Psychological and sociological effects of spaceflight

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Crew members (STS-131) on the International Space Station (14 April 2012).

 

Psychological and sociological effects of space flight are important to understanding how to successfully achieve the goals of long-duration expeditionary missions. Although robotic spacecraft have landed on Mars, plans have also been discussed for a human expedition, perhaps in the 2030s, or as early as 2021 for a return mission, or even in 2018 for a 501-day flyby mission for a crew of two with no landing on Mars.

A Mars return expedition may last two to three years and may involve a crew of four to seven people, although shorter flyby missions of approximately one and half years with only two people have been proposed, as well as one-way missions that include landing on Mars with no return trip planned. Although there are a number of technological and physiological issues involved with such a mission that remain to be worked out, there are also a number of behavioral issues affecting the crew that are being addressed before launching such missions. In preparing for such an expedition, important psychological, interpersonal and psychiatric issues occurring in human spaceflight missions are under study by national space agencies and others. 

In October 2015, the NASA Office of Inspector General issued a health hazards report related to human spaceflight, including a human mission to Mars.

Psychosocial issues on-orbit

Researchers have conducted two NASA-funded international studies of psychological and interpersonal issues during on-orbit missions to the Mir and the International Space Station. Both crew members and mission control personnel were studied. The Mir sample involved 13 astronauts and cosmonauts and 58 American and Russian mission control personnel. The corresponding numbers in the ISS study were 17 space travelers and 128 people on Earth. Subjects completed a weekly questionnaire that included items from a number of valid and reliable measures that assessed mood and group dynamics. Both studies had similar findings. There was significant evidence for the displacement of tension and negative emotions from the crew members to mission control personnel. The support role of the commander was significantly and positively related to group cohesion among crew members, and both the task and support roles of the team leader were significantly related to cohesion among people in mission control. Crew members scored higher in cultural sophistication than mission control personnel. Russians reported greater language flexibility than Americans. Americans scored higher on a measure of work pressure than Russians, but Russians reported higher levels of tension on the ISS than Americans. There were no significant changes in levels of emotion and group interpersonal climate over time. Specifically, there was no evidence for a general worsening of mood and cohesion after the halfway point of the missions, an occurrence some have called the 3rd quarter phenomenon.

Much has been learned from experiences on the International Space Station about important psychological, interpersonal and psychiatric issues that affect people working on-orbit. This information should be incorporated in the planning for future expeditionary missions to a near-Earth asteroid or to Mars.

 

Other psychosocial studies involving astronauts and cosmonauts have been conducted. In one, an analysis of speech patterns as well as subjective attitudes and personal values were measured in both on-orbit space crews and people working in space analog environments. The researchers found that, over time, these isolated groups showed decreases in the scope and content of their communications and a filtering in what they said to outside personnel, which was termed psychological closing. Crew members interacted less with some mission control personnel than others, perceiving them as opponents. This tendency of some crew members to become more egocentric was called autonomization. They also found that crew members became more cohesive by spending time together (for example, joint birthday celebrations), and that the presence of subgroups and outliers (e.g., scapegoats) negatively affected group cohesion. In a study of 12 ISS cosmonauts, researchers reported that personal values generally remained stable, with those related to the fulfillment of professional activities and good social relationships being rated most highly.

Another study examined potentially disruptive cultural issues affecting space missions in a survey of 75 astronauts and cosmonauts and 106 mission control personnel. The subjects rated coordination difficulties between the different space organizations involved with the missions as the biggest problem. Other problems included communication misunderstandings and differences in work management styles.

In a study of 11 cosmonauts regarding their opinions of possible psychological and interpersonal problems that might occur during a Mars expedition, researchers found several factors to be rated highly: isolation and monotony, distance-related communication delays with the Earth, leadership issues, differences in space agency management styles, and cultural misunderstandings within international crews.

In a survey of 576 employees of the European Space Agency (ESA), a link was found between cultural diversity and the ability of people to interact with one another. Especially important were factors related to leadership and decision-making.

Another study looked at content analysis of personal journals from ten ISS astronauts that were oriented around a number of issues that had behavioral implications. Findings included that 88% of the entries dealt with the following categories: Work, Outside Communications, Adjustment, Group Interaction, Recreation/Leisure, Equipment, Events, Organization/Management, Sleep, and Food. In general, the crew members reported that their life in space was not as difficult as they expected prior to launch, despite a 20% increase in interpersonal problems during the second half of the missions. It was recommended that future crew members be allowed to control their individual schedules as much as possible.

On-orbit and post-spaceflight psychiatric issues

A number of psychiatric problems have been reported during on-orbit space missions. Most common are adjustment reactions to the novelty of being in space, with symptoms generally including transient anxiety or depression. Psychosomatic reactions also have occurred, where anxiety and other emotional states are experienced physically as somatic symptoms. Problems related to major mood and thought disorders (e.g., manic-depression, schizophrenia) have not been reported during space missions. This likely is due to the fact that crew members have been screened psychiatrically for constitutional predispositions to these conditions before launch, so the likelihood of these illnesses developing on-orbit is low. 

