National Aeronautics and Space Administration Commercial Orbital Transportation Services A New Era in Spaceflight NASA/SP-2014-617 Commercial Orbital Transportation Services A New Era in Spaceflight On the cover: Background photo: The terminator—the line separating the sunlit side of Earth from the side in darkness—marks the changeover between day and night on the ground. By establishing government-industry partnerships, the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program marked a change from the traditional way NASA had worked. Inset photos, right: The COTS program supported two U.S. companies in their efforts to design and build transportation systems to carry cargo to low-Earth orbit. (Top photo—Credit: SpaceX) SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket on May 22, 2012, from Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Second photo) Three days later, the company successfully completed the mission that sent its Dragon spacecraft to the Station. (Third photo—Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls) Orbital Sciences Corp. sent its Antares rocket on its test flight on April 21, 2013, from a new launchpad on Virginia’s eastern shore. Later that year, the second Antares lifted off with Orbital’s cargo capsule, (Fourth photo) the Cygnus, that berthed with the ISS on September 29, 2013. Both companies successfully proved the capability to deliver cargo to the International Space Station by U.S. commercial companies and began a new era of spaceflight. ISS photo, center left: Benefiting from the success of the partnerships is the International Space Station, pictured as seen by the last Space Shuttle crew that visited the orbiting laboratory (July 19, 2011). More photos of the ISS are featured on the first pages of each chapter. ii Preface This document provides a history of the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program executed by the Commercial Crew & Cargo Program Office from 2006 to 2013 at the Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas. The story was superbly written by Rebecca Hackler in coordination with Rebecca Wright of the JSC History Office. They spent countless hours interviewing dozens of key leaders and participants who shaped the direction and outcome of the program. Their work is greatly appreciated as well as all those who dedicated many years of service to the success of COTS. It was certainly an honor and privilege for me to have the opportunity to lead this effort and work with such extraordinary and inspirational people. I am hopeful history will show our work over these few short years had long-lasting, transformational effects on the future of commercial spaceflight in America. Alan Lindenmoyer, Program Manager February 2014 For more information on NASA Commercial Crew & Cargo Program, visit www.nasa.gov/cots iii Contents Preface ...................................... iii Chapter 5: Commercial Partners ......49 Space Exploration Technologies Corp. ..................50 Introduction . .v Rocketplane Kistler .................................59 Chapter 1: Laying the Foundation ......1 Orbital Sciences Corp................................64 NASA and Industry ..................................2 Chapter 6: Collaboration ................77 Key Concepts .....................................11 International Space Station ...........................78 Chapter 2: Concept to Reality..........15 Federal Aviation Administration ........................85 Leadership and Coalescence .........................16 Chapter 7: First Steps Toward Legal Team and Space Act Agreements .................19 Commercial Crew.........................87 Thinking Like an Investor .............................20 Commercial Crew Development .......................88 International Space Station ...........................23 Commercial Crew Program ...........................90 Foundation Ready ..................................24 Chapter 8: Legacy ........................91 Chapter 3: Competition ..................25 From Contingency to Dependency .....................92 Round 1 .........................................26 The COTS Model: A New Way.........................95 Round 2 .........................................31 Conclusion .......................................99 Unfunded Space Act Agreements ......................33 Appendix ...................................101 Chapter 4: Program ......................35 Acknowledgments.................................102 Funding ..........................................36 COTS Model for NASA Public-Private Partnerships ........103 Organization ......................................39 Chronology ......................................110 Operations........................................45 COTS Oral History Interviews ........................114 Bibliography .....................................115 Endnotes........................................118 iv Introduction In May 2012, the SpaceX Dragon made headlines as it If successful, this program promised to support President became the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to George W. Bush’s 2004 Vision for Space Exploration by the International Space Station (ISS). In September 2013, filling a gap in resupply services to ISS. New commercial NASA saw a second commercial partner, Orbital Sciences vehicles could take over the task of ferrying cargo to and Corp., follow with its own resupply mission to the ISS. from low-Earth orbit after the planned 2010 retirement of These successful missions represented the fruition of the Space Shuttle, allowing NASA’s new spacecraft, the six years of intensive work executed under partnership Orion capsule and Ares rocket, to explore space beyond agreements between NASA and the commercial space the Moon and eventually on to Mars. community—partnerships that both resulted in the In addition to allowing NASA to focus on extending availability of cost-effective cargo transportation services humanity’s presence in space, COTS would stimulate for the Agency, and the advancement of the U.S. efforts within the private sector to develop and operate safe, commercial space industry. reliable, and cost-effective commercial space transportation NASA’s support was critical to the companies’ success. systems. Besides supporting ISS, these commercial Said Gwynne E. Shotwell, President of the Space capabilities could ultimately benefit the U.S. economy Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), “We would not by making domestic launch vehicles more competitive in be the company that we are today without the support global markets. In turn, lower launch costs could bolster of NASA,” continuing, “We’d probably be limping along, opportunities for other space markets to grow. trying to change the world, but limping instead of running.”1 One of the first of NASA’s commercial partners selected Orbital President and CEO David W. Thompson echoed in August 2006, SpaceX, represented the unequivocal the sentiment as he described how NASA was “very helpful success of the COTS model. Shortly after its successful in helping us work through various kinds of problems that ISS demonstration mission in May 2012, the company came up,” concluding that “it’s been a great relationship.”2 quickly provided two critical resupply service missions to These partnerships had their origin in 2005, when NASA the orbiting laboratory under NASA’s follow-on Commercial Administrator Michael D. Griffin was appointed and, with Resupply Services (CRS) contract. the support of the presidential administration and Congress, The other partner chosen in the initial selection was allocated a fixed $500 million contribution from NASA’s less fortunate. NASA terminated its relationship with budget for the instigation of commercial transportation Rocketplane Kistler (RpK) in October 2007 after the capabilities to low-Earth orbit. The new Commercial Crew company failed to raise sufficient private funding to & Cargo Program Office (C3PO) at the Johnson Space continue vehicle development. Orbital Sciences Corp., Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas was charged with the task selected as a COTS partner to replace RpK in February of “stimulating commercial enterprise in space by asking 2008, completed its ISS demonstration mission in the American entrepreneurs to provide innovative, cost-effective fall of 2013, and joined SpaceX as the second company commercial cargo and crew transportation services to the NASA would rely on for cargo delivery services to ISS. 3 [international] space station.” This report charts the origins and execution of the NASA From 2006 to 2013, under the Commercial Orbital COTS program, including the elements and people that Transportation Services (COTS) program managed by ultimately made the COTS model a success. C3PO, NASA acted as an investor and advisor with three different and distinct companies in the space transportation industry to promote the development of U.S. space transportation capabilities on the frontier of human exploration. v vi Laying the Foundation NASA and Industry Key Concepts CHAPTER 1 – LAYING THE FOUNDATION 1 chapter 1 The NASA Commercial Crew & Cargo Program Office (C3PO), formally established in November 2005, represented the culmination of years, even decades, of initiatives to encourage the growth of the private spaceflight sector in the U.S. Although the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) government-private sector partnerships established by C3PO represented a new way of doing business in the realm of human spaceflight, such symbiotic relationships have occurred throughout U.S. history. The year 1869 saw the completion of