 

weakest. (Image: NASA)
NASA’s Strategic Goals: 2006 Through 2016 9

NASA’s programs in Earth science also are central to 

three important Presidential initiatives: the Climate 

Change Research Initiative, Global Earth Observation, 

and the Oceans Action Plan. NASA pioneers new global environmental observations and research, and works 

with other federal agencies to improve the operational 

services they provide to the Nation. These services 

include: weather forecasting; climate prediction; natural 

hazard assessment, prediction, and response; and environmental management, including air quality forecasting 

and land use assessment. 

NASA recently completed deployment of the Earth 

Observing System (EOS), the world’s most advanced 

and comprehensive capability to measure global climate change. Over the coming decade, NASA and the 

Agency’s research partners will be analyzing EOS data 

to characterize, understand, and predict variability and 

trends in Earth’s system for both research and applications. For example, NASA and the Agency’s partners 

in the U.S. Climate Change Science Program are working to observe and model the uptake and release of 

carbon over North America—a science challenge that 

has important policy implications. NASA, the National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and 

the U.S. Air Force, through the Joint Center for Satellite 

Data Assimilation, also are using EOS data to improve 

the weather and climate prediction models that produce 

routine weather forecasts and seasonal rainfall predictions.

Over the next 10 years, NASA will deploy the next generation of advanced observing and research capabilities.

• Toward the end of this decade, the National PolarOrbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System 

Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite will extend the data 

record of essential measurements begun by EOS and 

demonstrate new instruments for the Nation’s future 

joint civilian and military weather satellite system.

• The Cloudsat and CALIPSO missions will use advanced radar and laser technologies to observe the 

three-dimensional structure of clouds and aerosol distribution, areas of high uncertainty in today’s climate 

models.

• The Glory mission will help researchers characterize 

aerosol properties. Glory also will provide measurement continuity of the Sun’s influence on Earth’s 

climate system.

• The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, an international constellation of satellites led by 

NASA and NASA’s counterpart in Japan, will extend 

to global and more frequent coverage the observations demonstrated by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring 

Mission.

• The Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM), a 

joint project with France, will take the next step toward an operational capability for ocean altimetry from 

space.

• The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) will take the 

first measurements of the global distribution of carbon 

dioxide, and the Aquarius mission will take the first 

global measurements of sea surface salinity, a key 

factor linking global ocean circulation and climate 

change.

• NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey will conduct a 

mission to secure near-term availability of Landsattype data and will design a strategy for long-term data 

continuity. 

NASA’s partnership efforts in global modeling and data 

assimilation over the next decade will shorten the distance from observations to answers for important, leading-edge science questions. NASA’s Applied Sciences 

program will continue the Agency’s efforts in benchmarking the assimilation of NASA research results into 

policy and management decision-support tools that are 

vital for the Nation’s environment, economy, safety, and 

security. NASA also is working with NOAA and interagency forums to transition mature research capabilities 

to operational systems, primarily the polar and geostationary operational environmental satellites, and to utilize 

fully those assets for research purposes.

NASA also is working to advance radar, laser, and light 

detection and ranging technologies to enable monitoring 

of such key Earth system parameters as land surface, 

oceans, ice sheet topography, and global tropospheric 

winds that could lead to advances in weather and severe storm prediction. 

(Note: NASA’s priorities for Earth science through 2020 

will be influenced strongly by the forthcoming decadal 

survey by the National Research Council.) 

NPP

(launch 2008)

OCO

(launch 2008)

Glory

(launch 2008)

CALIPSO/ 

Cloudsat

(joint launch 

2006)

Aquarius

(launch 2009)
10 2006 NASA Strategic Plan

Sub-goal 3B: Understand the Sun 

and its effects on Earth and the solar 

system.

Human life is linked 

to the behavior of the 

Sun, a star whose 

variability profoundly 

affects the viability of 

life on Earth. Changes 

in the Sun’s long-term 

brightness cause ice 

ages, and the 11-year 

solar cycle of activity 

causes powerful flares 

and coronal mass ejections that impact Earth, 

disrupt telecommunications and navigation, 

threaten astronauts, 

damage satellites, and 

disable electric power 

grids. Research into 

the nature of solar 

activity and its effects 

on the solar system 

will help safeguard the 

journeys of robotic and 

human explorers.

Scientists are just beginning to understand the physics 

of the Sun–Earth connection. They have yet to understand the dynamo deep within the Sun, probe the intricate structures of its torrid atmosphere, and trace the 

complex responses of the solar system from the Sun to 

Earth. Such capabilities will provide insights into questions concerning how the system evolved, how it produced and sustains life, what will happen to this unique 

environment through the course of time, and how it will 

affect humankind. 

As society becomes increasingly dependent on spacebased technologies, humankind’s vulnerability to space 

weather becomes more apparent, and the need to 

understand and mitigate these effects becomes more 

urgent. NASA’s objective is to understand and predict 

the causes of space weather by studying the Sun, the 

heliosphere, and planetary environments as a single, 

connected system.

To achieve this objective, NASA will open the frontier to 

space weather prediction by studying and understanding the fundamental physical processes of the space 

environment—from the Sun to Earth, to other planets, 

and beyond to the interstellar medium. 

The following series of new missions will refresh NASA’s 

multi-satellite Sun–Solar System Connection Great Observatory and improve prediction of hazardous events 

wherever explorers travel.

• During 2006, NASA will launch the Solar Terrestrial 

Relations Observatory (STEREO) mission and, in partnership with Japan, will use the Solar–B spacecraft 

both to observe how magnetic fields on the Sun’s 

surface interact with the Sun’s outer atmosphere and 

to track the evolution of solar disturbances from the 

Sun’s surface to Earth. 

• In 2006, NASA will launch the Aeronomy of Ice in the 

Mesosphere (AIM) Small Explorer mission to help scientists understand how and why the highest altitude 

clouds in the Earth’s atmosphere form. 

• NASA will use the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) mission to discover the mechanisms responsible for the 

explosive release of solar wind energy within Earth’s 

geospace. 

• In 2008, NASA will launch the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to observe the solar interior and to 

determine the causes of solar variability. 

• In 2011, NASA’s Radiation Belt Storm Probes and 

Geospace-Related missions will determine how space 

plasmas are accelerated to hazardous energies to 

enable predictions of changes in planetary radiation 

environments to protect space explorers. 

• By 2013, NASA plans to launch the Magnetospheric 

Multiscale Mission to observe the fundamental processes responsible for the transfer of energy from 

the solar wind to Earth’s magnetosphere and for the 

explosive release of energy during solar flares.

THEMIS

(launch 2006)

STEREO

(launch 2006)

Solar–B

(launch 2006)

SDO

(launch 2008)

AIM

(launch 2006)

Large sunspots and their coronal 

structure observed by the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer 

(TRACE). Although sunspots 

can be observed by traditional 

telescopes from the ground, the 

solar corona can only be seen in 

extreme ultraviolet and X-ray wavelengths using instruments placed 

outside Earth’s atmosphere. The 

million degree-hot bright coronal 

loops visible on the insert trace the 

magnetic field connecting two large 

sunspots and a cluster of pores. 

(Images: NASA)
NASA’s Strategic Goals: 2006 Through 2016 11

come. The MESSENGER spacecraft will complete its 

global mapping of the planet Mercury, and the data collected should be sufficient to begin to answer questions 

about Mercury’s core, magnetic fields, and the materials 

and volatiles at or near its surface. By 2020, NASA’s 

New Horizons Pluto–Kuiper Belt mission will complete 

the first reconnaissance of Pluto and its moon, Charon, 

and begin the first visits to objects in the Kuiper Belt 

beyond Neptune. NASA will begin development of the 

next generation of robotic planetary explorers via the 

New Frontiers, Mars Scout, and Discovery programs.

In the future, scientists will expand their understanding of the solar system’s evolution to its current state 

and the processes that determined the history—and 

the future—of habitable worlds, including the origin and 

evolution of the Earth’s biosphere and the character 

and extent of pre-biotic chemistry on other worlds like 

Mars. In 2006, NASA will begin analyzing comet particle 

samples from the Stardust mission, particles that may 

be the remains of materials that formed stars and planets, holding volatile, carbon-based rich elements that 

are likely to provide clues about the nature of the solar 

system’s building blocks. 

NASA scientists will explore the space environment to 

discover potential hazards and search for resources 

that would enable permanent human presence beyond 

Earth. As part of this process, they also must understand the processes that determine the fate of the solar 

system and life within it to determine if there is—or 

ever has been—life elsewhere in the solar system. To 

achieve these ambitious goals, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched in August 2005, will conduct a 

global reconnaissance of Mars over an entire Martian 

year (about two Earth years) to characterize the climate 

and geology of Mars and aid in the search for water. 

The Phoenix Mars Lander will measure volatiles, especially water and complex organic molecules, to uncover 

clues in the Martian arctic soils about the history of 

water and potential for habitability. Early in the next decade, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) will arrive on 

Mars to collect soil samples and rock cores and analyze 

them in situ for organic compounds and environmental 

conditions that are, or could have been, life-supporting.

Sub-goal 3C: Advance scientific 

knowledge of the origin and history 

of the solar system, the potential for 

life elsewhere, and the hazards and 

resources present as humans explore 

space.

NASA explores the solar system with robotic 

science missions that 

cross vast distances 

and operate in alien 

and extreme environments. The results 

of such exploration 

help scientists understand how the planets 

formed, what triggered 

different evolutionary 

paths among worlds, 

and how Earth originated, evolved, and 

became habitable. 

The data also provide 

clues in the search for 

evidence of life and 

life’s precursors. Robotic science missions 

extend knowledge and 

understanding and lay 

the groundwork for 

human exploration by making new discoveries, characterizing the environment, validating new capabilities, 

and delivering the infrastructure that will enable safe and 

effective human missions. Mars and the Moon are important research targets. They also are steppingstones 

to the vastly different planetary worlds beyond.

Researchers will learn how the Sun’s family of planets 

and minor bodies originated. By the end of this decade, 

Cassini will complete its four-year mission at Saturn and 

will have returned data and imagery on the ringed planet 

and its major moons that will fuel discovery for years to 

Backlit by the Sun, Saturn’s moon 

Enceladus has a fountain-like 

plume of icy material that towers over the moon’s south polar 

region. The greatly enhanced 

and colorized image, taken by the 

Cassini spacecraft during a July 

2005 flyby, shows the extent of the 

fainter, larger-scale component of 

the plume. Scientists suspect that 

the plume is created by multiple 

jets arising from warm fractures in 

the region, indicating that the small 

moon is geologically active. (Image: 

NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

New Horizons

(launch 2006, 

arrive at 

Pluto 2015)

Phoenix Mars 

Lander

(launch 2007, 

arrive at 

Mars 2008)

MSL

(launch 2009, land 

on Mars 2010)

MESSENGER

(launched 2005, 

first Mercury 

flyby 2008, orbit 

2011)
12 2006 NASA Strategic Plan

Sub-goal 3D: Discover the origin, 

structure, evolution, and destiny of 

the universe, and search for Earth-like 

planets.

NASA pursues 

scientific exploration 

on its grandest scale 

and extends humanity’s reach throughout the universe. 

The Agency uses 

space observatories, 

laboratory tests, and 

theoretical modeling 

to examine nature, 

expand scientists’ 

understanding of 

the contents of the 

universe and the 

physical processes 

that govern their behavior, and answer fundamental questions: How did the 

Big Bang unfold? What happens at the edge of a black 

hole? What is causing the expansion and acceleration 

of the universe? How were stars and galaxies created? 

Are there other Earth-like planets? Does life exist elsewhere in the cosmos? Answers to these questions can 

come only by conducting observations and experiments 

above Earth’s atmosphere. To reach this goal, NASA 

will conduct advanced telescopic searches for Earth-like 

planets and other habitable environments around nearby 

stars and explore the universe looking for clues to its 

origins, evolution, and ultimate fate.

NASA expands understanding of how the universe 

works and drives technical and engineering advances 

to create the great observatories that unlock the secrets 

of the stars. This effort benefits the scientific research 

community and the Nation’s industrial base. It also 

excites the Nation’s students about science and math 

and provides a natural way to foster increased interest in 

areas that are important to the country’s future.