Post-mission personality changes and emotional problems have affected some returning space travelers. These have included anxiety, depression, alcohol abuse, and marital readjustment difficulties that in some cases have necessitated the use of psychotherapy and psychoactive medications. Some astronauts have had difficulties adjusting to the resultant fame and media demands that followed their missions, and similar problems are likely to occur in the future following high-profile expeditions, such as a trip to Mars.

Asthenization, a syndrome that includes fatigue, irritability, emotional lability, attention and concentration difficulties, and appetite and sleep problems, has been reported to commonly occur in cosmonauts by Russian flight surgeons. It has been observed to evolve in clearly defined stages. It is conceptualized as an adjustment reaction to being in space that is different from neurasthenia, a related neurotic condition seen on Earth.

The validity of asthenization has been questioned by some in the West, in part because classical neurasthenia is not currently recognized in the American psychiatric nomenclature, whereas the illness is accepted in Russia and China. Retrospective analysis of the data from the Soviet Space Biology and Medicine III Mir Space Station study has shown that the findings did not support the presence of the asthenization syndrome when crew member on-orbit scores were compared with those from a prototype of asthenization developed by Russian space experts.

Positive outcomes

Isolated and confined environments may also produce positive experiences. A survey of 39 astronauts and cosmonauts found that all of the respondents reported positive changes as a result of flying in space. One particular measure stood out: Perceptions of Earth in general were highly positive, while gaining a stronger appreciation of the Earth’s beauty had the highest mean change score.

Since the early 1990s, research began on the salutogenic (or growth-enhancing) aspects of space travel. One study analyzed the published memoirs of 125 space travelers. After returning from space, the subjects reported higher levels on categories of Universalism (i.e., greater appreciation for other people and nature), Spirituality, and Power. Russian space travelers scored higher in Achievement and Universalism and lower in Enjoyment than Americans. Overall, these results suggest that traveling in space is a positive and growth-enhancing experience for many of its individual participants.

From low-Earth orbit to expeditions across the inner Solar System

Research to date into human psychological and sociological effects based on on-orbit near-Earth experiences may have limited generalizability to a long-distance, multi-year space expedition, such as a mission to a near-Earth asteroid (which currently is being considered by NASA) or to Mars. In the case of Mars, new stressors will be introduced due to the great distances involved in journeying to the Red Planet. For example, the crew members will be relatively autonomous from terrestrial mission control and will need to plan their work and deal with problems on their own. They are expected to experience significant isolation as the Earth becomes an insignificant bluish-green dot in the heavens, the so-called Earth-out-of-view phenomenon. From the surface of Mars, there will be two-way communication delays with family and friends back home of up to 44 minutes, as well as low-bandwidth communication channels, adding to the sense of isolation.

The Mars 500 Program

From June 2010 to November 2011, a unique ground-based space analog study took place that was called the Mars 500 Program. Mars 500 was designed to simulate a 520-day round-trip expedition to Mars, including periods of time where the crew functioned under high autonomy conditions and experienced communication delays with outside monitoring personnel in mission control. Six men were confined in a simulator that was located at the Institute for Biomedical Problems in Moscow. The lower floor consisted of living and laboratory modules for the international crew, and the upper floor contained a mock-up of the Mars surface on which the crew conducted simulated geological and other planetary activities.

During a 105-day pilot study in 2009 that preceded this mission, the mood and group interactions of a six-man Russian-European crew, as well as the relationships of this crew with outside mission control personnel, were studied. The study found that high work autonomy (where the crew members planned their own schedules) was well received by the crews, mission goals were accomplished, and there were no adverse effects, which echoed positive autonomy findings in other space analog settings. During the high autonomy period, crew member mood and self-direction were reported as being improved, but mission control personnel reported more anxiety and work role confusion. Despite scoring lower in work pressure overall, the Russian crew members reported a greater rise in work pressure from low to high autonomy than the European participants.

Several psychosocial studies were conducted during the actual 520-day mission. There were changes in crew member time perception, evidence for the displacement of crew tension to mission control, and decreases in crew member needs and requests during high autonomy, which suggested that they had adapted to this condition. The crew exhibited increased homogeneity in values and more reluctance to express negative interpersonal feelings over time, which suggested a tendency toward "groupthink". Additionally, the crew members experienced increased feelings of loneliness and perceived lower support from colleagues over time, which had a negative effect on cognitive adaptation. A number of individual differences in terms of sleep pattern, mood, and conflicts with mission control were found and reported using techniques such as wrist actigraphy, the psychomotor vigilance test, and various subjective measures. A general decrease in group collective time from the outbound phase to the return phase of the simulated flight to Mars was identified. This was accomplished by the evaluation of fixed video recordings of crew behavior during breakfasts through variations in personal actions, visual interactions, and facial expressions.

