NASA today announced the members of the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee that will review NASA programs, including the Constellation Program to develop the next-generation U.S. spaceship, and recommend whether those programs should be continued or altered.
In its first meeting on June 17 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET at the Carnegie Institution, located at 1530 P Street N.W. in Washington, D.C., the panel will consider the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV).
Under current plans, NASA, in the Constellation Program, is leading development of the Orion space capsule (crew exploration vehicle) by Lockheed Martin [LMT]. Orion will be boosted by the Ares rocket that will have various components developed by Boeing [BA], ATK [ATK], and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a unit of United Technologies Corp. [UTX].
But the EELV has been proposed as a possible cheaper alternative to the Ares I rocket. President Obama, who called for the study, is interested in whether the EELV could be a lower-cost alternative to Ares I. Backers of Ares I, however, say that the EELV couldn’t do as much in powering Americans back to the moon.
United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, offers the EELV as the Delta IV (Boeing design) or Atlas V (Lockheed Martin design).
Members of the NASA review commission are:
- Norman Augustine (chair), retired chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin, and former member of the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush
- Wanda Austin, president and CEO, Aerospace Corp.
- Bohdan Bejmuk, chair, Constellation program Standing Review Board, and former manager of the Boeing Space Shuttle and Sea Launch programs
- Leroy Chiao, former astronaut, former International Space Station commander and engineering consultant
- Christopher Chyba, professor of Astrophysical Sciences and International Affairs, Princeton University, and member, President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology
- Edward Crawley, Ford Professor of Engineering at MIT and co-chair, NASA Exploration Technology Development Program Review Committee
- Jeffrey Greason, co-founder and CEO, XCOR Aerospace, and vice-chair, Personal Spaceflight Federation
- Charles Kennel, chair, National Academies Space Studies Board, and director and professor emeritus, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego
- Retired Air Force Gen. Lester Lyles, chair, National Academies Committee on the Rationale and Goals of the U.S. Civil Space Program, former Air Force vice chief of staff and former commander of the Air Force Materiel Command
- Sally Ride, former astronaut, first American woman in space, CEO of Sally Ride Science and professor emerita at the University of California, San Diego
Augustine will chair the review. During the course of the review, the panel will examine ongoing and planned NASA development activities and potential alternatives in order to present options for advancing a safe, innovative, affordable and sustainable human space flight program following the space shuttle’s retirement. The committee will present its results in time to support an administration decision on the way forward by August.
“I look forward to working with the members of the committee to assist in defining the future U.S. human space flight program,” Augustine said. “The members offer a broad spectrum of professional backgrounds, and we are all committed to offering sensible proposals that will serve the White House and NASA in their deliberations.”
Michael Hawes is leading the NASA review team that will provide technical and analytic support to the committee. Hawes is associate NASA administrator for program analysis and evaluation. Philip McAlister is the executive director of the committee and the designated federal official.
The committee will hold several public meetings at different U.S. locations. Topics on the agenda for the June 17 meeting include previous studies about U.S. human space flight; national space policy; international cooperation; evolved expendable launch vehicles; commercial human space flight capabilities; and exploration technology planning.
The Federal Register published a notice May 15 officially announcing NASA’s establishment of the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee. The committee will operate according to the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
NASA Acting Administrator Chris Scolese signed the charter for the committee Monday, enabling it to begin operations. The charter can be viewed at: http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/353935main_RUSHSFPC_charter.pdf on the Web.