In the near future, researchers hope to use the James 

Webb Space Telescope (JWST)—NASA’s next great observatory—to discover how the first stars and galaxies 

This infrared image taken by the 

Spitzer Space Telescope reveals towering pillars of dust, dubbed “Mountains of Creation,” aglow with the 

light of embryonic stars, in white and 

yellow. (Image: NASA/JPL–Caltech/L. 

Allen, Harvard–Smithsonian CfA)

formed and how they changed over time to become the 

recognizable objects in the present universe. To do this, 

NASA will complete mission formulation activities, then 

begin construction of the JWST. NASA scientists will 

continue to study the formation and evolution of planetary systems using the Spitzer Space Telescope, and 

they will use the data it provides to study the frequency 

of protoplanetary dust disks to gain information about 

the likely lifetimes for planet-building within the disks. 

NASA will continue to explore the origin and destiny 

of the universe, study events around black holes, and 

pursue investigations about the nature of gravity. The 

Planck and Herschel missions, collaborations between 

the European Space Agency and NASA, will allow 

scientists to analyze remnants of the cosmic microwave background and study the far-infrared universe. 

Researchers will observe how black holes manipulate 

space-time and matter near the centers of galaxies using gamma-ray observatories like the Gamma-ray Large 

Area Space Telescope (GLAST), and they will use data 

from the Chandra X-ray Observatory to determine how 

matter interacts with the local environments of black 

holes of various sizes. The Beyond Einstein program 

will enable scientists to understand and explain what 

causes the expansion and acceleration of the universe. 

Researchers also will use these findings to study the 

physics of the space-time structure of the universe. 

Hubble Space Telescope observations, extended and 

augmented via a planned servicing mission, will help astronomers determine more precisely when the universe 

switched from decelerating to accelerating expansion 

rates and will provide a more quantitative picture of the 

ultimate fate of the cosmos.

NASA also is undertaking a series of missions designed 

to discover and study planets beyond this solar system. 

By the middle of the next decade, NASA plans to obtain 

key statistical information about the distribution of terrestrial planets using photometry of a large population 

of distant stars via the Kepler mission. NASA also will 

complete the activities necessary to prepare the Space 

Interferometry Mission (SIM) for implementation. The 

SIM project will search for Earth-like planets orbiting 

nearby stars and measure the precise positions of these 

stars to enable accurate mass determinations of any 

planets that orbit them. 

GLAST

(launch 2007)

WISE

(launch 2009)

Kepler

(launch 2008)
NASA’s Strategic Goals: 2006 Through 2016 13

rich base of information, unique analytic tools, and their 

singular expertise to close the gap between empirical 

and abstract knowledge.

In recent years, the emphasis on transferring technologies to end-users shifted NASA’s focus from long-term, 

high-risk, cutting-edge research to short-term technologies and “point solutions” to complex challenges. 

Today, NASA is restructuring the Agency’s aeronautics 

programs to ensure long-term investments and fundamental research in both traditional aeronautical disciplines and relevant emerging fields that can be integrated into system-level, multi-disciplinary capabilities. 

This approach will enable both the civilian and military 

communities to build platforms and systems that meet 

their specific needs, including spaceflight.

Four key objectives are guiding the reshaped aeronautics programs: re-establishing NASA’s commitment to 

mastery of core aeronautics competencies in subsonic 

(rotary and fixed wing), supersonic, and hypersonic 

flight; preserving the Agency’s research facilities as 

national assets; focusing research in areas that are appropriate to NASA’s unique capabilities; and directly addressing the needs of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS) in partnership with the Federal 

Aviation Administration (FAA) and other agencies. The 

NGATS, planned to be fully operational by 2025, is a 

multi-agency vision and plan to meet serious challenges 

facing the U.S. air transportation system. 

To reflect this reshaping, NASA is restructuring the 

Agency’s three major aeronautics programs. First, 

the Vehicle Systems program is now the Fundamental 

Aeronautics program. NASA will invest heavily` in the 

core competencies of aeronautics in all flight regimes 

to produce knowledge, data, and design tools that are 

applicable across a broad range of air vehicles. This 

will include the continued stewardship of NASA’s many 

aeronautics test facilities, including wind tunnels and 

propulsion test cells that are considered to be national 

assets.

Second, as the operation of the national airspace 

system transitions to the NGATS and higher capacity is 

achieved, new ways of achieving and assuring safety will 

be needed to reduce the rate of accidents and maintain a low rate of aviation fatalities. Through the AviaSub-goal 3E: Advance knowledge in 

the fundamental disciplines of aeronautics, and develop technologies for 

safer aircraft and higher capacity 

airspace systems.

The technologies that drove the 

first two waves 

in aeronautics 

growth in the last 

century—first in 

propeller aircraft, 

then in jets—led 

to today’s National 

Airspace System, 

the hub-and-spoke 

commercial air carrier industry, and 

innumerable military, 

public service, and 

business aviation 

capabilities. All 

helped improve 

this country’s quality 

of life and created 

prosperity for the 

Nation. However, 

the needs of the Nation now transcend available aviation 

solutions. Meeting current and future aviation needs 

will require dramatic improvements in capacity, environmental compatibility, flexibility, safety, and freedom of 

mobility. 

Today, a third wave of aeronautics offers solutions to 

these challenges. This third wave is a radical technology 

shift built on fundamental aeronautics capabilities that 

will enable revolutionary change to both the airspace 

system and the aircraft that fly in it.

NASA is the Nation’s leading government organization 

for aeronautical research. This world-class capability is 

built on a tradition of expertise in core disciplines. Beginning with theoretical insight, augmented by research 

and testing in the laboratory and in flight, NASA scientists and engineers have developed, and are using, a 

NASA’s Aeronautics Research advances knowledge in core disciplines 

(e.g., fluid dynamics, chemistry, materials) up through integrated multidisciplinary system-level models, tools, and 

technologies to enable breakthroughs 

in Aeronautics. Understanding an 

aircraft’s surface pressure distributions 

during transonic flight (shown) helps 

to improve flight performance and fuel 

efficiency. This solution was provided 

by the NASA Tetrahedral Unstructured 

Software System (TetrUSS) team. 

(Image: NASA)

Ensure strategic 

facilities are available

(by 2007)

Develop advanced flight 

deck capabilities 

for safety

(by 2016)

improve prediction 

accuracy for existing 

aircraft behavior

(by 2011)
14 2006 NASA Strategic Plan

will continue to pave the way for human arrival. Still, 

one of the Agency’s greatest challenges is to develop 

and deploy new capabilities and technologies that will 

support larger crews on the surface of the Moon and 

enable them to stay twice as long as before. In addition, 

new technologies must enable astronauts to “live off 

the land” (i.e., in situ resource utilization), reducing the 

amount of supplies needed by crews on lunar and Mars 

missions.

Space and its microgravity environment confront the human body with many challenges. They expose the body 

to different types of radiation; unused muscles may 

atrophy; and weight-bearing bones can lose calcium, 

potentially reducing bone density and increasing fracture 

risks. Therefore, NASA will develop and test candidate 

countermeasures to ensure the health of humans traveling in space and will investigate pharmaceuticals and 

other measures that may be useful in mitigating or eliminating the effects of extended-duration weightlessness. 

For example, scientists will complete the renal stone 

experiment ongoing on the International Space Station 

in search of ways to prevent renal stone formation in 

crewmembers. The Agency also will continue to rely on 

both ground-based and flight experiments for developing and testing other future countermeasures.

The most important requirement for a new crewed 

spacecraft is to keep the crew safe and healthy. Life 

support systems provide a breathable atmosphere and 

air circulation to prevent pockets of carbon dioxide from 

developing. These systems also remove excess humidity from the air, provide water for drinking, eating, and 

hygiene, remove harmful atmospheric contaminants, 

and maintain a comfortable temperature. 

For short-duration missions or missions in low Earth 

orbit, existing technology is sufficient to provide life support for exploration crews. However, as mission duration increases and missions extend further into space, 

air and water must be recycled and waste must be minimized to reduce overall mission mass while not impacting crew health and performance. New technologies in 

carbon dioxide removal, potable water, and other vital 

systems will reduce overall systems mass while keeping 

crews healthy and productive. 

tion Safety Program (formerly the Aviation Safety and 

Security Program), NASA will pursue capabilities and 

technologies for improving safety consistent with the 

revolutionary changes in vehicle capabilities and changes embodied in the NGATS. The focus will be vehiclecentric, with areas of investigation that include advanced 

automation, advanced sensing and sensor/information 

fusion, and proactive approaches to achieving safety 

and assuring continued safe operations.

Finally, NASA is realigning the Airspace Systems 

Program to address the NGATS capacity and mobility 

requirements. NASA’s primary research role will be to 

develop and demonstrate future concepts, capabilities, 

and technologies that will enable major increases in air 

traffic management effectiveness, flexibility, and efficiency while maintaining safety.

Sub-goal 3F: Understand the effects of 

the space environment on human performance, and test new technologies 

and countermeasures for long-duration 

human space exploration.

While researchers have learned 

a great deal about 

the effects of 

weightlessness on 

the human body 

during the human 

space missions 

to date, many 

questions remain 

unanswered, and 

the journey toward 

human exploration 

of Mars creates additional challenges. 

The International 

Space Station will 

continue to provide 

excellent preparatory experiences for 

the long-duration spaceflight required for missions to the 

Moon and Mars, and NASA’s robotic exploration of Mars 

Astronaut William McArthur, Expedition 

12 commander and NASA International 

Space Station science officer, participates in Human Research Facility rack 

and workstation training in the Destiny 

laboratory mockup at Johnson Space 

Center in May 2005. Onboard the Station, the rack provides the equipment 

needed to conduct in-flight human 

health research. (Photo: NASA)

Develop and test countermeasures 

to ensure crew health

(by 2008)

Identify and test life support 

system technologies

(by 2010)

Develop reliable spacecraft 

technologies for environmental 

monitoring, control, and fire safety

(by 2010)
NASA’s Strategic Goals: 2006 Through 2016 15

The lower overall pressures and greater oxygen percentages that are present in exploration vehicles on planetary surfaces (and in other closed spacecraft environments) increase the risk of fire. NASA will protect and 

secure the safety of the crew more effectively by developing new spacecraft technologies to detect fire, quantify material flammability and fire signatures in reduced 

gravity, and monitor air and water for contamination. 

NASA will conduct tests of new technologies on Earth 

and on the International Space Station as a basis for 

making informed decisions on future life support, human 

health maintenance, and reduced gravity countermeasures. The International Space Station is akin to an 

Antarctic research station that is inhabited year-round 

in the most hostile environment on Earth. But, unlike 

the Antarctic environment, about which extensive data 

on human survivability exists, the space environment is 

far less understood, and mysteries abound. Therefore, 

NASA will prioritize research plans to ensure that International Space Station crews continue to be a valuable 

resource as operators and subjects for research on the 

most critical issues related to human health maintenance.

NASA also will develop and test technologies for power 

and autonomous systems that can enable more affordable and sustainable space exploration by reducing both 

consumables launched from Earth and the risks for mission operations. Advanced power systems, including 

solar, fuel cell, and potentially nuclear power, will provide 

abundant power to a lunar outpost so that exploration 

will not be limited by the available energy. Intelligent 

robotics will assist the crew in exploring, setting up, 

operating, and maintaining the outpost. Autonomous 

systems will reduce mission risk by alerting the crew to 

impending failures, automatically reconfiguring in response to changing conditions and performing hazardous and complex operations.
16 2006 NASA Strategic Plan

Strategic Goal 4: 

Bring a new Crew Exploration 

Vehicle into service as soon 

as possible after Shuttle 

retirement. 

The current Space Transportation Systems—the Space 

Shuttle and existing expendable launch vehicles—are 

unsuitable for exploration beyond low Earth orbit. 