Psychosocial and psychiatric issues during an expedition to Mars

There are a number of psychosocial and psychiatric issues that may affect crew members during an expeditionary mission to Mars. In terms of selection, only a subset of all astronaut candidates will be willing to be away from family and friends for the two- to three-year mission, so the pool of possible crew members will be restricted and possibly skewed psychologically in ways that cannot be foreseen. Little is known about the physical and psychological effect of long-duration microgravity and the high radiation that occurs in deep space. In addition, on Mars the crew members will be subjected to a gravity field that is only 38 percent of Earth gravity, and the effect of this situation on their physical and emotional well-being is unknown. Given the long distances involved, the crew must function autonomously and develop their own work schedules and solve operational emergencies themselves. They must also be able to deal with medical and psychiatric emergencies, such as physical trauma due to accidents as well as suicidal or psychotic thinking due to stress and depression. Basic life support and staples such as water and fuel will need to be provided from resources on Mars and its atmosphere. There will be a great deal of leisure time (especially during the outbound and return phases of the mission), and occupying it meaningfully and flexibly may be a challenge.

Furthermore, Kanas points out that during on-orbit or lunar missions a number of interventions have been implemented successfully to support crew member psychological well-being. These have included family conferences in real time (i.e., with no appreciable delays), frequent consultations with mission control, and the sending of gifts and favorite foods on resupply ships to enhance morale. Such actions have helped to provide stimulation and counter the effects of isolation, loneliness, asthenization, and limited social contact. But with the delays in crew-ground communication and the inability to send needed resupplies in a timely manner due to the vast distances between the habitats on Mars and Earth, the currently used Earth-based support strategies will be seriously constrained, and new strategies will be needed. Finally, since gazing at the Earth’s beauty has been rated as the major positive factor of being in space, the experience of seeing the Earth as an insignificant dot in the heavens may enhance the sense of isolation and produce increased feelings of homesickness, depression and irritability. This may be ameliorated by having a telescope on board with which to view the Earth, thus helping the crew feel more connected with home.

Commercial Crew Development

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First group of nine astronauts selected for the NASA Commercial Crew Development program and the two selected spacecraft, the Boeing CST-100 Starliner (left) and SpaceX Crew Dragon

 

NASA Commercial Crew and Cargo
Initiative	Period
Development
Commercial Cargo Development	2006–2013
Commercial Space Transportation Capabilities	2007–2010
Commercial Crew Development (phase 1)	2010–2011
Commercial Crew Development (phase 2)	2011–2012
Commercial Crew integrated Capability (phase 3) (base period milestones)	2012–2014
Commercial Crew integrated Capability (phase 4) (optional period milestones)	2014–2017
Certification
Certification Products Contract (crew)	2012–2014
Commercial Crew Transportation Capability	2014–2017
Services
Commercial Resupply Services (cargo)	2011–2016
ISS Crew Transportation Services (crew)	2017–present
NASA's COTS program Private spaceflight companies

Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) is a multiphase, space technology development program that is funded by the U.S. government and administered by NASA. The program is intended to stimulate development of privately operated crew vehicles to be launched into low Earth orbit. The program is run by NASA's Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office (C3PO).

In 2010, in the first phase of the program, NASA provided $50 million combined to five American companies; the money was intended for research and development into private-sector human spaceflight concepts and technologies. NASA solicited a second set of CCdev proposals for technology development projects lasting for a maximum of 14 months in October of that year. In April 2011, NASA announced they would award up to nearly $270 million to four companies as they met their CCDev 2 objectives. 

NASA awarded Space Act Agreements for the third phase, named CCiCap, in August 2012; this would last until 2014. CCiCap is followed by CCtCap with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 15 contracts, which formed the fourth and final phase of the program. Contracts were awarded to SpaceX and Boeing in September 2014. Test flights of both spacecraft are scheduled for late 2018. SpaceX and Boeing have contracts with NASA to each supply six flights to ISS between 2019 and 2024. The first group of astronauts assigned to fly on the two selected spacecraft were announced on August 3, 2018.

Requirements

The key, high-level requirements for the Commercial Crew vehicles include:

• Deliver and return four crew members and their equipment to International Space Station (ISS);
• Provide assured crew return in the event of an emergency;
• Serve as a 24-hour safe haven in the event of an emergency;
• Capable of remaining docked for 210 days—the Space Shuttle could only remain docked for a maximum of 12 days.

Program overview

Flag left aboard ISS by the crew of STS-135 is to be retrieved by the next crew launched on an American vehicle.

