A Case Study of the STS Indirect and
Support Costs
Lessons to be Learned for the Next Generation Launch System
Zachary C. Krevor
AE 8900 Special Project
April 23, 2004
School of Aerospace Engineering
Space System Design Laboratory
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0150
Advisor: Dr. John R. Olds
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES........................................................................................................III
LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................V
ACRONYMS AND SYMBOLS.....................................................................................VI
1.0 RESEARCH GOAL ................................................................................................... 1
2.0 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 3
3.0 STS BACKGROUND................................................................................................. 5
4.0 NASA SHUTTLE RESPONSIBILITIES............................................................... 10
4.1 FIELD CENTER ROLES IN THE STS PROGRAM........................................................... 10
4.2 JSC AS LEAD STS CENTER ....................................................................................... 13
4.3 MISSION CONTROL CENTER DEVELOPMENT ............................................................ 18
5.0 STS CONTRACTORS ............................................................................................. 20
5.1 CONTRACTOR USE IN MANNED SPACEFLIGHT HISTORY .......................................... 20
5.2 THE STS CONTRACTORS.......................................................................................... 24
5.3 UNITED SPACE ALLIANCE........................................................................................ 29
5.4 CURRENT PRIME CONTRACTOR BREAKDOWN.......................................................... 30
6.0 BREAKDOWN OF 1994 SHUTTLE COSTS........................................................ 32
6.1 SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT, OPERATIONS AND PLANNING .......................................... 33
6.2 CONCEPT-UNIQUE LOGISTICS .................................................................................. 37
6.3 OPERATIONS SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE ................................................................ 39
6.4 TRAFFIC AND FLIGHT CONTROL............................................................................... 41
6.5 VEHICLE DEPOT MAINTENANCE .............................................................................. 43
7.0 ANALYSIS AND IMPROVEMENT IDEAS FOR THE STS PROGRAM........ 46
7.1 SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT RESTRUCTURING.............................................................. 46
7.2 REDUCING COSTS IN THE CONCEPT-UNIQUE SYSTEMS AREA .................................. 53
7.3 OTHER AREAS FOR COSTS REDUCTION.................................................................... 57
7.4 COMPLETE STS PRIVATIZATION .............................................................................. 60
7.5 TOTAL COST SAVINGS ............................................................................................. 63
8.0 FUTURE DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS........................................................ 65
8.1 A FUTURE LAUNCH VEHICLE SYSTEM ..................................................................... 67
9.0 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK.............................................................. 70
9.1 CONCLUSIONS.......................................................................................................... 70
9.2 FUTURE WORK......................................................................................................... 73
10.0 REFERENCES........................................................................................................ 76
APPENDIX A: STS 1994 WORKFORCE BREAKDOWN
18
.................................... 79
APPENDIX B: STS WORKFORCE BREAKDOWN FROM 1993-2003
8
............... 91
APPENDIX C: SECOND-LEVEL DSM..................................................................... 91
APPENDIX D: ENDNOTES......................................................................................... 92
ii
List of Figures
Figure 1: Iceberg Analogy for STS Program..................................................................... 2
Figure 2: Rockwell Resuable Shuttle Design. ................................................................... 7
Figure 3: Rockwell Early External Tank Configuration.................................................... 8
Figure 4: Rockwell's Final Shuttle Design. ....................................................................... 9
Figure 5: NASA Installations and Prime Contractor Locations. ..................................... 10
Figure 6: STS at KSC Launch Complex.......................................................................... 11
Figure 7: Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL.............................................. 12
Figure 8: SSC SSME Test Bed........................................................................................ 12
Figure 9: Original Area for JSC Development................................................................ 15
Figure 10: Aerial View of JSC......................................................................................... 16
Figure 11: MCC at JSC.................................................................................................... 19
Figure 12: Mercury Capsule delivered by McDonnell.................................................... 21
Figure 13: Gemini Spacecraft.......................................................................................... 22
Figure 14: Apollo Contractors and Physical Locations................................................... 24
Figure 15: 1994 STS Contractor Percentage Breakdowns.