Therefore, the President and Congress directed NASA 

to develop new space transportation capabilities that will 

provide the Nation with the means to return humans to 

the Moon and eventually carry them to Mars. The initial 

capabilities, the Constellation Systems, include the Crew 

Exploration Vehicle (CEV), Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV), 

spacesuits and tools required by the flight crews, and 

associated ground and mission operations infrastructure 

to support low Earth orbit missions. NASA is targeting 

CEV and CLV operational availability for no later than 

2014, however, the Agency will strive to bring that date 

as close to 2010 as possible as NASA achieves efficiencies and synergies between the Constellation Systems 

and the Space Shuttle programs.

NASA envisions that the CEV and CLV will be evolutionary vehicles that use the best aspects of the Apollo and 

Space Shuttle systems (e.g., using the shape of the 

Apollo capsule as the basis for the shape of the CEV 

and using the proven Shuttle propulsion elements for 

the first stage of the CLV). NASA will develop the CEV 

and CLV using the Agency’s rich resources of in-house 

and contractor expertise, leveraging the existing Space 

Shuttle workforce and infrastructure as much as possible. 

The first part of the CEV is a pressurized Crew Module 

capable of carrying three to six astronauts, dependNASA’s Crew Exploration Vehicle heads for a rendezvous with 

the International Space Station in this artist’s concept. (Image: 

NASA/John Frassanito and Associates)

ing on mission requirements. Its Launch Abort System 

will provide emergency crew survivability in the event of 

a launch or early stage ascent mishap, and the Crew 

Module will incorporate a thermal protection system 

for re-entry and a Landing Attenuation System for dryground landing. 

The second part of the CEV is the Service Module. The 

Service Module will provide propulsion for orbit correction, rendezvous, and de-orbit, as well as power, life 

support, and other essential functions. NASA also will 

develop the means to transport crew and cargo separately.

There are two launch vehicle projects: the CLV and the 

Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLLV), each serving unique 

functions. The CLV will launch the CEV into orbit, and 

it will have cargo launch capabilities. The CLV will be 

operational no later than 2014. The HLLV, as currently 

envisioned, will launch cargo only and will provide the lift 

capability needed for transportation to the Moon no later 

than 2020, but as early as 2018.

Develop Crew Module 

(no later than 2014, 

but as early as 2010)

Develop Service Module and 

integrate with Crew Module 

(no later than 2014, but as early as 2010)

Develop CLV 

(no later than 2014, 

but as early as 2010)

Develop ground systems for payload 

integration and launch services 

(no later than 2014, but as early as 2010)

Launch crew to the Station 

(no later than 2014, 

but as early as 2010)
NASA’s Strategic Goals: 2006 Through 2016 17

Strategic Goal 5: 

Encourage the pursuit of appropriate partnerships with 

the emerging commercial 

space sector.

Since the first commercial communications satellites 

were launched in the mid-1960s, the commercial space 

sector has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry that 

launches multiple commercial missions annually, including launches of NASA satellites and space probes on 

commercial launch vehicles. With the recent success 

of the Ansari X-Prize and other ongoing private space 

efforts, the potential for the commercial space sector to 

engage new markets, especially those involving human 

spaceflight, is stronger than ever. 

NASA will pursue collaborations that help expand the 

commercial space sector and support NASA’s mission. 

By working with established commercial launch service 

providers and encouraging development of the emerging entrepreneurial launch sector through incentives like 

awarding prizes and intellectual property rights for their 

achievements in space technologies and systems, the 

Agency hopes to accelerate the growth of the commercial space industry. 

Through the Agency’s Commercial Crew/Cargo Project, 

NASA will pursue a two-phased approach to obtaining 

cost-effective commercial transportation services from 

Earth to the International Space Station and back. First, 

the Agency will enter into agreements with one or more 

companies to demonstrate commercial crew and/or 

cargo transportation capabilities. Then, once an orbital 

transportation capability is demonstrated (anticipated 

between 2008 and 2010), NASA will contract with 

commercial providers for transportation services to 

the International Space Station. 

One of NASA’s challenges is to expand the Agency’s 

base of launch services providers to include emerging 

U.S. companies. The current requirements for launching 

NASA payloads are designed to protect NASA’s investment in Agency missions. NASA payloads are often 

one-of-a-kind and of high value, so it is imperative that 

all reasonable measures be taken to assure launch success. The NASA Launch Services Program is exploring 

ways to open the bidding process to a larger number of 

launch providers and help emerging U.S. launch providers gain experience to compete more successfully for 

future, high-risk missions. By encouraging a more competitive market, NASA will help lower launch costs and 

provide a better return-on-investment to U.S. taxpayers. 

NASA also is encouraging the emergence of a U.S. 

commercial space sector through more creative, less 

traditional approaches. Historically, prize competitions 

like the Ansari X-Prize, the DARPA Grand Challenge, 

early aviation prizes, and the Longitude Prize, have 

stimulated innovative feats in private sector flight, engineering, science, and exploration. NASA has initiated 

a series of small prizes for ground-based demonstrations of breakthroughs in various aerospace technologies. However, the most rewarding prize competitions 

are for full flight systems that involve multiple technologies. Therefore, by 2012, NASA plans to offer one or 

more prize competitions for independently designed, 

developed, launched, and operated missions related 

to space science or space exploration, like a soft lunar 

robotic lander, a propellant storage and transfer mission, 

A team demonstrates their concept for a robotic climber that 

could scale a 200-foot cable powered only by the beam from an 

industrial searchlight during the 2005 Beam Power Challenge. 

The challenge was part of NASA’s Centennial Challenges. Although none of the 11 teams won the challenge, the University of 

Saskatchewan Space Design Team had the farthest beam-powered climb, approximately 40 feet. (Photo: NASA/K. Davidian)

Internal Cargo—

Commercial or Progress 

until CEV available 

(earliest transition 2008)

Crew—Commercial or 

Soyuz until CEV available

(earliest transition 2010)

External Cargo—

Commercial or HTV until 

CEV available

(earliest transition 2009)
18 2006 NASA Strategic Plan

a station-keeping solar sail, various suborbital launch 

achievements, and/or a human orbital flight. Although 

there is no guarantee that a breakthrough or winner 

will emerge from any particular prize competition, by 

encouraging multiple teams to compete for such system-level challenges, NASA hopes to encourage private 

sector breakthroughs across a broad range of technologies and designs.
NASA’s Strategic Goals: 2006 Through 2016 19

Strategic Goal 6: 

Establish a lunar return 

program having the maximum 

possible utility for later 

missions to Mars and other 

destinations.

Transporting humans from Earth to the Moon and back 

in a sustainable, safe, and affordable manner will recapture the spirit of the Apollo program and ignite the 

Nation’s excitement about space exploration as the 

United States takes the first major steps in preparing for 

future missions to Mars and beyond. However, missions 

to the Moon will be vastly different in this century. More 

crewmembers will land on the lunar surface with no limit 

on the location of the landing sites, and they will remain 

on the lunar surface for longer periods of time, exploring 

more of the lunar surface per trip than did their Apollo 

predecessors. Future explorers also will determine if 

lunar resources can be used to reduce the amount of 

supplies brought from Earth. 

Initially, robotic missions will survey and characterize 

potential lunar landing sites, including sites that could 

become long-term lunar outposts. These robotic missions will include orbiters to provide total coverage of 

the Moon and take measurements to characterize the 

Moon’s surface and the space environment in support 

of science objectives. 

Prior to the first human mission back to the Moon, 

NASA will conduct studies to determine requirements 

for future missions through the Robotic Lunar Exploration Program (RLEP). By 2008, NASA plans to launch a 

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. This mission is designed 

to carry six scientific instruments, orbit the Moon at a 

nominal altitude of 50 kilometers (31 miles), and have a 

mission lifetime of one year. Its orbit will provide coverage of the area near the lunar poles, since NASA’s baseline exploration architecture calls for establishing 

a future lunar outpost at one of these locations. 

NASA will develop and test technologies for in situ 

resource utilization so astronauts can “live off the land.” 

In the long term, this capability will reduce the amount of 

supplies and consumables launched from Earth to the 

Moon, and eventually to Mars, making space exploration 

more affordable and sustainable. Technology development will include excavation systems, volatile material 

extraction systems, and other technologies to reduce 

logistics requirements for lunar habitats. In the future, 

in situ resource utilization systems also may be used to 

produce propellants and oxygen from lunar resources 

(regolith and potentially ice) to meet the needs of lunar 

outpost crews.

Since capable space communication is a prerequisite for 

future lunar and Mars missions, as well as robotic exploration of the solar system, NASA established an Agency-wide Space Communications Architecture Working 

Group (SCAWG) to address future communication 

These color visualizations of the Moon were obtained by the 

Galileo spacecraft after completing its first Earth gravity assist, 

sending it on its journey to Jupiter, in December 8, 1990. The 

deep blue regions are relatively rich in titanium, while the greens, 

yellows, and light oranges indicate basalts low in titanium but 

rich in iron and magnesium. The reds (deep orange in the right 

picture) are typically cratered highlands relatively poor in titanium, 

iron, and magnesium. (Images: NASA)

Develop CLV

(no later than 2014, 

but as early as 2010)

Develop lunar heavy 

launch vehicle 

(2011 through 2018)

Develop Earth 

departure stage 

(2011 through 2018)

Robotic precursors

(through 2014)

Develop surface 

systems

(2013 and beyond)

Develop CEV 

(no later than 2014, 

but as early as 2010)

Develop and ground test technologies 

for in situ resource utilization

(by 2012)
20 2006 NASA Strategic Plan

needs. The SCAWG is developing five-year “snapshots” 

of the space communication architecture, evolving from 

the present Deep Space Network, Space Network, and 

Ground Network to ensure the continued availability of 

space communication and navigation capabilities that 

exist today and to address deficiencies in that capability 

that must be resolved for the near-term lunar exploration program. In addition, the SCAWG is identifying 

both a suitable communication architecture for longerterm Mars exploration efforts and ways in which the 

lunar communication architecture can evolve smoothly 

through the next stage of exploration initiatives. To do 

this, the SCAWG is employing space communication 

and navigation expertise from across the Agency, as well 

as incorporating state-of-the-art technology inputs from 

industry to identify architectural options, evaluate the 

options against rigorous standards, estimate cost, and 

choose best-value space communication architecture 

recommendations for implementation.

Safe, efficient, plentiful energy is the key to robotic and 

human exploration. In low Earth orbit, fuel cells provide 

electricity for short-duration Space Shuttle missions. 

For long-duration flights, solar energy provides electricity 

to power life support systems, thermal control systems, 

computer and navigation systems, and scientific experiments. For future long-duration habitats on the Moon, 

and for long and short stays on Mars, reliable and plentiful energy is a priority requirement. While NASA will 

employ existing technologies for short-term lunar exploration, advanced capabilities in the form of nuclear 

surface fission power systems would enable longer 

stays on the Moon. Therefore, NASA plans to initiate a 

research and development program to develop nuclear 

technologies essential to achieving the goals of longduration stays on the lunar surface and exploration of 

Mars. In the near-term, nuclear technology development will focus on developing a technology roadmap for 

fission surface power systems. An essential feature of 

this roadmap will be a clear path for selecting a fuel system and power conversion combination that will meet 

lunar exploration requirements and be adaptable to a 

Martian environment.
21

NASA’s Values

NASA is privileged to take on missions of extraordinary risk, complexity, and 

national priority. The Agency’s employees recognize their responsibilities and are 

accountable for the important work entrusted to them. They strive to achieve an 

uncompromising standard of technical excellence in a healthy and safe environment.

The Agency’s four shared core values support NASA’s commitment to technical 

excellence and express the ethics that guide the Agency’s behavior. These values 

are the underpinnings of NASA’s spirit and resolve.

• Safety: NASA’s constant attention to safety is the cornerstone upon which 

NASA builds mission success. NASA employees are committed, individually 

and as a team, to protecting the safety and health of the public, NASA team 

members, and the assets that the Nation entrusts to the Agency.

• Teamwork: NASA strives to ensure that the Agency’s workforce functions 

safely at the highest levels of physical and mental well-being. NASA’s most 

powerful tool for achieving mission success is a multi-disciplinary team of competent people. The Agency builds and values high-performing teams that are 

committed to continuous learning, trust, and openness to innovation and new 

ideas.

 • Integrity: NASA is committed to maintaining an environment of trust built upon 

honesty, ethical behavior, respect, and candor. Building trust through ethical 

conduct as individuals and as an organization is a necessary component of 

mission success.