The NASA CCDev program followed Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS), a program for developing commercial launch capability to send cargo into low Earth orbit. In December 2009, NASA provided the following description of the CCDev program:

The objectives of the Commercial Crew & Cargo Program are to implement U.S. Space Exploration policy with investments to stimulate the commercial space industry; facilitate U.S. private industry demonstration of cargo and crew space transportation capabilities with the goal of achieving safe, reliable, cost effective access to low-Earth orbit; and create a market environment in which commercial space transportation services are available to Government and private sector customers.

The Commercial Crew & Cargo Program is applying Recovery Act funds to stimulate efforts within the private sector to develop and demonstrate human spaceflight capabilities. NASA plans to use funds appropriated for "Exploration" under the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) through its C3PO to support efforts within the private sector to develop system concepts and capabilities that could ultimately lead to the availability of commercial human spaceflight services. These efforts are intended to foster entrepreneurial activity leading to job growth in engineering, analysis, design, and research and to promote economic recovery as capabilities for new markets are created.

ARRA provided $400 million for space exploration related activities. Of this amount, $50 million is to be used for the development of commercial crew space transportation concepts and enabling capabilities. This effort is known as CCDev. The purpose of this activity is to provide funding to assist viable commercial entities in the development of system concepts, key technologies, and capabilities that could ultimately be used in commercial crew human space transportation systems. This development work must show, within the timeframe of the agreement, significant progress on long lead capabilities, technologies and commercial crew risk mitigation tasks in order to accelerate the development of their commercial crew space transportation concept.

Contract funding for the CCDev program is different from traditional space industry contractor funding used on the Space Shuttle, Apollo, Gemini, and Mercury programs. Contracts are explicitly designed to fund subsystem technology development objectives that NASA wants for NASA purposes; all other system technology development is funded by the commercial contractor. Contracts are issued for fixed-price, pay-for-performance milestones. "NASA's contribution is fixed".

Funding and effect on schedule

Requested vs appropriated funding by year

The first flight of the CCDev program was planned to occur in 2015, but insufficient funding caused delays. Administrator of NASA Charles Bolden attributed the delays to insufficient funding from Congress. Michael López-Alegría, President of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, also attributed the delays in the program to funding problems.

For the fiscal year (FY) 2011 budget, US$500 million was requested for the CCDev program, but Congress granted only $270 million. For the FY 2012 budget, $850 million was requested but Congress approved a budget of $406 million, and as a result the first flight of CCDev was postponed from 2016 to 2017. For the 2013 budget, 830 million was requested but Congress approved $488 million. For the FY 2014 budget, $821 million was requested, Congress approved $696 million. In FY 2015, NASA received $805 million from Congress for the CCDev program; 95% of the $848 million requested by the Obama administration and the largest annual amount since the beginning of the program.

Spaceflight gap after STS

Saturn IB mounted on the "milkstool" platform. Its 1975 flight was the last manned U.S. mission until 1981

After the last flight of the STS in 2011 the clock began ticking on a U.S. spaceflight gap. The previous spaceflight gap was between 1975 (a Saturn IB launch) and the first STS flight in April 1981, about six years. Unlike the last human spaceflight gap, the U.S. has bought seats on the still-active Russian launcher as part of their continuing joint international project, the International Space Station. U.S. Congress was aware such a gap could occur and accelerated funding in 2008 and 2009 in preparation for the retirement of the Shuttle. At that time the first crewed flight of the planned Ares I launcher would not have occurred until 2015, and its first use at ISS until 2016. Steps were also taken to extend STS operation past 2010. However, in 2010 the Ares I was cancelled and focus shifted to the Space Launch System and the commercial crew program. As of 2016 the first manned flight of SLS is Exploration Mission 2, to launch in 2021 at the earliest. As of 2016 a manned commercial crew mission might occur as early as 2018. If NASA does get access to its own launcher it may be able to again trade seats rather than buy them, or the two countries may organize another sale. NASA has bought seats for 2018, and it may need to buy seats for 2019 also.

NASA bought seats on the Russian launcher even while the Space Shuttle was active, and partners in the International Space Station project needed to cross-train on each-others launchers and equipment. When the STS program ended, this aspect of the involvement in ISS continued, and NASA has a contract for seats until at least 2017. The price has varied over time, and the batch of seats from 2016 to 2017 works out to 70.7 million per passenger per flight. The use of the Russian launcher Soyuz by NASA was a part of the ISS program which was orchestrated in the 1990s when that project was planned out: it is used as the emergency lifeboat for the station even before the Space Shuttle retired so anyone staying on the station had to train on this spacecraft regardless. The first Soyuz flight to ISS in 2000 included a U.S. astronaut (Soyuz TM-31 as part of Expedition 1). U.S. astronauts regularly flew on the Soyuz while the Shuttle program regularly visited the Station, even as it brought major components. Likewise Russian and other international partners also flew on the Space Shuttle and the Soyuz spacecraft, sometimes only on one direction of the journey.