14
........................................... 26
Figure 16: Thiokol SRB Testing...................................................................................... 26
Figure 17: Dan Goldin announcing USA's Partnership with NASA............................... 29
Figure 18: Current STS Breakdown. ............................................................................... 31
Figure 19: Systems Management Area broken into Sub-Functions. ............................... 34
Figure 20: Concept-Unique Breakdown Percentages...................................................... 38
Figure 21: Percentage Breakdown of Operations Support Infrastructure Cost. .............. 40
Figure 22: Percentage Breakdown of Traffic and Flight Control.................................... 42
Figure 23: Vehicle Depot Percentage Breakdown........................................................... 44
Figure 24: STS Program Management. ........................................................................... 47
Figure 25: STS Management DSM.................................................................................. 49
Figure 26: Proposed STS Management Structure............................................................ 50
Figure 27: New Management DSM................................................................................. 52
Figure 28: STS Program Hardware Flow. ....................................................................... 54
Figure 29: Shuttle at the Palmdale Facility...................................................................... 59
iii
Figure 30: Monte Carlo Simulation for Cost Savings. .................................................... 64
Figure 31: Delta IV Heavy Preparing to be Loaded Vertically onto the Launch Pad. .... 67
Figure 32: Shuttle Undergoing Routine Processing in the OPF. ..................................... 69
Figure 33: Summary of Indirect Cost Region Reduction ................................................ 71
iv
List of Tables
Table 1: 1994 Prime Contractor Breakdowns.................................................................. 25
Table 2: Systems Management Breakdown..................................................................... 34
Table 3: Breakdown of Program Management and NASA Institution Employees......... 35
Table 4: Launch and Landing Sub-Areas. ....................................................................... 36
Table 5: Mission Operations Sub-Area............................................................................ 36
Table 6: Concept-Unique Logistics Cost Breakdown. .................................................... 37
Table 7: Major Employee Areas of Concept-Unique Logistics Section.......................... 38
Table 8: Breakdown of Operations Support Infrastructure Cost..................................... 40
Table 9: Largest Employee Regions within Launch and Landing Operations................ 41
Table 10: Cost Breakdown of Traffic and Flight Control................................................ 42
Table 11: Vehicle Depot Maintenance Cost Breakdown................................................. 43
Table 12: Summary of Indirect Costs by category in $M FY 1994................................. 45
Table 13: Indirect Cost Summary broken down into Employee Numbers...................... 45
Table 14: Input Distributions for Monte Carlo Simulation ............................................. 64
Table 15: Statistics from the Monte Carlo Simulation .................................................... 64
v
Acronyms and Symbols
ARC Ames Research Center
CA Contributing Analyses
CEV Crew Exploration Vehicle
COTS Commercial Off the Shelf
DOD Department of Defense
ET External Tank
EVA Extravehicular Activity
FY Fiscal Year
GAO General Accounting Office
GEAE General Electric Aircraft Engines
GFE Ground Furnished Equipment
GSE Ground Support Equipment
GSFC Goddard Space Flight Center
HRST Highly Reusable Space Transportation
ISS International Space Station
JSC Johnson Space Center
KSC Kennedy Space Center
LCC Life Cycle Cost
LEO Low Earth Orbit
LEM Lunar Excursion Module
LaRC Langley Research Center
LRU Line Replacement Unit
MAF Michoud Assembly Facility
MCC Mission Control Center
MOD Mission Operations Directorate
MSC Manned Spacecraft Center
MSFC Marshall Space Flight Center
NAA North American Aviation
vi
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
OMB Office of Management and Budget
OMS Orbital Maneuvering System
OPF Orbiter Processing Facility
P & W Pratt and Whitney
RCS Reaction Control System
RFP Request for Proposal
SFOC Space Flight Operations Contract
SRB Solid Rocket Booster
SRM Solid Rocket Motor
S R & QA Safety, Reliability and Quality Assurance
SSC Stennis Space Center
SSMEs Space Shuttle Main Engines
STG Space Task Group
STS Space Transportation System
STSOC Space Transportation System Operations Contract
TPS Thermal Protection System
VAB Vehicle Assembly Building
vii
1.0 Research Goal
On January 14, 2004, President George W. Bush laid out an ambitious plan to
return the United States to the moon. Additionally, he set a course for the future human
exploration of the planet Mars. These plans give the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) a clear mission for its future. Within NASA’s new initiative,
plans were made to retire the current United States human launch vehicle. The current
United States human launch vehicle, the Space Transportation System (STS), was not
built to explore any region beyond a Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Therefore, to complete this
exciting program, a new launch vehicle system for manned exploration must be
developed. The STS program has provided a wealth of information for human launch
systems. Knowledge gained from all areas of the STS program must be applied in
developing the new human launch system.