The Atlantis processing team gathers for a photo in July 2005 as the Shuttle is rolled over to the 

Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA Kennedy Space Center. (Photo: NASA)

Inside NASA
22 2006 NASA Strategic Plan

• Mission Success: NASA’s purpose is to conduct 

successful space missions on behalf of the Nation 

and to explore, discover, and learn. Every NASA 

employee believes that mission success is the natural 

consequence of an uncompromising commitment to 

technical excellence, safety, teamwork, and integrity.

NASA’s Organization

NASA’s organization is comprised of NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., nine Centers located 

around the country, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 

a Federally Funded Research and Development Center 

operated under a contract with the California Institute 

of Technology. In addition, NASA has a wide variety of 

partnership agreements with academia, the private sector, state and local governments, other federal agencies, 

and a number of international organizations that create 

an extended NASA family of civil servants, allied partners, and stakeholders. Together, this skilled, diverse 

group of scientists, engineers, managers, and support 

personnel share the Vision, Mission, and Values that are 

NASA.

NASA Headquarters

To implement NASA’s Mission, NASA Headquarters is 

organized into four Mission Directorates.

Office of the Administrator

Administrator

Deputy Administrator

Associate Administrator

Chief Safety & Mission 

Assurance Officer

Program Analysis 

& Evaluation

Chief Engineer

Chief of Staff

Inspector General

NASA Advisory Groups

Aeronautics Research

Exploration Systems

Science

Space Operations

Chief Financial Officer

Mission Directorates Mission Support Offices

Chief Information Officer

General Counsel

Innovative Partnership Program

Institutions and Management

NASA Shared Services Centers

Human Capital Management

Infrastructure and Administration

Diversity and Equal Opportunity

Procurement

Small and Disadvantaged 

Business Utilization

Education

External Relations

Legislative Affairs

Public Affairs

Strategic Communications

Ames Research Center

NASA Centers

Dryden Flight Research Center

Glenn Research Center

Goddard Space Flight Center

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Johnson Space Center

Kennedy Space Center

Langley Research Center

Marshall Space Flight Center

Stennis Space Center

Security & Program Protection

Chief Health & Medical Officer

Integrated Enterprise 

Management Program
Inside NASA 23

• The Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate

conducts research in aeronautical disciplines and develops capabilities, tools, and technologies to enable 

safe, reliable, capable, and efficient flight vehicles and 

aviation systems.

• The Science Mission Directorate carries out the 

scientific exploration of the Earth, Sun, solar system, 

and universe. Strategic missions are complemented 

by select, smaller, Principal Investigator-led missions, 

including ground and space-based observatories, 

fly-by spacecraft, orbiters, landers, and robotic and 

sample return missions. This Directorate also develops increasingly refined instrumentation, spacecraft, 

and robotic techniques in pursuit of NASA’s science 

goals. 

• The Exploration Systems Mission Directorate

develops capabilities and supporting research and 

technology that enable sustained and affordable 

human and robotic exploration and that ensure the 

health and performance of crews during long-duration space exploration. This Directorate will develop 

the robotic precursor missions, human transportation 

elements, and life support systems for the near-term 

goal of lunar exploration.

• The Space Operations Mission Directorate directs 

spaceflight operations, space launches, and space 

communications and manages the operation of integrated systems in low Earth orbit and beyond, including the International Space Station. This Directorate 

also is laying the foundation for human missions to 

Mars and a human lunar outpost through using the 

International Space Station. This orbital outpost will 

continue to provide vital scientific and engineering 

information that will lead to more capable and safer 

future systems for human explorers. It is a superb 

test bed for technologies to sustain and enhance the 

lives of human space explorers. 

The opportunities and challenges associated with 

achieving the Vision for Space Exploration are exciting. 

However, success requires that all parts of the Agency 

act as a team to make decisions for the common good, 

collaborate across traditional boundaries, and leverage 

the Agency’s many unique capabilities in support of a 

single focus. 

To help achieve the Agency’s goals, NASA is transforming supporting functional organizations. These 

organizations focus on reducing risks to missions by 

using effective and efficient management strategies 

and operations. For example, NASA is using standard 

business and management tools to improve the effectiveness of cross-Agency operations. NASA has implemented standard practices in human capital management that support and encourage increased teamwork 

and Agency-wide perspectives. The Agency’s practices 

in environmental stewardship are reducing long-term 

operations costs by decreasing environmental liability 

costs. And, the Agency is improving communication 

and information sharing so everyone in NASA can contribute more effectively. 

Building Strong, Healthy NASA 

Centers

Achieving the Vision for Space Exploration is a challenge requiring new and innovative roles, responsibilities, 

capabilities, and relationships throughout NASA. Mission success will depend not only on Agency program 

success, but also on building and maintaining a strong 

internal institution and infrastructure. 

On December 13, 2005, NASA’s Strategic Management Council proposed a set of attributes that will 

define strong, healthy Centers—Centers strategically 

positioned, configured, and operated to support NASA’s 

Mission. These attributes represent performance 

expectations for NASA Centers to guide them toward 

successful management of the Agency’s people, physical assets, and finances. 

Attributes of strong, healthy Centers will include: 

• Clear, stable, and enduring roles and responsibilities;

• Clear program/project management leadership roles;

• Major in-house, durable spaceflight responsibility;

• Skilled and flexible blended workforce with sufficient 

depth and breadth to meet the Agency’s challenges;

• Technically competent and value-centered leadership;

• Capable and effectively utilized infrastructure; and

• Strong stakeholder support.
24 2006 NASA Strategic Plan
25

In 2005, NASA published the NASA Strategic Management and Governance 

Handbook. This handbook describes the process and principles of strategic 

management at NASA and identifies the internal and external requirements that 

drive these key management principles. The handbook also describes Agencywide, cross-cutting management strategies that support NASA’s programmatic 

and institutional operations and guide the Agency’s strategic investment decisions 

and performance.

NASA’s goal is to achieve management and institutional excellence comparable to 

the Agency’s technical excellence.

NASA’s Key Management Principles

Lean Governance

NASA controls all strategic management processes through a governance structure consisting of three Agency-level management councils. 

• The Strategic Management Council determines NASA strategic direction at the 

Vision and Mission levels and assesses the Agency’s progress at these levels.

• The Program Management Council guides program and project performance 

and defines successful achievement of NASA’s Strategic Goals and Outcomes. 

• The Operations Management Council reviews and approves institutional plans. 

Together, these councils ensure that NASA’s programmatic and institutional decisions are integrated and visible. All other councils and boards are chartered for 

specific purposes and are time-limited.

Responsibility and Decision-Making

Agency managers are responsible for making and executing decisions within their 

authorized budgets, schedules, and human and capital assets. Managers also 

are responsible for working across organizational lines to perform and ensure appropriate integration functions. In exceptional cases, at the request of the Administrator, special ad hoc teams or organizational elements will oversee integration 

issues that cross Mission Directorates, Mission Support Offices, and Centers.

Sensible Competition

NASA uses competition to the maximum extent, consistent with the Competition 

in Contracting Act. NASA also maintains program management and systems 

engineering competencies within the Agency’s civil service workforce. Because 

NASA most often builds one-of-a-kind systems rather than high-production units, 

NASA’s Strategic Management Framework
26 2006 NASA Strategic Plan

To achieve this objective, NASA is embarking on a set 

of Agency-wide initiatives to improve the Agency’s 

financial performance and health. These initiatives 

reflect integrated responsibilities, activities, and commitments NASA-wide.

NASA’s core financial management improvement initiatives will align the Agency’s accounting practices—rooted in generally accepted accounting principles—with 

the Agency’s strategic direction. NASA will revise 

accounting practices to reflect changes to accounting 

policies, including opportunities for simplification and the 

incorporation of new Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) internal controls Agency-wide. NASA also will 

revise the Agency’s budget process to link strategic program direction with resource allocation and to streamline the distribution of funds to mission programs. This 

process is planned for implementation with the Agency’s 

FY 2007 budget. 

To achieve the Agency’s financial management objectives, NASA must capture, assign, track, and report 

accurately the millions of financial transactions recorded 

every year NASA-wide. In 2006, the Agency will update the accounting system implemented in 2003. 

This update will address system weaknesses noted in 

the Agency’s financial audit, enhance NASA’s ability to 

support management reporting, and drive accounting 

process improvements.

Strategic Management of Information 

and Information Technologies

One of NASA’s most valuable assets is the Agency’s 

accumulated base of technical and scientific knowledge 

and information generated by NASA’s research, science, 

engineering, technology, and exploration initiatives. 

Technology has increased the amount of information 

that NASA programs can produce, analyze, store, and 

interpret. Effectively managing, preserving, protecting, 

and disseminating this information across the Agency 

and externally to NASA stakeholders, including the public, is imperative for mission success. Therefore, NASA 

will plan, design, implement, and manage programmatic 

and institutional information systems and services that 

enable NASA’s Mission and management objectives. 

NASA will meet the Agency’s internal and external information needs, conforming to the highest standards of 

security and information management feasible, with the 

fewest number of systems possible.

To achieve these objectives, NASA will:

• Evaluate the Agency’s information solution and service 

needs required for mission success against the 

it is essential to have strong in-house capabilities for the 

development phases of programs and projects. However, NASA will continue to engage prime contractors in 

the development of major systems, including launchers, 

upper stages, crew vehicles, and habitats, and to manage the interfaces between major systems.

Balance of Power

NASA’s mission success depends on integration and 

coordination of missions, programs, and projects that 

can be achieved only through a reasonable balance of 

power between Headquarters and Centers. Headquarters is responsible for providing the Agency’s strategic 

direction, top-level requirements, schedules, budgets, 

and oversight of NASA’s Mission. The Centers are responsible for executing the programs and projects. 

Checks and Balances

NASA uses a system of checks and balances for effective internal control and to ensure the successful 

achievement of missions, assigning proper levels of 

influence and action to different organizations. While 

program and project management focus on program 

execution, NASA’s Chief Engineer maintains independent authority by setting technical requirements below 

the Mission Directorate-owned, top-level requirements. 

When there is any deviation from these lower-level technical requirements, the Chief Engineer has the authority 

to approve these deviations. The Office of Safety and 

Mission Assurance maintains responsibility for verifying 

program compliance through strategies, policies, and 

standards, and NASA’s Mission Support Offices provide 

institutional checks and balances.

NASA’s Cross-Cutting 

Management Strategies

Integrated Financial Management 

NASA will direct Agency resources effectively and efficiently toward the priorities set forth by Congress and 

the President.

NASA’s vision for integrated financial management pairs 

information with accountability and links the Agency’s 

financial, programmatic, and institutional communities 

for mission success. Therefore, NASA will develop a 

culture that integrates financial decision-making with 

scientific and technical leadership by providing Agency 

leaders with timely, accurate, and useful information 

about where initiatives are and are not succeeding.
NASA’s Strategic Management Framework 27

current state by using the NASA Enterprise Architecture, identify any gaps, and formulate concepts and 

opportunities to fill the gaps;

• Apply best practices and portfolio management in 

the selection of initiatives and projects for information 

solutions and services that best meet NASA’s priorities within resource constraints;

• Ensure cost, schedule, and performance success of 

initiatives and projects for information solutions and 

services by applying Agency policies and best practices for program and project management; and

• Protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability 

of information and information systems based on 

the categorization of the information processed by, 

or stored within, NASA’s information systems.

Strategic Management of Human Capital

NASA’s initiatives for the near and long term—retiring 

the Space Shuttle, completing the International Space 

Station, developing new transportation and associated 

launch and support systems, maintaining a robust science portfolio, and re-focusing the Agency’s aeronautics 

program on technical excellence in core disciplines and 

research areas appropriate to NASA’s unique capabilities 

make the Agency’s human capital management challenge greater than ever. 

NASA will develop and implement NASA-wide human 

capital management initiatives to ensure that the workforce has the right mix of skills and the right balance 

between civil service, contractor, and other components 

to achieve the Agency’s Vision.

First, NASA will identify the workforce core competencies required to achieve the Vision for Space Exploration 

and implement effective Agency-wide recruitment, retention, development, and reshaping activities to ensure 

that sustains these competencies. 

