ESMD Signs Off On Commercial Crew Certification Requirements for LEO Missions; Systems Must Be Safer Than Shuttle

NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) Associate Administrator Doug Cooke signed out the Commercial Crew Transportation Certification Requirements for NASA Low Earth Orbit Missions on December 9, as revealed by Keith Cowing on NASAWatch yesterday. According to the document, any commercial crew system used for NASA astronauts will be “approximately an order of magntiude safer than the Space Shuttle for ascent plus reentry.”

The document lays out NASA’s overall philosophy as follows:

1.1 Philosophy

Protecting the health and safety of humans is of paramount importance for those involved in or exposed to space activities. For NASA, safety is a core value, and NASA recognizes that there can be no successful missions without first ensuring the safety of all personnel including the public, crew, passengers, and ground personnel. A crew transport capability that meets the safety requirements in this document will be approximately an order of magnitude safer than the Space Shuttle for ascent plus entry. The overall mission risk requirement will depend on the specific Design Reference Mission (DRM.)

The choice of verb is significant. The document has a section that explains what NASA means by “shall,” “will,” and “should”:

1.3 Verb Application

Statements containing “shall” are used for binding requirements that must be verified and have an accompanying method of verification; “will” is used as a statement of fact, declaration of purpose, or expected occurrence; and “should” denotes a statement of best practice.

The requirement for new systems to be approximately an order of magnitude safer than the shuttle therefore is a “statement of fact, declaration of purpose, or expected occurrence” rather than a “binding requirement.” The degree of safety required can have a significant impact on a system’s cost, and one of the major aspects of the debate over commercial crew is whether commercial systems will be as safe as a government-developed system.

If one follows the links on NASAWatch/SpaceRef, the full document can be found on this NASA website.