The U.S. was working on an emergency escape vehicle called the HL-20 Personnel Launch System but was cancelled in 1993 in favor of using extra Soyuz spacecraft as lifeboats; not developing another spacecraft was seen as a way to save money in the aftermath of restructuring the Space Station Freedom project when the USSR dissolved in 1991. Regardless, CCDev "seats" have often been compared to Soyuz prices for comparison during its development. With no other launcher available NASA may have to buy seats until 2019 to access the international space station. The other main partners in ISS, the ESA, cancelled its own manned launch system, the Hermes mini-shuttle, in 1992. The ESA had previously traded Spacelab hardware for flights on Space Shuttles. There has been some interest from Europe in the CCDev contenders, especially with Dream Chaser, with one party saying it was, "..ideal vehicle for a broad range of space applications."

Phases

CCDev 1

Construction of the CST-100 pressure vessel was one of Boeing's CCDev 1 milestones

 

Under CCDev phase 1, NASA has entered into funded Space Act Agreements with several companies working on technologies and systems for human space flight. Funding was provided as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. A total of $50 million for 2010 was awarded to five American companies with the intention of fostering research and development into human spaceflight concepts and technologies in the private sector. The phase 1 amount was originally intended to be $150 million, most of which was diverted to the Constellation program by Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL). All 53 delivery milestones for the five companies were scheduled to be completed by the end of 2010.

Proposals selected

NASA awarded development funds to five companies under CCDev 1:

1. Blue Origin: $3.7M for an innovative 'pusher' Launch Abort System (LAS) and composite pressure vessels. As of February 2011, with the end of the second ground test, Blue Origin has completed all work for the pusher escape system planned under the contract. It has also "completed work on the other aspect of its award, risk reduction work on a composite pressure vessel" for its vehicle.
2. Boeing: $18M for development of the CST-100 capsule it demonstrated in October 2010. According to NASA's website all milestones were completed.
3. Paragon Space Development Corporation: $1.4M for a plug-and-play environmental control and life support system (ECLSS) Air Revitalization System (ARS) Engineering Development Unit. With "the completion of testing in mid-December [2010] of its 'Commercial Crew Transport Air Revitalization System', a life support system intended for use on [multiple different] commercial crew vehicles", Paragon has completed all work under the contract.
4. Sierra Nevada Corporation: $20M for development of the Dream Chaser, a reusable spaceplane vehicle that can transport cargo and up to eight people to low Earth orbit. Sierra Nevada completed its work under the contract in December 2010, with the structural testing of its engineering test article—its fourth and final milestone.
5. United Launch Alliance: $6.7M for an Emergency Detection System (EDS) for human-rating its Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELVs). In December 2010, ULA carried out a demonstration of its Emergency Detection System; according to NASA's website all milestones were completed.

Proposals received

During the evaluation phase of CCDev1 proposals were received from the following participants:

Ad Astra Rocket Company AlphaSpaces Andrews Space ARES Corporation Alliant Techsystems (ATK) Ball Aerospace Bigelow Aerospace Blue Origin Blue Smoke

Boeing Dii Aerospace Laboratories Exploration Partners Firestar Engineering Global Outpost HMX, Inc. IE Group KT Engineering Oceaneering Space Systems

Odyssey Space Research Orbital Outfitters Orbital Sciences Corporation Orbital Technologies Paragon Space Development Planetspace S.T.A.R. Systems Sierra Nevada Corporation SpaceED – UC Davis

SpaceX Stone Aerospace The Expanding Universe Thomas Lee Elifritz United Launch Alliance Universal Space Lines Universal Transport Systems Vivace XCOR Aerospace

CCDev 2

The construction of a Dragon crew mock-up was one of SpaceX's CCDev 2 milestones, it is seen here during an event

 

NASA sought a second set of Commercial Crew Development proposals in October 2010. These could be both new concepts and proposals that mature the design and development of system elements, such as launch vehicles and spacecraft. NASA originally planned to issue about $200 million of Space Act Agreements in March 2011. On April 18, 2011, NASA awarded nearly $270 million to four companies for developing U.S. vehicles that could fly astronauts after the Space Shuttle fleet's retirement.

In August the same year, NASA provided status on the progress milestones of the four companies developing crew vehicle technologies under CCDev 2. There are nine-to-eleven specific milestones, spread over the second quarter of 2011 through to the second quarter of 2012, that each company must meet to receive their performance-based funding for CCDev 2.