Second, NASA will implement initiatives to create a 

civil service workforce that is flexible and responsive to 

external and internal changes. For example, retiring the 

Space Shuttle will create a major transition phase for 

NASA as the Agency balances the workforce requirements of the Shuttle program and the workforce needs 

of new programs. Similarly, NASA must maintain, and 

where necessary develop, the technical skills required 

to support a vibrant aeronautics research program that 

leverages excellence in core disciplines with innovative tools, technologies, and capabilities critical to the 

Nation’s civilian and military aeronautical communities.

Third, NASA will implement a succession management 

and leadership development strategy. Achieving the 

Vision for Space Exploration will require new leaders to 

replace those who will retire.

Finally, NASA will align individual efforts with mission 

objectives by using NASA Performance Management 

Systems to link individual performance expectations 

and results with organizational goals.

NASA remains committed to achieving these human 

capital management objectives in a climate that supports the safety and health of all NASA employees, both 

on and off the job.

Strategic Management of Capital Assets

NASA’s capital assets, including real property, land, 

buildings, facilities, roads, and utility systems, constitute 

a major capital investment and make this Agency the 

ninth largest federal government property holder. NASA 

owns more than 100,000 acres of real estate and approximately 5400 buildings and other structures totaling 

more than 44 million square feet. The current replacement value for NASA real property is over $23 billion. 

NASA will continue to purchase, construct, and operate 

only those assets required to conduct NASA programs, 

maintain the Agency’s core capabilities, and meet national responsibilities, fully leveraging Agency retained 

assets to increase their functionality in support of mission success. First, NASA will identify, evaluate, and address real property and other assets and requirements 

as an integral part of Agency planning activities. NASA 

will include real property, logistics, and environmental 

requirements and associated life-cycle costs in program 

and project budgets by ensuring that facility program 

and project managers, logistics managers, and environmental specialists participate as members of mission 

and program planning teams. The Agency will ensure 

that Mission Directorates and program managers review 

real property, logistics, and environmental requirements 

throughout program life cycles and address changing 

requirements as they occur. The Agency also will identify capability shortages and determine how they can 

be addressed to ensure that Agency-validated future 

capabilities are maintained. And, NASA will identify and 

eliminate redundant and excess real property capabilities and demolish or deconstruct unneeded facilities 

and equipment consistent with the requirements of the 

National Historic Preservation Act.

Second, NASA will seek alternative options to ownership of real property where feasible and economically 
28 2006 NASA Strategic Plan

viable, and alternative uses for Agency underutilized real 

property, including leasing and consolidation of functions. NASA will make full use of authorities that allow 

public/private agreements and cost sharing to sustain 

real property management capacity. NASA also will 

seek third-party financing and servicing opportunities 

and will market temporarily available capacities to nonNASA customers, divest real property when appropriate, 

and seek adaptive re-use of historical facilities wherever 

possible. 

Third, NASA will sustain and revitalize its real property 

assets and purchase, construct, and/or operate new 

real property only when existing capabilities (including those owned by NASA and other external entities) 

cannot be used or modified cost-effectively. When 

construction is needed, NASA will use advanced technologies for master planning, design, construction, and 

facility operations to ensure that NASA facilities are built 

for sustainability, safety, security, and environmental 

soundness. 

Finally, through the Agency’s corporately-managed 

Shared Capability Asset Program, NASA will ensure 

that the Agency’s unique, high-value research, test, and 

evaluation capabilities remain available to support missions that require them. NASA will identify and prioritize 

these critical assets and their associated human capital 

investments and make strategic investment decisions 

to replace, modify, or disposition them based on NASA 

and/or other national needs.

NASA will coordinate Shared Capabilities and Assets 

investments with overall real property management planning and execution initiatives to ensure that the needs 

of the four special classes of assets currently identified 

(wind tunnels, rocket propulsion testing, thermal vacuum 

test capability, and high performance computing) are 

considered in long-term planning. NASA will continue 

to assess requirements and performance of the asset 

classes and, over time, assets and/or asset classes 

may be added to, or withdrawn from, the Shared Capability Assets Program account based on Agency priorities and balance among the assets being considered.

Environmental Management

Proactive, sound environmental management contributes to risk reduction, mission success, and lower 

environmental liability. Environmental management 

encompasses a wide range of activities: identifying and 

mitigating the environmental consequences of program 

and project activities; informing systems engineering 

decisions to enhance safety and minimize life-cycle 

costs; and correcting environmental damage from past 

operations. NASA addresses these activities as three 

strategic focus areas.

• Direct Mission Support: Environmental planning 

will be integrated into program and project planning 

efforts early in formulation. The National Environmental Policy Act process will be completed prior to taking 

any action that could have an adverse environmental 

impact or limit the choice of reasonable alternatives. 

NASA will work to ensure an adequate supply of essential materials and services needed to achieve the 

Agency’s Mission that might be subject to increased 

demand, supply shortages, or increasingly stringent 

environmental regulation.

• Proactive Risk Mitigation: NASA will identify environmentally driven risks early and develop appropriate 

mitigation strategies to prevent adverse mission impacts. Continual risk identification, analysis, prioritization, and mitigation will enhance Agency capabilities 

by reducing NASA’s overall exposure to institutional, 

programmatic, and operational risk.

• Protection of Mission Resources: NASA will pursue 

environmental initiatives that preserve, protect, and 

enhance mission resources. These initiatives will 

range from the efficient use of energy, water, and 

other resources to preserving the natural, cultural, and 

historic assets entrusted to the Agency and managing 

effective contamination clean-up initiatives to protect 

human health and the environment.

Innovative Partnerships and Commercial 

Services

While NASA will continue to maintain strong internal 

science, technology, and engineering capabilities, the 

Agency also will develop portions of NASA’s technology 

and capability portfolio by partnering with innovators in 

the commercial, academic, and other external sectors. 

Such partnerships, usually created through mechanisms 

other than those prescribed in the Federal Acquisition Regulation, offer the additional benefit of targeting 

companies that are non-traditional service providers to 

NASA. 

The pool of innovators and potential partners has grown 

beyond large corporations and government-supported 

laboratories, so NASA must expand the Agency’s ability 

to identify new technologies and technology sources. 

To achieve these objectives, NASA will use a variety 

of initiatives to engage potential innovators, including 

the Innovative Partnership Program, the Commercial 

Orbital Transportation Services project, and the Centennial Challenges Program, all of which will help connect NASA to communities of innovators and leverage 
NASA’s Strategic Management Framework 29

resources for mutual benefits. These partnerships 

also will enable NASA to fine-tune Agency investments 

based on increased knowledge of external capabilities. 

In turn, NASA will demonstrate the Agency’s commitment to being a reliable, stable, and responsive partner 

in joint innovation endeavors by enhancing opportunities 

for partner communities to interact with NASA and by 

minimizing bureaucratic obstacles to interactions and 

partnerships.

Strategic Communications: Outreach to 

Stakeholders

NASA is committed to communicating with key partners 

and stakeholders, including elected public officials, the 

media, the public, academia, other government agencies, and international space agencies, to enhance 

understanding of the Agency’s programs, policies, 

and plans and to advance the Nation’s space program 

agenda. NASA’s strategic communications initiatives include focused efforts in Legislative Affairs, Public Affairs, 

External Relations, and Education, coordinated Agencywide to ensure a consistent NASA message. 

NASA will continue to work and coordinate with the 

Agency’s International Partners and other U.S. government agencies on matters related to space partnerships, new initiatives, and space policy. For example, 

NASA will continue meeting with the International Space 

Station partners to support continuing International 

Space Station operations and to endorse a final International Space Station configuration. The Agency also will 

continue coordination and outreach efforts with potential 

international partners by holding bilateral and multilateral 

meetings with foreign entities and by providing international conference support. Outreach efforts also may 

include development and negotiation of international 

agreements to support specific cooperative activities.

NASA will expand Agency-wide efforts to communicate the benefits of the U.S. space program to the U.S. 

public, decision makers, and stakeholders. NASA will 

focus on expanding outreach to the media and the 

public through special events, conferences, and exhibitions highlighting Agency initiatives and achievements, 

particularly in exploration. NASA also will expand the 

capabilities of NASA television to touch a wider and 

more diverse population. 

Additional outreach efforts will include initiatives to 

maintain and expand NASA’s Congressional relationships. Specifically, NASA will renew the Agency’s focus 

on Congressional leadership and key caucuses and 

will dedicate special outreach efforts to Congressional 

Members not serving on NASA committees of jurisdiction. In addition, NASA will enhance the Agency’s 

intergovernmental affairs partnerships with state and local governments and increase efforts to reach the space 

industry and trade associations. 

Strategic Communications: Education 

Initiatives

NASA will continue the Agency’s tradition of investing 

in the Nation’s education programs and supporting the 

country’s educators who play a key role in preparing, 

inspiring, exciting, encouraging, and nurturing the young 

minds of today who will manage and lead the Nation’s 

laboratories and research centers of tomorrow. 

In 2006 and beyond, NASA will pursue three major 

education goals:

• Strengthen NASA and the Nation’s future workforce—

NASA will identify and develop the critical skills and 

capabilities needed to ensure achievement of the 

Vision for Space Exploration. To help meet this 

demand, NASA will continue contributing to the development of the Nation’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce of the future 

through a diverse portfolio of education initiatives that 

target America’s students at all levels, especially those 

in traditionally underserved and underrepresented 

communities. 

• Attract and retain students in STEM disciplines—

NASA will focus on engaging and retaining students 

in STEM education programs to encourage their 

Inside NASA’s International Space Station exhibit, “Space Station 

Imagination,” an animatronic robot doubling as “Dr. Emily Richards” explains what it is like to live and work aboard the orbital 

outpost. The exhibit is housed inside two 48-foot trailers linked in 

an L-shape for easy public access. NASA operates the exhibit as 

part of its community outreach program, bringing the excitement 

of human space flight to communities around the United States. 

(Photo: NASA)
30 2006 NASA Strategic Plan

pursuit of educational disciplines and careers critical 

to NASA’s future engineering, scientific, and technical 

missions.

• Engage Americans in NASA’s mission—NASA will 

build strategic partnerships and linkages between 

STEM formal and informal education providers. 

Through hands-on, interactive educational activities, 

NASA will engage students, educators, families, the 

general public, and all Agency stakeholders to increase Americans’ science and technology literacy.

As the United States begins the second century of flight, 

the Nation must maintain its commitment to excellence 

in STEM education to ensure that the next generation of 

Americans can accept the full measure of their roles and 

responsibilities in shaping the future. 

NASA’s Strategic Planning and 

Performance Management System

NASA’s planning and performance management system 

is key to strategic management at NASA. Through this 

system, NASA identifies the Agency’s long-term strategic goals, near-term outcomes, and key performance 

measures, develops and implements plans to achieve 

these objectives, and continuously measures NASA’s 

progress in reaching the Agency’s goals. NASA managers use these tracked performance results as a basis 

for key investment decisions, and NASA performance 

data provides a foundation for both programmatic and 

institutional decision-making.

The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 (as 

amended) established NASA’s purpose. The President 

refocused the Agency’s Vision in 2004, and Congress 

endorsed the Vision and provided additional guidance 

in the NASA Authorization Act of 2005. NASA’s direction for the future is clear, and the Agency’s six Strategic 

Goals affirm these priorities. But, staying on course 

to achieve the Vision, ensure that the efforts of every 

NASA organization and employee are tied directly to 

the Agency’s strategic goals, continuously assess and 

document NASA’s performance, making valid financial 

and performance data available to NASA decision-makers, and respond to external and internal requirements 

for performance assessments and recommendations 

will require an integrated system of policies, procedures, 

and tools.

NASA has in place such an integrated system to plan, 

monitor, assess, evaluate, and measure the Agency’s 

performance, identify issues (including the status of 

resources), gauge the organization’s overall health, 

and provide appropriate data and information to NASA 

decision-makers. NASA’s system produces ongoing 

monthly and quarterly analyses and reviews, annual 

assessments in support of budget formulation, periodic program and special purpose assessments, and 

recurring and special reports to internal and external 

organizations. NASA also regularly responds to (and 

reports on) the Agency’s internally and externally imposed performance planning measurement and reporting requirements (e.g., NASA’s annual performance plan; 

reporting requirements of the Government Performance 

and Results Act; and Erasmus). 

