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. , and a plan is now needed to ensure uninterrupted access to the International Space Station. Otherwise, the US could lose its ability to send astronauts to the ISS after NASA's contract expires with the Russian Soyuz program in November 2019. The GOA report warns that the United States could lose their ability to send astronauts for nine months or more.
And that sucks. The country that sent astronauts on the moon from 1968 to 1972 as if it was nobody's business, the country that maintained a (reasonably) reliable astronaut delivery service from 1981 to 2011 under the shape of the space shuttle program now retired. It seems that the move from NASA to the use of private sector partners, in conjunction with budget cuts, has now done a bit of the US when it comes to launching crewed missions in l & # 39; space. At least for the moment
In 2014, NASA signed contracts with Boeing and SpaceX to develop vehicles capable of transporting astronauts to the ISS. Collectively, contracts are worth $ 6.8 billion, according to GAO, but programs have been delayed. The SpaceX Dragon capsule was originally scheduled for early 2017, but it is not expected to be certified until February 2019. Boeing's Starliner, scheduled to be ready in the third quarter of 2017, was postponed until January 2019.
vehicles could be ready in early 2019, but that's not the problem. The issue that the GAO sees has to do with NASA's rather vague certification process, which is necessary to determine whether these new capsules will be safe enough for manned human flight. The current process requires NASA to badess the likelihood that a crew member will be killed or disabled during a flight. However, NASA "does not have a consistent approach to calculating this measure," which means that "results may vary depending on who in NASA performs the badysis," according to the GAO report. Government auditors claim that further delays are likely because "the risk badysis of the Trade Team Program Schedule shows that the certification stage may skid." [19659007] Specifications of the Boeing Starliner (top) and SpaceX Dragon capsule (bottom). Image: GAO / SpaceX / Boeing
This presents an obvious problem. With the Soyuz contract expiring at the end of next year, these anticipated delays could result in a gap, which may last nine months or more, during which the United States will not be able to send astronauts aboard the United States. # 39; ISS. NASA could try to reserve seats on board future Soyuz missions, but that might be easier said than done. "The process of making the spaceship [Soyuz] and contract for these seats usually takes three years, which means that additional seats would not be available until 2021," notes the GAO report
. in his report. In addition to regularly sharing its scheduled risk badyzes with Congress, GAO says that NASA should develop and maintain an emergency plan to ensure a presence on the ISS until it reaches the end of the day. a commercial crew program contractor is certified. the agency should do a thorough review of how it determines the risk tolerance levels for its crew. And once NASA has completed the expected certification exams, it "should document the lessons learned [relating to the potential] crew loss as a safety threshold for future manned space missions, given the complexity of the metric . "
they are obvious. Of course, NASA needs a backup plan, and a way to fix this complicated thing of certification. But what should we expect more from the government auditors? Their job is to report the problems, not to solve them. NASA, and in particular Congress, which holds the purse strings, need to understand this shit. All this is absolutely not cool.
[GAO via AFP]
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