Proposals selected

Winners of funding in the second round of the CCDev were:

• Blue Origin, Kent, Washington: $22 million. Blue Origin proposed advancing technologies in support of a biconic nose cone design orbital vehicle, including launch abort systems and restartable, liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen engines. Blue Origin has since completed all of its CCDev 2 milestones. In November 2014, NASA announced three additional unfunded milestones, which include further testing of Blue Origin's propellant tank, BE-3 engine and pusher escape system.
• Sierra Nevada Corporation, Louisville, Colorado: $80 million. Sierra Nevada proposed four phase 2 extensions of its Dream Chaser spaceplane technology. Like the Orbital Sciences proposal, the Dream Chaser was also a lifting body design. Sierra Nevada will use Virgin Galactic to market Dream Chaser commercial services and will use Virgin's WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft as a platform for drop trials of the Dream Chaser atmospheric test vehicle in 2012.
• Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), Hawthorne, California: $75 million. SpaceX proposed to develop an "integrated launch abort system design" for the Dragon spacecraft, with theoretical advantages over the more traditional tractor tower approaches used on earlier manned space capsules. The system would be part of SpaceX's Draco maneuvering system, which is currently used on the Dragon capsule for in-orbit maneuvering and de-orbit burns. SpaceX completed its CCDev 2 milestones by August 2012.
• The Boeing Company, Houston, Texas: $92.3 million. Boeing proposed additional development for the seven-person CST-100 spacecraft, beyond the objectives for the $18 million received from NASA in CCDev 1. The capsule will have personnel and cargo configurations, and is designed to be launched by multiple different rockets and be reusable up to 10 times.

Proposals selected without NASA funding

• United Launch Alliance proposed to extend development work on human-rating the Atlas V rocket. Although not selected for funding, NASA entered into an unfunded Space Act Agreement with ULA in July 2011 to share information with the goal of advancing the development of the rocket, which is the proposed launch vehicle for the Blue Origin, Boeing and Sierra Nevada Corporation proposals. ULA finished completing all of their CCDev 2 milestones by September 2012.
• Alliant Techsystems (ATK) and Astrium proposed development of the Liberty rocket derived from the Ares I and Ariane 5. On September 13, 2011, it was reported that NASA intended to form at agreement with ATK to further develop the Liberty rocket as a heavy launch vehicle capable of launching humans into space. Although no funding is to be provided by NASA, the agency will share expertise and technology. ATK finished completing all of its CCDev 2 milestones by August 2012.
• Excalibur Almaz Inc. is developing a crewed system incorporating modernized, Soviet-era space hardware designs intended for tourism flights to orbit. On October 26, 2011, NASA announced it had entered into an unfunded Space Act Agreement with EAI, establishing a framework to collaborate to further develop EAI's spacecraft concept for low Earth orbit crew transportation. EAI's concept for commercial crew to the ISS is to use the company's planned three-person space vehicle with an intermediate stage and fly the integrated vehicle on a commercially available launch vehicle. Excalibur Almaz finished completing all of their CCDev 2 milestones by June 2012.

Proposals not selected

Proposals that were not awarded funds in the second round of the CCDev program were:

• Orbital Sciences proposed the Prometheus lifting-body spaceplane vehicle, about one-quarter the size of the Space Shuttle. The Vertical Takeoff, Horizontal Landing (VTHL) vehicle would be launched on a human-rated Atlas V rocket but would land on a runway. The initial design would carry a crew of four, but it could carry up to six people or a combination of crew and cargo. In addition to Orbital Sciences, the consortium included Northrop Grumman that would have built the spaceplane and the United Launch Alliance that would have provided the launch vehicle. Virgin Galactic also confirmed it would be teaming with Orbital on the Orbital CCDev 2 project. After failing to be selected for a CCDev phase 2 award by NASA, Orbital announced in April 2011 it would likely wind down its efforts to develop a commercial crew vehicle.
• Paragon Space Development Corporation proposed additional development of the Commercial Crew Transport-Air Revitalization System (CCT-ARS) program in 2011, to permit the building-out of the other parts of the Environmental Control and Life Support Systems to provide the complete solution for its commercial crew transport customers.
• t/Space proposed a recoverable, reusable, eight-person crew or cargo transfer spacecraft that could launch on a variety of launch vehicles including the Atlas V, Falcon 9 and Taurus II rockets.
• United Space Alliance proposed under a plan called Commercial Space Transportation Service (CSTS) to fly commercially the two remaining Space Shuttle vehicles, Endeavour and Atlantis, twice a year from 2013 to 2017.

Commercial Crew integrated Capability

Flight testing of the Dream Chaser Engineering Test Article was one of Sierra Nevada's CCiCap milestones

 

The Commercial Crew integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative is the third round of the CCdev program and was originally called CCDev 3. For this phase of the program, NASA wanted proposals to be complete, end-to-end designs including spacecraft, launch vehicles, launch services, ground and mission operations, and recovery. In September 2011, NASA released a draft request for proposals (RFP).