NASA volunteers help young visitors use extension arms to 

pick up and stack balls as part of an exhibit on the International 

Space Station’s Remote Manipulator System, or Canadarm. The 

exhibit was part of Bright Futures, an event to introduce children 

to space exploration and to encourage an interest in science, 

technology, engineering, and mathematics, hosted by NASA’s 

Johnson Space Center in August 2005. (Photo: NASA)
31

NASA’s Advisors

NASA traditionally turns to accomplished citizens and world-class experts for 

independent advice and guidance on major program and policy issues. This tradition originated with NASA’s predecessor organization, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Enacted by Congress in 1915, NACA became the 

Nation’s premier aeronautical research institution and was governed by an advisory committee appointed by the President of the United States. The NACA “main 

committee” served as the board of directors, and a group of research advisory 

committees guided NACA research in specific areas. 

With the establishment of NASA in 1958, the earlier NACA tradition of seeking 

independent judgment and guidance from scientific and technical experts in academia, industry, and other government agencies continued. For nearly 50 years, 

NASA has sponsored numerous advisory committees covering the full range of 

Agency programmatic activities, including aeronautics, space technology, space 

science and applications, Earth science, and human spaceflight. 

Today, NASA relies primarily on four advisory bodies for independent assessments 

of Agency programs: the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, the NASA Advisory 

Council, the National Research Council of the National Academies, and the National Academy of Public Administration. 

Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel 

The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) is a senior advisory committee that 

reports to NASA and Congress. Congress established the ASAP after the Apollo 

204 Command and Service Module spacecraft fire in January 1967 to advise the 

NASA Administrator on safety issues and hazards in NASA’s aerospace program. 

On November 18, 2005, the NASA Administrator revised the ASAP charter to 

include an advisory role on issues related to implementing the Vision for Space 

Exploration and to expand the ASAP’s safety review duties to include evaluating and advising the Agency on elements of NASA’s safety and quality systems, 

including industrial and system safety, risk management and trend analysis, and 

management of these activities. The revised charter also requires that the ASAP 

give priority consideration to programs that involve the safety of human spaceflight. To achieve this, new ASAP members will continue to include individuals 

from academia, private industry, and other government agencies who are recognized for their expertise in safety, management, and engineering.

The ASAP consists of a maximum of nine members appointed by the NASA Administrator. Members serve for two years and may be reappointed by the AdminNASA’s External Advisors and Partners
32 2006 NASA Strategic Plan

istrator for a maximum of six years. The ASAP designates one member to serve as Chairperson. NASA 

Headquarters provides a full-time NASA employee staff, 

including an Executive Director, to support the ASAP.

The ASAP meets quarterly and submits a quarterly report to the Administrator, although if the ASAP’s findings 

are time critical, the findings can be reported immediately. The Administrator may ask the ASAP to conduct 

special studies, reviews, and evaluations. In these 

cases, the ASAP would submit its reports, comments, 

and/or recommendations within a specified timeframe.

NASA Advisory Council 

In 1977, NASA merged the Space Program Advisory 

Council and the Research and Technology Advisory 

Council to create the NASA Advisory Council (NAC). In 

2005, the NASA Administrator revised the NAC and its 

sub-committee structure to enhance the NAC’s advisory 

capabilities and communication with Agency program 

managers. The new NAC committees cover topics directly related to executing the Vision for Space Exploration: Exploration, Science, Aeronautics, Human Capital, 

and Audit and Finance. The revised NAC charter was 

signed by the NASA Administrator on October 21, 2005, 

and the Administrator selected new NAC members for 

their unique experience, expertise, knowledge, and ability to contribute to pioneering the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research.

National Academies and National 

Academy of Public Administration

The prestigious National Academies, specifically 

the Institute of Medicine and the National Research 

Council’s Space Studies Board and Aeronautics and 

Space Engineering Board, regularly provide NASA with 

scientific assessments, decadel surveys, and technical analyses that are important sources of independent 

external advice to the Agency. NASA also seeks advice 

on improving effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability 

from the National Academy of Public Administration, an 

independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization chartered by Congress to improve government performance, 

and other highly reputed private sector and academic 

organizations.

NASA’s Partnerships for Progress

Since the Agency’s creation, NASA has been able to 

take on challenging missions because stakeholders 

from industry, academia, other federal agencies, not-forprofit organizations, and international organizations have 

supported NASA and shared in the Agency’s work. The 

National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 inspired 

these partnerships, and the Vision for Space Exploration 

is no less explicit in requiring innovative partnerships and 

collaborative commercial expansion. 

NASA will maintain and expand partnership arrangements to meet the Agency’s increasingly complex, 

diverse needs. For example, future robotic and human 

exploration of the solar system will require a rich array 

of partners including: the aerospace industry, prime 

contractors for the spacecraft and launch vehicles used 

in robotic solar system missions; non-profit corporations 

that manage numerous research institutes involved in 

robotic exploration; and international space agencies. 

The benefit of partnerships is that NASA gains access 

to a wider variety of technologies than the Agency could 

develop in-house and can select from partner providers 

the specific technologies, capabilities, and services that 

best meet the Agency’s goals, schedules, and budget 

constraints. NASA’s partners also benefit from these 

relationships. For example, commercial providers have 

the opportunity to further develop technologies and 

services, like launch services for the satellite communications industry, that they could not afford without 

government support or would not pursue without the incentive of industry competition. This helps stimulate the 

commercial space industry while helping NASA achieve 

the Vision for Space Exploration.

Federal Agency Partnerships

The safe execution of NASA missions depends on a 

number of partnerships between NASA, the Department 

of Defense (DoD), and other federal military and civilian 

agencies. For example, NASA maintains a number of 

standing communications agreements with DoD regarding Space Shuttle operations, including Memoranda 

of Agreement with the Air Force and the United States 

Space Command for launch range services in Florida 

and with Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for 

operations and maintenance and radio frequency interference analysis.

In functional areas, NASA has additional federal partners, including the General Services Administration, 

OMB, the Federal Facilities Council, and the White 

House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The 

collaborative outcome of these and other federal partnerships help NASA reduce risks to missions while 

complying with laws and federal regulations.

NASA has research and development agreements with 

several federal agencies, including the National Institutes 

of Health, DoD, the Department of Energy, the National 
NASA’s External Advisors and Partners 33

Science Foundation, and the Department of Agriculture. 

In addition, NASA has aeronautics partnerships with 

DoD and the FAA, and with the multi-agency Joint Planning and Development Office seeking to transform the 

Nation’s air transportation system. NASA also partners 

with other agencies, including NOAA and the Environmental Protection Agency, to ensure that science results 

and data from NASA’s Earth observing satellites are 

available to those agencies’ decision support systems 

to improve the essential services they provide to the 

Nation.

NASA also participates in a number of integrated 

national programs, many of which implement major 

presidential initiatives, including the U.S. Integrated 

Earth Observation System (this Nation’s contribution to 

the International Global earth Observation System of 

Systems) and the Ocean Action Plan. NASA is the largest contributor to the Climate Change Science Program, 

historically providing at least 60 percent of the funding identified with it (and with its predecessor, the U.S. 

Global Change Research Program).

Additional agreements between NASA and the U.S. 

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and other elements of the U.S. national intelligence community are 

put in place when required for unique mission support.

International Partnerships

International cooperation is a significant component of 

NASA’s activities. Currently, each of NASA’s Mission 

Directorates includes some level of international involvement in its programs ranging from simple data exchange 

agreements to complex arrangements for development 

and operation of spacecraft missions.

The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 

established international cooperation as an objective 

of the Agency. To achieve this objective, NASA operates within broad U.S. government policies, including economic, scientific, and foreign policies, and has 

established Agency policy guidelines for international 

cooperation. Potential benefits of international cooperation include access to unique capabilities or expertise, 

increased mission flight opportunities, access to program-critical locations outside the United States, cost 

sharing, and building or reinforcing positive international 

relations among nations. Since its inception, NASA has 

concluded thousands of agreements with over 100 nations and international organizations. 

The Vision for Space Exploration directs NASA to pursue opportunities for international participation in support of U.S. government exploration goals. As NASA 

implements the Vision, the Agency will continue discussions with existing International Partners in areas of mutual interest and also will seek to foster new international 

partnerships through a variety of bilateral and multilateral 

mechanisms.

Private Sector Partnerships

NASA will expand and create partnerships with U.S. 

private industry to develop the Nation’s new space 

transportation systems, infrastructure, and other technologies and capabilities. Using authorities granted by 

the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, the 

The CALIPSO spacecraft is lowered toward the Lower Delta Payload Attach Fitting at the Astrotech Payload Processing Facility at 

Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. CALIPSO, a joint project 

of NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Etudes 

Spatiales (CNES), will launch with the Cloudsat satellite in 2006. 

The satellites will fly in formation as part of the Afternoon Satellite Constellation, or “A-Train,” to to provide a three-dimensional 

perspectives of how clouds and aerosols form, evolve, and affect 

weather and climate. (Photo: NASA)
34 2006 NASA Strategic Plan

Agency plans to establish agreements with one or more 

companies to develop capabilities for commercial crew 

and cargo services to the International Space Station. Under the same authority, NASA has entered into 

agreements with private organizations to conduct prize 

competitions, and NASA guarantees payments to the 

winners of the competitions. The private organizations 

bear the burden of administering the competitions.

In the future, NASA’s industry partnerships for aeronautics will shift from near-term, evolutionary procurements 

to collaborative, long-term, intellectual partnerships that 

can guide and support fundamental research and help 

NASA focus on long-term, stable investments in capabilities that benefit industry.

The Innovative Partnerships Program (IPP) will facilitate 

partnering with the U.S. private sector, and leverage private sector resources, to produce technologies needed 

for NASA missions. The IPP and NASA’s Mission Directorates will identify new opportunities to adopt technologies developed through innovative psartnerships.

In addition, since NASA procures most of the instrumentation used for Earth and space science satellite 

missions from the private sector through peer-reviewed 

competitive processes, private sector scientists and 

engineers will continue to participate in NASA research, 

technology, and spaceflight projects based on their success in competition. 

Academic Partnerships

Much of the Nation’s scientific expertise resides in academia, and NASA recognizes the vast capability in the 

Nation’s universities. Therefore, the Agency will continue 

to form and maintain strong partnerships with academia 

through a variety of research and outreach initiatives. 

For example, NASA will continue to sponsor academic 

researchers to help conceive, implement, and use 

the data from NASA missions, and NASA will expand 

Agency partnerships with colleges and universities that 

contribute to replenishing the future scientific and engineering workforce available to NASA and industry.

Program Evaluation Processes

NASA’s external partners provide the Agency with excellent feedback on NASA programs to ensure program 

consistency with the Strategic Goals and Outcomes. In 

addition, NASA assesses the effectiveness of Agency 

programs using the Program Assessment Rating Tool 

(PART) developed for government-wide use by OMB. 

PART provides a rigorous and interactive methodology 

to assess program planning, management, and performance toward quantitative, outcome-oriented goals. 

NASA submits one-third of the Agency’s program portfolios (known as Themes) to OMB each year resulting in 

a complete NASA-wide assessment every three years. 

To date, NASA and OMB have conducted 17 PART 

reviews of NASA’s programs. Accounting for shifts in 

the NASA portfolio as a result of the Vision for Space 

Exploration, these reviews encompass about 80 percent 

of the Agency’s current programs. The remaining 20 

percent will be reviewed in calendar year 2006. 

NASA considers the PART findings in making decisions 

about future program structures and factors them into 

the Agency’s strategy, budget, and performance planning and reporting cycles. 

NASA and OMB will continue to work together to ensure 

that performance measures reflected in PART are consistent with the performance measures included in the 

Agency’s annual performance plan and annual Performance and Accountability Report. 
35

NASA engages in research and exploration for the benefit of the American public. 

Achieving this objective depends on a changing equation of resources, results, 

technology support, national priorities, partnerships, market forces, and other variables. Therefore, NASA will pursue the Agency’s Strategic Goals with dedication 

while remaining attuned to external factors beyond NASA’s control. 