For the new space initiative, the cost of the program will be one of the biggest
influencing factors upon whether or not the mission plan is carried out. If the costs are
deemed too high, the public and the current political climate will kill the initiative.
Therefore, in order to achieve this stirring goal of planetary exploration, costs must be
factored into every design decision. The effects of a design choice must not only be
considered for the development cost, but also for effects on Life Cycle Cost (LCC). This
includes any new launch vehicle system that may be developed.
In order to achieve the new initiative, access to space must become cheaper. The
current STS program uses approximately one-third of NASA’s available budget. In
1994, the year for which the most detailed cost data is available, the STS program budget
was over $3.3 billion dollars (FY 1994)
1
. However, approximately 90% of these costs
went to indirect and support costs. These areas include program management, logistics
sections, and support groups for a wide range of work within the program. The direct
operations aspect of the STS program has been studied in great detail. However, these
indirect costs have not been examined, and therefore potential savings may exist within
these areas. Also, investigating the indirect costs of the STS program will result in
important knowledge about how to reduce these costs for the next generation launch
1
system. The lessons learned from this examination will show how far various design
choices go towards influencing LCC.
The main goal of this project is to examine the indirect costs of the STS program
for cost savings. A more detailed examination of these indirect costs will lead to areas
where inefficiency in the program is occurring. Additionally, another goal of this project
is to show how design decisions greatly impact the LCC. In the short term, these choices
may have aided vehicle performance, but they ended up costing the program more to
perform its mission. Another goal of this project is to use the knowledge gained from
examining the indirect and support costs to help influence the next generation launch
vehicle. It is imperative that costs for this program are kept as low as possible, without
compromising safety, in order to achieve the new space exploration initiative.
The inspiration for this project came directly from the work completed by Mr.
Edgar Zapata and Mr. Carey McClesky at NASA KSC. They have provided the budget
charts for which the main crux of this project is based upon. Figure 1 is the iceberg chart,
describing the analogy between an iceberg and the shuttle program. Most of the structure
of the iceberg is below water, while most of the shuttle program costs are below the
support line. It has been said that for every person working directly on the shuttle, there
are between 7 and 10 more employees supporting him or her.
Figure 1: Iceberg Analogy for STS Program.
Direct (Visible) Work
<10%
“Tip of the Iceberg”
+
~20%
Indirect (Hidden)
Support (Hidden)
+
~70%
Recurrin
g
O
p
s
$$
s
Generic
Operations Function
Total
$M
FY94
Total
(%)
Elem. Receipt & Accept. 1.4
0.04%
Landing/Recovery 19.6
0.58%
Veh Assy & Integ 27.1
0.81%
Launch 56.8
1.69%
Offline Payload/Crew 75.9
2.26%
Turnaround 107.3
3.19%
Vehicle Depot Maint. 139.0
4.14%
Traffic/Flight Control 199.4
5.93%
Operations Support Infra 360.5
10.73%
Concept-Uniq Logistics 886.4
26.38%
Trans Sys Ops Plan'g & Mgmnt 1487.0
44.25%
Total ($M FY94) 3360.4 100.00%
STS Budget "Pyramid"
(FY 1994 Access to Space Study)
2
2.0 Introduction
The space shuttle program has been the launch vehicle for manned systems in the
United States for the last 20 years. Throughout the shuttle’s history, it has undergone
many fluctuations in budget, various re-structuring efforts, and constant upgrades. The
program has also seen large fluctuations in its workforce. These oscillations in the
program are a result of the technical challenge of launching humans into space; this task
has proved to be a very complex problem.
This paper will first look at the background of the STS program. The shuttle
design will be examined to show how certain design choices resulted in its high LCC.
Additionally, the role of each NASA center will be considered to show the complexity of
the total launch vehicle system. By scrutinizing the role of each NASA field office,
possible savings may be realized because of duplicity of roles and responsibilities.