The U.S. government's was originally intended to use a new contracting mechanism for CCiCap that differed from the Space Act Agreement's fixed-price, milestone-based contracts of the previous phases. As of October 2011, NASA was planning to award competitive contracts under the more traditional Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) system instead of using Space Act Agreements. After some months of planning for the new-style contracting approach, NASA announced in mid-December 2011 it would resume use of Space Act Agreements because of Congressional funding reductions to the program for Fiscal Year 2012. NASA planned to use FAR contracts for the certification of Commercial Transportation Services to the ISS. The final RFP was released on February 7, 2012, with proposals due on March 23, 2012.

The funded Space Act Agreements were awarded on August 3, 2012, and amended on August 15, 2013. CCiCap contracts were planned to be completed by August 2014. NASA hoped facilitating development of this U.S. capability will provide safe, reliable and cost effective human transportation to low-Earth orbit (LEO).

Proposals selected

Winners of funding in the third round of the Commercial Crew Development program, announced on August 3, 2012, were:

• Sierra Nevada Corporation, Louisville, Colorado: $212.5 million. Sierra Nevada Corporation proposed further development of its Dream Chaser spaceplane/Atlas V system.
• Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), Hawthorne, California: $440 million. SpaceX proposed further development of the Dragon spacecraft / Falcon 9 system.
• The Boeing Company, Houston, Texas: $460 million. Boeing proposed further development for the CST-100 spacecraft/Atlas V system.

Proposals that passed acceptability screening

• ATK – Liberty

Proposals not selected

• Space Operations
• American Aerospace
• Spacedesign Corporation

Development achievements

NASA reported that as of November 2014, Boeing had completed its CCiCap milestones; Sierra Nevada had completed 10 of its 13 milestones; SpaceX had completed 13 of its 18 milestones. SpaceX received an extra milestone that is to be completed by March 2015. The milestones are listed in the appendixes to the Funded Space Act Agreements. In May 2014, Boeing, Sierra Nevada Corporation and SpaceX completed reviews detailing plans to meet NASA's certification requirements to transport crew members to and from the ISS.

Preparation for the next phase

In June 2014, Boeing announced it intended to send out preliminary lay-off notices to 215 employees—approximately 170 in Houston and 45 in Florida—to prepare for the possibility that Boeing would not be selected to continue work into the next phase following the expected NASA shortlist in mid-2014. These advance notices are required under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) legislation under U.S. law, and must be issued 60 days before any large lay-off is expected to take effect. If Boeing was selected to continue, the lay-offs would not occur and Boeing would hire an additional 75 personnel. Sierra Nevada "is not preparing any WARN notices to its Dream Chaser workforce".

Certification Products Contract (CPC) phase 1

The first phase of the Certification Products Contract (CPC) involved the review of the integrated crew transportation systems through the creation of a certification plan that would result in the development of engineering standards, tests and analyses of the systems' designs. This phase of CPC was expected to run from January 22, 2013, to May 30, 2014.

Proposals selected

Winners of funding of phase 1 of the CPC, announced on December 10, 2012, were:

• Sierra Nevada Corporation, Louisville, Colorado: $10 million.
• Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), Hawthorne, California: $9.6 million.
• The Boeing Company, Houston, Texas: $9.9 million.

Certification Products Contract (CPC) phase 2

The second phase of the CPC was expected to begin in mid-2014; it would involve a full and open competition and would include the final development, testing and verifications to allow crewed demonstration flights to the ISS. Phase 2 is called Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap). NASA proposed the second phase of the program would begin purchasing commercial astronaut transportation services with the CCtCap solicitation. Contract award and funding occurred in 2014; flights of NASA astronauts on CCtCap-provided vehicles would not occur before 2017. In a change from previous CCDev programs where commercial providers tested the developed technology to NASA contractual requirements, CCtCap will include Joint Test Teams (JTT) with NASA personnel operating in a traditional NASA acquisition approach in which NASA oversees some design choices and offers flexible-price cost-sharing to pay for the tests. NASA issued the draft CCtCap contract's Request For Proposals (RFP) on July 19, 2013; the response date was August 15, 2013.

According to the letter and Executive Summary:

• "The [CCtCap] contract is the second phase of a 2-phased procurement strategy to develop a U.S. commercial crew space transportation capability to achieve safe, reliable and cost effective access to and from the [ISS] with a goal of no later than 2017".
• Performance-based payments are to be used in this competitive, negotiated acquisition.
• Proposed deviation language to specific FAR and NFS clauses and proposed waiving of clauses were suggested.
• Under CCtCap the final Design, Development, Test, and Evaluation (DDTE) activities necessary to achieve NASA's certification of a Crew Transportation System (CTS) will be conducted. The contract will be issued under Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Part 15 and will be Firm Fixed Price (FFP).

There are four separate Contract Line Items (CLINs) for CTS certification; ISS mission support, special studies and additional cargo capability if proposed. NASA was to supply four Docking System Block 1 Units on a no-charge-for-use basis. The first unit would be available in February 2016. NASA held a Commercial Crew Pre-proposal Conference at Kennedy Space Center on December 4, 2013, after formally requesting proposals for CCtCap in late November that year.