Legislative and Policy Framework

NASA is focused on achieving the Vision for Space Exploration while continuing 

strong programs of science and aeronautics research. Congress has demonstrated support for NASA’s Vision through the NASA Authorization Act of 2005 

and annual appropriations. NASA is implementing Congressional and Presidential 

priorities within the resources provided. Future resource decisions could affect 

NASA’s ability to meet the Agency’s goals and schedules. 

Economy and Public 

Support

NASA’s Strategic Plan is based on 

the assumption that the economy 

will remain strong enough to support future Agency budgets and 

associated commercial activities. 

NASA also assumes continued 

public support for America’s space 

program and honors this support 

by being accountable for performance, explaining Agency activities, sharing the results of NASA’s 

exciting discoveries, transferring 

technology whenever possible, 

and keeping NASA’s goals consistent with the Nation’s needs. 

Changes in the strength of the 

Nation’s economy or public support 

could affect NASA’s ability to meet 

Agency goals.

Employees of Stennis Space Center’s Applied 

Sciences Directorate help clean a coworker’s 

house after Hurricane Katrina. During 2005, 

hurricanes affected the lives of NASA employees 

and contractors, damaged NASA facilities, and 

disrupted work schedules. Such acts of nature 

present unique challenges to NASA planning. 

(Photo: NASA)

External Challenges
36 2006 NASA Strategic Plan

Changing Relationships with 

Other Nations

NASA welcomes new partnerships with other nations because they can enhance the Agency’s ability 

to achieve NASA’s Strategic Goals while also benefiting partner nations. However, NASA understands that 

international space agency partnerships do not exist in 

a vacuum; there are risks involved. Therefore, NASA will 

develop contingency plans that address the challenge 

of maintaining partnerships with other nations as world 

conditions and international relationships change.

National Security/Homeland 

Security 

From the Agency’s establishment, NASA has provided 

support to DoD and other federal and local agencies 

where there has been mutual interest in achieving a 

goal. For example, technologies developed for civil 

applications, like remote-sensing capabilities and aviation safety improvements, also can be utilized to meet 

certain civil and national security needs. The Nation’s 

changing, and increasingly complex, security environment could have a significant impact on national priorities and, subsequently, on Agency programs. In the 

event of such a change, NASA could be called upon—

and will be prepared—to redirect the Agency’s expertise, 

capabilities, and technologies to homeland security 

initiatives. 

Markets

Space presents enormous future business opportunities. NASA-pioneered areas like communications 

satellite technology have led to profitable new industries. 

In the future, NASA will continue to pioneer and help 

commercialize new areas of space activity to maintain a 

strong U.S. position in this arena. Should space markets experience robust growth, NASA could benefit from 

the availability of low-cost services supporting space 

commerce. Alternatively, if launch markets decline, 

NASA could experience higher launch costs because 

the launch industry would have a smaller business base 

over which to spread fixed costs. 

Discovery

NASA’s Strategic Goals constitute a balanced and feasible program for the future. However, new discoveries 

could change these goals. For example, a greater level 

of certainty about global warming could either relax or 

intensify concern about this phenomenon and diminish 

or increase support for the related goals. Discoveries of 

other unexpected phenomena could result in new goals 

drawing resources away from the current program. To 

cite perhaps the most extreme example, NASA is seeking evidence of life elsewhere in the universe. If the 

Agency finds such evidence, NASA would certainly 

need to reorient the Agency’s Strategic Goals. 

Technology

Many of NASA’s Strategic Goals rely on future technological breakthroughs, and the unpredictability of technological advances can either delay or accelerate the 

accomplishment of these goals. In addition, research 

and development efforts may yield unanticipated benefits that further or inspire other NASA goals and provide new technologies to assist industry and benefit the 

public. 

On January 14, 2005, the European Space 

Agency’s Huygens probe, part of the Cassini–Huygens mission to Saturn and its 

moons, took a first-ever image of Titan’s 

surface. Normally obscured by the moon’s 

hazy atmosphere, the surface shown here 

consists of a mixture of water and hydrocarbon ice. There also is evidence of erosion, 

indicating possible fluvial activity. Many 

NASA missions yield unexpectedly rich or 

serendipitous results that may inspire new 

missions or redirect an area of science or 

technology development. (Image: NASA/

JPL/ESA/Univ. of Arizona)
37

NASA’s Vision for the next ten years is clear: return the Space Shuttle to flight; 

complete the International Space Station; launch robotic missions to the Moon 

for long-duration stays in preparation for robotic and human exploration of the 

solar system and the universe; and return humans to the Moon’s surface. In the 

years beyond that, NASA will continue its unique work in science and aeronautics 

to support the Agency’s long-term goals of exploration and to improve the lives of 

humankind on Earth. The possibilities for future exploration and discovery are as 

vast as the frontiers of space.

Exploration: Beyond the Moon to Mars

There will continue to be a close partnership between robotic and human exploration in the years ahead. Initial analyses suggest that NASA could begin to put into 

place the critical infrastructure in advance of human lunar landings, so robotics 

likely will complement human missions for logistics, communications, maintenance, and system status monitoring. Future robotic lunar missions also may be 

used to conduct technology demonstrations—for example, to extract volatiles 

and process them to useful materials like oxygen and/or hydrogen. In addition, 

developing a common lander may provide a utility available to international and 

After a successful seven-day mission, the crew leaves the surface of the Moon in the upper part 

of the lander to dock with the orbiting capsule and return to Earth in this artist concept. NASA 

will use human lunar missions to test and further develop technologies, countermeasures, and 

capabilities needed to send humans to Mars. (Image: John Frassanito and Associates)

Scenarios for the Future: 

Looking Beyond 2016
38 2006 NASA Strategic Plan

commercial partners for more comprehensive site surveys, scientific measurements, and commercial proofsof-concept. 

Beyond 2016, technology development will demonstrate 

closed-loop life support technologies that reduce the 

logistics required for long-duration human space missions. In the area of human health, countermeasure 

development technology will expand to meet the need 

for, and evaluation of, countermeasures on the lunar 

surface. Data obtained on the International Space Station for crew health and performance will be coupled 

with data obtained from lunar mission crewmembers to 

enhance scientists’ understanding of the demands of 

low gravity on the human body. 

Getting to Mars will be a tremendous challenge, and 

NASA will require new technology solutions to support human missions to the Red Planet and 

beyond. Design reference missions using 

chemical propulsion systems postulate that 

NASA will need a very large spacecraft for a 

Mars mission, with the majority of mass going to propellants. Nuclear thermal propulsion systems offer a promising technological 

approach for providing a high-thrust, highefficiency departure stage to transport astronauts to future destinations while reducing 

spacecraft mass.

Nuclear systems likely will play an important 

role in power systems capabilities beyond 

2016. Deployment and utilization of nuclear 

systems on the Moon could directly enable scientific and human exploration of the 

Moon and operational understanding of the 

requirements of these systems for eventual 

exploration on Mars. 

Building on successful demonstrations 

on the Moon, new technologies in in-situ 

resource utilization will allow future explorers to use the resources of Mars identified by previous robotic missions. Martian 

resources that will be useful in long-duration 

stays on the surface include carbon dioxide 

from the Martian atmosphere and expected 

sub-surface water ice and hydrated minerals to provide the essential components of 

breathable oxygen and rocket fuel for the 

return to Earth. Building upon early demonstrations of power systems, an electrical 

system could provide the energy to support 

explorers for up to 500 days on the Martian 

surface.

Aeronautics

Closer to home, NASA will use the tools, capabilities, 

future concepts, and technologies developed through 

aeronautics research to help create the Next Generation 

Air Transportation System (NGATS), an air transportation 

system designed to provide greater efficiency, resource 

utilization, and mobility. The most convincing precursor 

to the NGATS is the U.S. military’s future “net-centric” 

battlefield, with requirements for on-demand, distributed 

operations across foreign and domestic airspace. For 

civil operations, these advanced capabilities translate to 

the full use of the airspace across very different classes 

of aircraft, and ultimately spacecraft, with maximum 

versatility. At peak operation in today’s airspace, over 

4,000 aircraft are tracked continuously. In the NGATS, 

several thousand more aircraft could fly in U.S. airspace 

The multi-agency Joint Planning and Development Office identified the capability requirements needed for NGATS, assigning key roles to the member 

agencies. NASA’s research will help make NGATS possible by taking on some 

of the most technically challenging aspects of system transformation. The 

research spans critical technology for intelligent aircraft systems and advanced 

vehicle performance, including the next-generation control environment that 

integrates the complex data provided by satellites, the Global Positioning 

System, and digital data links, and forms the foundation for safety and capacity 

in the future. The unprecedented challenges faced in this transformation will 

require a focused and long-term commitment by NASA and its federal partners. (Image: NASA)
Scenarios for the Future: Looking Beyond 2016 39

at any one time without compromising safety and environmental compatibility standards.

It is not merely a dynamic, digital airspace that will empower the third wave of aviation, but also the integration 

of advanced sensors, intelligent and adaptive controls, powered-lift aerodynamics, low noise propulsion, 

lightweight and resilient structures, and other vehicle 

technologies. Revolutionary piloted and uncrewed 

vehicles will enable greater capacity and mobility as they 

are integrated with an airspace system that can adapt 

to constantly changing airspace conditions and the 

aircraft flying within it. These advances will yield critical 

capabilities for societal good and enhance the Nation’s 

economy by creating markets for new applications and 

services that take advantage of these concepts and 

technologies.

Even though technology has improved powered flight 

over its 100-year history, physical unknowns remain 

a barrier to the mastery of flight. NASA is investing in 

fundamental aeronautics research, relevant emerging 

disciplines, and needed facilities to ensure that critical national capabilities are maintained for both civilian 

and military communities. Therefore, the aeronautics 

capabilities developed by NASA’s researchers beyond 

2016 will have a level of maturity and multi-disciplinary 

integration that will support an unprecedented ability to simulate and model physical systems in all flight 

regimes, including those related to space exploration. 

These key aeronautical capabilities can be applied to designs for high-speed vehicles that exit 

and enter Earth’s atmosphere, as well as to those 

vehicles that will operate within atmospheres of 

other planetary bodies. 

Earth Science

Most of NASA’s satellite observations of Earth to 

date have provided two-dimensional information 

about land, ocean surfaces, and atmospheric 

particulates, and limited three-dimensional information about Earth’s atmospheric state, both 

physical and chemical. These observations are 

essential to detecting variability and trends, and 

they will be core pieces of the operational systems being developed by NASA’s partner agencies. However, to understand fully the forces of 

Earth science change, researchers need threedimensional views of land, ocean and ice sheet 

topography, atmospheric composition, coastal 

regions, forest canopies, and other phenomena. 

Detecting changes as they happen requires higher temporal resolution and sampling frequency 

than is possible from low Earth orbit. Therefore, NASA’s 

long-term Earth science plan is to use sentinel orbits 

(e.g., Lagrange points, geostationary, and medium Earth 

orbit) and constellations of smart satellites as parts of 

an integrated, interactive “sensorweb” observing system 

that complements satellites in low Earth orbit, airborne 

sensors, and surface-based sensors. NASA will mature 

active remote sensing technologies (radars and lasers) 

to take global measurements of Earth system processes 

from low and geostationary Earth orbits. 

As new types of Earth observations become available, 

information systems, modeling, and partnerships to enable full use of the data for scientific research and timely 

decision support will become increasingly important. 

The sensorweb observing systems of the future will 

perform satellite constellation management, automated 

detection of environmental phenomena, tasking of other 

elements of the observing network, on-board data processing, data transmittal, and data archival and distribution to users of Earth observations. The sensorweb will 

be linked to “modelwebs” of prediction systems enabled 

by NASA and formed by Agency partners to improve 

the forecast services they provide. NASA’s investment 

in these areas (through such means as the Advanced 

Information Systems Technology program) will help the 

Nation take full advantage of enhanced information 

availability. In particular, the role of models in converting 

the satellite-produced information into useful products 

This artist’s concept depicts a future laboratory in which researchers will 

work with three-dimensional images of Earth derived from data collected 

by a comprehensive system of Earth-observing satellites and airborne 

and ground sensors. NASA is helping to make this future a reality to 

benefit the public. Data and research results from NASA’s Earth science 

missions are used increasingly by other federal agencies to improve the 

essential services they provide to the Nation, including weather prediction, crop yield forecasting, hazard mitigation, and disaster assessment. 

