_"'-'" 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

Headquarters 

Washington, DC 20546-0001 

August 3, 2015 

Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate 

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD: 

On July 2, 2015,1, William H. Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator for Human Exploration 

and Operations, sent a letter to SpaceX identifying NASA participation in the SpaceX 

Accident Investigation Board, which is being overseen by the Federal Aviation 

Mministration (FAA). Mr. Akash Vangani, of the Launch Services Program (LSP), was 

assigned as the primary NASA representative; Mr. William Spetch, of the Commercial 

Resupply Services Program, was appointed to support Mr. Vangani; and Mr. Daniel Domey, 

of the Commercial Crew Program, was included as an observer. Since this is a FAA Accident 

Investigation Board (AlB) the NASA participants have not been established as voting 

members of the AlB. However, both SpaceX and the FAA have fully included NASA in the 

process as valuable participants, providing them complete access to the data and to the 

SpaceX team and the deliberations. Additionally. NASA LSP has begun a series of 

independent analyses and evaluations that will lead to an in-depth understanding of the events 

by the government. 

I have been closely observing the inclusion of NASA in the investigation and have 

determined that NASA LSP should serve the function of an independent review team for 

NASA for this investigation. Their experience and Wlderstanding of the Falcon 9 system for 

NASA robotic missions places LSP in a unique position to most efficiently and independently 

evaluate the events that occurred on CRS-7 that led to its failure and to ensure that the 

resulting corrective actions are implemented appropriately. I am confident that this approach 

will enable an effective return to flight of the Falcon 9 to support NASA's missions. 

William H. Gerstenmaier 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

Headquarters 

Washington, DC 20546-0001 

November 3, 2014 

Rel>otoAl1nDt. Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate 

Mr. David W. Thompson , 

President and Chief Executive Officer 

Orbital Sciences Corporation 

45101 Warp Drive 

Dulles, VA 20166 

Subject: NASA Representation to the Orb-3 Acoident Investigation 

In accordance withNASA SSP 50190-CRS, Contingency Action Plan, Annex A: Commercial' 

Resupply Service, and in support ofNNJ09GA02B, International Space Station Commercial 

Resupply Services contract paragraph II.A.19 Mission Success Determination, Investigation, 

and ColTective Actions, NASA is designating Thomas Costello, as the primary interface to 

Orbital's investigation activities and the NASA official voting mernber. Mr. Costello can be 

reached at (281) 483-0119 or by email atthomas.a.cos!.!ll!o@ ....... gov.Mr. Matthew Lacey, 

has also been designated to provide support and will work directly with Mr. Costello and be a 

fol1!lal back up. Mr. Lacey can be reached at (321) 867-9878 or by etnail at 

matthewlacev@n.'a.gov. Orbital can use these NASA personal as desired on the board. 

Additional NASA personnel will be made available as needed to support the investigation 

efforts. 

Should you have any further questions concerning this matter, you may reach me at 

(202) 358-2015 or by email at william.h,gerstenmaiel@nasa.gov. 

William H. Gerstenmaier 

Associate Administrator for 

Human Exploration and Operstions 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

Headquarters 

Washington, DC 20546-0001 

November 26, 2014 

Reply" Attn 01: Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate 

TO: Distribution 

FROM: Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations 

SUBJECT: Independent Review Team of the Orb-3 Accident 

I bave asked Mr. John McManamen, Manager, NASA White Sands Test Facility, to lead an 

Independent Review Team of the Orb-3 Accident. The ultimate goal of this team is to amplify the 

learning for the NASA teams from this event. In the spirit of continuous learning, I would like NASA 

to independently ascertain technical root cause of failure. This activity will be a validation of the 

Accident Investigation Board (AlB) efforts and to inform the Agency's risk posture in order to support 

Orbital's return to flight activities. The team will independently develop a detailed fault tree and 

provide independent assessment of same telemetry data and pbysical evidence. The team needs to 

look beyond this failure and use the failure to spur creative thinking and expand the learning from this 

event beyond the simple fault tree and root cause. One goal is to determine bow to develop, operate 

and acquire more reliable systems. This failure was a tremendous loss and we need to maximize the 

learning from this event. Coordination to obtain data and other products from Orbital and its \S';::0i wi]~ Costello, the official NASA representative to the Orbital AIB. 

William H. Gerstenmaier 

cc: 

HQ/ANR. Lightfoot 

HQ/OSMAIT. Willcutt 

HQ/OCFJR. Roe 

HQIHEOMD/S. Scimemi 

HQIHEOMD/J. Norman 

GSFCllOO.O/C. Scolese 

JSClAAIE. Ocboa 

JSClOAID. W. Hartman 

JSClOAlJ. R. Montalbano 

JSClOAIM.T.SuffiedUri 

JSClOAIK. o. Todd 

JSClONIT. A. Costello 

JSClON/C. A. Koerner 

JSClON/W. C. Spetch 

KSC/AAIR. D. Cabana 

MSFCIDAOIIP. Scheuermann 

GRClJ. Free 
National Aeronautics and Space Adminlstmtlon 

Hlllldqullrler. 

Wllf3hlnglon, DC 26546-0001 

July 2,2015 

H.",lv to"'" of, Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directora~ 

Ms. Gwynne Shotwell 

President & Chief Executive Officer 

Space Exploration TecJmologies 

I Rocket Road 

Hawthorne, CA 90250 

SUbject: NASA Representation to the CRS-7 Accident Investigation 

In order to provide SpaceX with a primary interface to the CRS-7 Accident Investigation, and 

recognizing that multiple NASA Programs interface with Spacex, NASA bas designated the 

Launch Services Program (LSP) as the coordinating Program. This is being done to minimize 

the impact to SpaceX, while providing the required insight for the directorate programs. As 

you know the directorate interfaces with SpaceX through the launch Services program, the 

commercial crew program and the International Space Station program. We would like the 

LSP representative to be considered a member of the investigation team. 

LSP is designating Mr. Akash Vangani, as the primary interface to SpaceX's investigation 

activities. Mr. Vangani can be reached at (321) 867-8345 or by email at 

akash.v.vangani@nasagov. Mr. William Spetch, has also been designated to provide support 

with Mr. Vangani. Mr. Spetch can be reached at (281) 244-7765 or by email at 

William.spetch-1@nasagov. The commercial crew program will be represented by Daniel 

Dorney. 

If required, additional NASA personnel will be made available to support the investigation 

efforts. 

Should you have any further questions concerning this matter, you may reach me at 

(202) 358-2015 or by email at william.h.gerstenmaier@nasa.gov. 

William H. Oerstenmaier 

Associate Admitristrator 

for Human Exploration and Operations 
00: 

HQ/AAIR. Lightfoot 

HQIHEOMD/J. Norman 

HQIHEOMD/S. Scimemi 

JSCYO~.T.SufUedUll 

JSC/ONN. Feng 

JSCYONIW. C. Spetch 

KSCIF AIK. Lueders 

KSCNAIA. Mitskevich 

KSCNA-G/A. Vangani 

Space Exploration Technologies C01pOration (SpaceX): 

Mr. Elon Musk 

Space Explorations Technologies Corporation 

1 Rocket Road 

Hawthorne, CA 90250