NASA's 2014 budget for CCtCap was US$696 million; it was reduced from an Obama Administration request of US$821 million. In May 2014, NASA announced each awardee was to perform at least one crewed test flight to verify the spacecraft could dock with the ISS and all its systems performed as expected. NASA intended to meet its station crew rotation requirements by including at least two, and at most six crewed, post-certification missions in the contracts. NASA also intended CCtCap would allow U.S. providers to supply other customers.

Awards

On September 16, 2014, NASA announced that Boeing and SpaceX had received contracts to provide crewed launch services to the ISS. For completing the same contract requirements, Boeing could receive up to US$4.2 billion, while SpaceX could receive up to US$2.6 billion. Both Boeing CST-100 flying on United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V and SpaceX Dragon V2 flying on Falcon 9 were awarded for the same set of requirements: completing development and certification of their crew vehicle then flying a certification flight followed by up to six operational flights to the ISS. The contracts included at least two operational flights for each company.

The total program award of US$6.8 billion covers development costs through CCtCap program funding—$3.42 billion over the years 2015–2019 with $848 million in the commercial crew budget request for FY 2015—and $3.4 billion for operational crew resupply to the ISS—12 flights with four astronauts on each flight, where NASA assumed the same per-seat price of $70.7 million it would pay for each Soyuz seat in 2016. With the program awards in September, NASA did not release the number of proposals it received or any details about the selection process; it stated such information would be released "at an 'appropriate' but unspecified date".

On September 26, 2014, Sierra Nevada Corporation submitted a protest of the CCtCap awards, stating to have undercut Boeing by $900 million while scoring close to its competitors in the other criteria. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) had until January 5, 2015, to rule on the protest. By October 1, 2014, NASA had instructed Boeing and SpaceX to halt work on the CCtCap contracts. On October 8, 2014, NASA instructed the contractors to proceed with contract work during the GAO review. In January 2015, the GAO denied Sierra Nevada Corporation's protest.

In 2016 the firms scheduled additional testing and certification milestones. The auditors do not expect the first flights until late 2018.

CCtCap contract progress

As of December 2014, both SpaceX and Boeing had started work on their Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contracts.

As of September 2016 although both companies are advancing they are running behind their previous schedule. Additional milestones have been agreed with NASA see Annex B (Boeing) and Annex C (SpaceX) of the September 2016 Audit of the Commercial Crew Program. Boeing increased its milestones from 23 to 34 and has achieved 15. SpaceX has increased its milestones from 18 to 21 and has achieved 8. SpaceX also has an uncompleted milestone left over from CCiCap.

Flights

As of January 2017 NASA has ordered twelve commercial post-certification missions to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station, six with each supplier. Astronaut selections for the first four missions were announced on August 2, 2018.

Spacecraft	Mission	Description	Crew	Date
Dragon 2	SpX-DM1	Uncrewed test flight	None	January 2019
CST-100	Boe-OFT	Uncrewed test flight	None	March 2019
Dragon 2		In-flight abort test at max Q	None	May 2019
Dragon 2	SpX-DM2	Crewed test flight	Robert Behnken, Douglas Hurley	June 2019
CST-100	Boe-CFT	Crewed test flight	Eric Boe, Christopher Ferguson, Nicole Aunapu Mann	August 2019
Dragon 2	Crew-1	First Dragon mission to ISS	Victor J. Glover, Michael S. Hopkins	September 2019
CST-100	CTS-1	First Starliner mission to ISS	Josh Cassada, Sunita Williams	February 2020

Funding summary

The funding of all commercial crew contractors for each phase of the CCP program is as follows—CCtCap values are maxima and include post-development operational flights.

Funding Summary (millions of US$)

Round (years)	CCDev1 (2010–2011)	CCDev2(2011–2012)	CCiCap (2012–2014)	CPC1 (2013–2014)	CCtCap	Total (2010–2017)
Manufacturers of spacecraft
The Boeing Company	18.0	92.3 + 20.61	460.0 + 203	9.9	4,200.0	4,820.9
Blue Origin	3.7	22.0	–	–	–	25.7
Sierra Nevada Corporation	20.0	80.0 + 25.61	212.5 + 153	10.0	–	362.1
SpaceX	–	75.0	440.0 + 203	9.6	2,600.0	3,144.6
Excalibur Almaz	–	02	–	–	–	0
Manufacturers of launch vehicles
United Launch Alliance	6.7	0	–	–	–	6.7
Alliant Techsystems (ATK)	–	0	–	–	–	0
Others
Paragon Space Development Corporation	1.4	–	–	–	–	1.4
Total:	49.8	315.5	1,167.5	29.6	6,800.0	8,362.4
1 Additional amount awarded in 2011. 2 Space Act Agreement signed in 2011 in the frame of CCDev2. 3 Additional amount awarded in 2013.