(Image: NASA)
40 2006 NASA Strategic Plan

for environmental characterization and prediction will 

become more crucial.

Understanding the Solar System

NASA’s priorities for robotic solar system exploration 

beyond 2016 will be influenced by the National Research Council decadel survey. The goals in this time 

frame include: returning sample(s) from the surface of 

the Moon, Mars, and a comet; exploring Europa as a 

potentially habitable world; and further exploring Titan 

and the deep atmosphere of one of the outer gas giant 

planets in the solar system.

NASA accomplishes solar system planetary exploration 

through a balanced program of both strategic missions 

and competitively selected flight missions. The Discovery program of small missions (under $425 million) is 

designed to make new selections every 24 to 36 

months, and the Mars Scout program (greater than 

$500 million) makes selections approximately every 

52 months—every other launch opportunity for Mars. 

The New Frontiers program of medium class missions 

(greater than $700 million) targets a new selection every 

three to four years, and the goal for flagship missions is 

to launch once each decade, as budgetary constraints 

allow.

Exploring the Extremes of 

the Cosmos and the Search 

for Earth-like Worlds

With the next generation of space observatories in 

place, including the James Webb Space Telescope 

and the Space Interferometry Mission, NASA will be 

poised to unfold many mysteries of the universe and 

study Earth-like worlds. Some future missions will open 

new windows on the universe by detecting gravitational 

waves directly while others will provide a more detailed 

examination of the many high-energy X-ray phenomena 

of the universe. Future planet-finding missions will seek 

to observe directly and characterize those planets as 

part of NASA’s quest to find habitable worlds outside 

the solar system.

Looking billions of years back 

in time, the Hubble Space 

Telescope captured this image 

of galaxies and protogalaxies 

just after they formed. NASA’s 

Great Observatories, including Hubble, the Spitzer Space 

Telescope, and the Chandra 

X-ray Observatory, look farther 

into the universe and further 

back in time than any missions 

before them, and they continue to deliver astounding and 

beautiful images. Next-generation space observatories 

will provide more capabilities, 

opening new windows to the 

universe. (Image: NASA/ESA/

The Hubble Heritage Team)
41

Each of NASA’s six Strategic Goals is clearly defined and supported by sub-goals 

(where appropriate) and multi-year Outcomes that will enhance NASA’s ability to 

measure and report Agency accomplishments.

Strategic Goal 1: Fly the Shuttle as safely as possible until its 

retirement, not later than 2010.

1.1. Assure the safety and integrity of the Space Shuttle workforce, systems and processes, while flying the manifest.

1.2. By September 30, 2010, retire the Space Shuttle.

Strategic Goal 2: Complete the International Space Station 

in a manner consistent with NASA’s International partner 

commitments and the needs of human exploration.

2.1. By 2010, complete assembly of the U.S. On-orbit Segment; 

launch International Partner 

elements and sparing items required to be launched by the Shuttle; and provide 

on-orbit 

resources for research to support U.S. human space exploration.

2.2. By 2009, provide the on-orbit capability to support an ISS crew of six 

crewmembers.

Strategic Goal 3: Develop a balanced overall program of 

science, exploration, and aeronautics consistent with the 

redirection of the human spaceflight program to focus on 

exploration.

Sub-goals

Sub-goal 3A: Study Earth from space to advance scientific understanding 

and meet societal needs.

3A.1. Progress in understanding and improving predictive capability for changes 

in the ozone layer, climate forcing, and air quality associated with changes in 

atmospheric composition.

3A.2. Progress in enabling improved predictive capability for weather and extreme 

weather events.

3A.3. Progress in quantifying global land cover change and terrestrial and marine 

productivity, and in improving carbon cycle and ecosystem models.

3A.4. Progress in quantifying the key reservoirs and fluxes in the global water cycle 

and in improving models of water cycle change and fresh water availability.

3A.5. Progress in understanding the role of oceans, atmosphere, and ice in the 

climate system and in improving predictive capability for its future evolution.

3A.6. Progress in characterizing and understanding Earth surface changes and 

variability of Earth’s gravitational and magnetic fields.

Appendix: 

NASA’s Strategic Goals and Outcomes
42 2006 NASA Strategic Plan

3A.7. Progress in expanding and accelerating the realization of societal benefits from Earth system science.

Sub-goal 3B: Understand the Sun and its effects on Earth and the solar system.

3B.1. Progress in understanding the fundamental physical processes of the space environment from the Sun to Earth, 

to other planets, and beyond to the interstellar medium.

3B.2. Progress in understanding how human society, technological systems, and the habitability of planets are affected 

by solar variability and planetary magnetic fields.

3B.3. Progress in developing the capability to predict the extreme and dynamic conditions in space in order to maximize 

the safety and productivity of human and robotic explorers.

Sub-goal 3C: Advance scientific knowledge of the solar system, search for evidence of life, and prepare for 

human exploration.

3C.1. Progress in learning how the Sun’s family of planets and minor bodies originated and evolved.

3C.2. Progress in understanding the processes that determine the history and future of habitability in the solar system, 

including the origin and evolution of Earth’s biosphere and the character and extent of prebiotic chemistry on Mars 

and other worlds.

3C.3. Progress in identifying and investigating past or present habitable environments on Mars and other worlds, and 

determining if there is or ever has been life elsewhere in the solar system.

3C.4. Progress in exploring the space environment to discover potential hazards to humans and to search for resources 

that would enable human presence.

Sub-goal 3D: Discover the origin, structure, evolution, and destiny of the universe, and search for Earth-like 

planets.

3D.1. Progress in understanding the origin and destiny of the universe, phenomena near black holes, and the nature of 

gravity.

3D.2. Progress in understanding how the first stars and galaxies formed, and how they changed over time into the 

objects recognized in the present universe.

3D.3. Progress in understanding how individual stars form and how those processes ultimately affect the formation of 

planetary systems.

3D.4. Progress in creating a census of extra-solar planets and measuring their properties.

Sub-goal 3E: Advance knowledge in the fundamental disciplines of aeronautics, and develop technologies for 

safer aircraft and higher capacity airspace systems.

3E.1. By 2016, identify and develop tools, methods, and technologies for improving overall aircraft safety of new and 

legacy vehicles operating in the Next Generation Air Transportation System (projected for the year 2025).

3E.2. By 2016, develop and demonstrate future concepts, capabilities, and technologies that will enable major increases in air traffic management effectiveness, flexibility, and efficiency, while maintaining safety, to meet capacity and 

mobility requirements of the Next Generation Air Transportation System.

3E.3. By 2016, develop multidisciplinary design, analysis, and optimization capabilities for use in trade studies of new 

technologies, enabling better quantification of vehicle performance in all flight regimes and within a variety of 

transportation system architectures.

3E.4. Ensure the continuous availability of a portfolio of NASA-owned wind tunnels/ground test facilities, which are 

strategically important to meeting national aerospace program goals and requirements.

Sub-goal 3F: Understand the effects of the space environment on human performance, and test new 

technologies and countermeasures for long-duration human space exploration.

3F.1. By 2008, develop and test candidate countermeasures to ensure the health of humans traveling in space.

3F.2. By 2010, identify and test technologies to reduce total mission resource requirements for life support systems.

3F.3. By 2010, develop reliable spacecraft technologies for advanced environmental monitoring and control and fire 

safety.

Strategic Goal 4: Bring a new Crew Exploration Vehicle into service as soon as possible after 

Shuttle retirement.

4.1. No later than 2014, and as early as 2010, transport three crewmembers to the International 

Space Station and return them safely to Earth, demonstrating an operational capability to 

support human exploration missions.

4.2. No later than 2014, and as early as 2010, develop and deploy a new space suit to support exploration, that will be 

used in the initial operating capability of the Crew Exploration Vehicle.
Appendix: NASA’s Strategic Goals and Outcomes 43

Strategic Goal 5: Encourage the pursuit of appropriate partnerships with the emerging 

commercial space sector.

5.1. Develop and demonstrate a means for NASA to purchase launch services from emerging launch 

providers.

5.2. By 2010, demonstrate one or more commercial space services for ISS cargo and/or crew 

transport.

5.3. By 2012, complete one or more prize competitions for independently designed, developed, launched, and operated 

missions related to space science or space exploration.

Strategic Goal 6: Establish a lunar return program having the maximum possible utility for later 

missions to Mars and other destinations.

6.1. By 2008, launch a Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) that will provide information about 

potential human exploration sites.

6.2. By 2012, develop and test technologies for in-situ resource utilization, power generation, and 

autonomous systems that reduce consumables launched from Earth and moderate mission risk.

6.3. By 2010, identify and conduct long-term research necessary to develop nuclear technologies essential to support 

human-robotic lunar missions and that are extensible to exploration of Mars.

6.4. Implement the space communications and navigation architecture responsive to Science and Exploration mission 

requirements.

Cross-Agency Support Programs

Shared Capability Assets Program

Outcome SC-1: Establish and maintain selected Agency level shared capabilities, across multiple classes of assets (e.g., wind 

tunnels, vacuum chambers, etc.), to ensure that they will continue to be available to support the missions that require them.

Innovative Partnerships Program

Outcome IPP-1: Promote and develop innovative technology partnerships among NASA, U.S. industry, and other sectors for 

the benefit of Agency programs and projects.

Advanced Business Systems (Integrated Enterprise Management Program)

Outcome IEM-1: By 2008, implement Agency business systems that provide timely, consistent and reliable business information for management decisions.

Outcome IEM-2: Increase efficiency by implementing new business systems and reengineering Agency business processes.

Education

Outcome ED-1: Contribute to the development of the STEM workforce in disciplines needed to achieve NASA’s strategic goals 

through a portfolio of programs.

Outcome ED-2: Attract and retain students in STEM disciplines through a progression of educational opportunities for students, 

teachers, and faculty.

Outcome ED-3: Build strategic partnerships and linkages between STEM formal and informal education providers that promote 

STEM literacy and awareness of NASA’s mission.
44 2006 NASA Strategic Plan
Back cover: The Moon is visible above Earth’s horizon and airglow in this panoramic view taken by a member of 

International Space Station Expedition 11 on July 16, 2005. Near the lower edge of the picture, the eye of Hurricane 

Emily, which was a category 4 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico at the time, is visible as a bright white dimple in the clouds. 

(Photo: NASA)

Banner Images

NASA’s Mission and Vision: Astronauts work around a 

lander in this artist’s concept of a future lunar mission. 

(Image: John Frassanito and Associates)

NASA’s Strategic Goals: Workers secure the CALIPSO 

spacecraft onto a payload attach fitting at Vandenberg Air 

Force Base, California. (Photo: NASA)

Inside NASA: Astronaut Rick Sturckow, weather expert at 

the spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM) console in the 

Shuttle Control Room of Houston’s Mission Control Center, 

expresses his elation after Discovery safely launched on 

July 26, 2005. (Photo: NASA)

NASA’s Strategic Management Framework: An STS-114 

crewmember took this photo of the International Space 

Station after Discovery undocked on August 6, 2005. 

(Photo: NASA) 

NASA’s External Advisors and Partners: NASA’s B-52 

takes off on November 16, 2004, with a Pegasus 

booster rocket and the X-43A hypersonic research aircraft tucked under its wing. (Photo: NASA/T. Tschida)

External Challenges: Crews take Shuttle Atlantis to the 

Vehicle Assembly Building to prepare it for a future mission. (Photo: NASA)

Scenarios for the Future: This approximate naturalcolor image of Jupiter’s moon, Europa, taken by the 

Galileo spacecraft, shows the lined and mottled surface 

of this water-ice covered moon. (Image: NASA/DLR)

Appendix: The New Horizons spacecraft passes by 

Pluto in this artist’s concept. (Image: NASA)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA Headquarters

Washington, DC 20546

NP-2006-02-423-HQ

http://www.nasa.gov