Finally, the choice of Johnson Space Center (JSC) as both the lead center for the shuttle
program, and for mission control will be looked at to determine its effect upon the
program LCC.
The next section of this paper will examine the contractor role within the STS
program. The program uses many different contractors. While the main hardware
contractors have stayed constant, with some slight changes, big changes throughout the
program have been made in the area of operations. In using so many different
contractors, there exists the possibility of overlap. This project will further detail the
contractor involvement in the STS program, and reveal some areas where cost savings
can be created. Additionally, future recommendations for the next launch system will be
made based upon how contractors impact the current launch vehicle system.
By detailing the indirect and support costs, important information can be gleaned
about how program decisions affect LCC. Five main areas have been identified within
the STS program that are counted as indirect and support costs. Those five areas are:
• Systems Management, Operations and Planning
• Concept-Unique Logistics
• Operations Support Infrastructure
• Traffic and Flight Control
• Vehicle Depot Maintenance
3
This project will inspect these areas inside the STS program. In some areas there are
inefficiencies occurring that could probably be reduced. These improvements would help
with the LCC. In other areas, initial design choices for the STS program led to costs that
cannot be reduced. Yet, with the program being retired by 2010, it is imperative to use
all of the knowledge gained from examining these indirect costs for use in the next
launch vehicle.
After suggesting improvements to reduce the indirect and support costs,
recommendations will be made for future systems. These recommendations will
hopefully aid future launch vehicle decisions. Historical trends will be examined to
reveal more trends in the indirect and support costs. Finally, possible deviations from the
historical method of accomplishing space access will be discussed. There areas include
possible ideas such as the complete privatization of launch services, with NASA as
strictly oversight organization. Different management ideas will be introduced and a
different methodology for designing the next generation launch vehicle will be discussed.
The lessons learned from reviewing the indirect costs must be applied for future
launch vehicle systems. The LCC of the program must be kept to a minimum in order to
go back to the moon and beyond. To achieve this, the indirect and support costs must be
reduced. NASA cannot afford to have its launch vehicle system use one-third of its
budget on the way to further space exploration. Additionally, any potential next
generation launch system cannot afford to have its indirect and support costs using ninety
percent of the available budget. This paper will show where the indirect and support
costs are occurring, what can be done to reduce them, and how the knowledge of these
costs must be used for recommendations with the future launch system.
4
3.0 STS Background
In the late 1960s, even with the Apollo project in full swing, the NASA
administration began to look towards the future. The success of the Apollo project, and
the public support that NASA enjoyed led the administration to dream large. In 1969, the
NASA administrator, Thomas Paine, met with then President Richard Nixon to push the
expansion of the space frontiers. Paine envisioned a future with an orbiting space station
for use as a stopover on the way to both lunar and Martian base stations
2
. The vehicle to
accomplish these missions would be NASA’s new, fully reusable space shuttle.
The Saturn launch vehicle was developed and used by the Apollo program. While
this launch vehicle accomplished its mission with a high rate of success, the cost per
launch was very expensive. Each Saturn launch cost $185M in 1970; this translates to a
staggering cost of $734M
3
(FY 2004) in today’s economy. Additionally, the Saturn was
an expendable vehicle, and a new one was used for each Apollo launch. Many advocates
of a reusable space program claimed this was akin to flying on a new airplane and
throwing it away after each flight. Therefore, NASA decided that a new vehicle, fully
reusable, would usher in the post-Apollo era.
Unfortunately, the decade of the 1970s was a turbulent one. The Vietnam War
was dividing the country, inflation was soaring, and space began to fade from the public
eye. Under budget constraints, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) cut
NASA’s budget request by $1B (FY’ 70). Plans for exploration bases immediately
halted, and concentration was placed on a space station and the shuttle. As the budget
reduced further, a transition began towards simplifying the shuttle design. Additionally,
the increase of inflation caused NASA to choose between the space station and the
shuttle. Since the space station could not be created without the shuttle, the space station
program was put on hold. The shuttle program became the main thrust of NASA’s effort.
The final orbiter design was created through the combination of NASA needs
and the Air Force influence. NASA justified this system with economic estimates that it
could capture the launch vehicle market using the shuttle. Initial estimates put the cost
per shuttle launch at approximately $10M (FY 1970)
2
. Since current expendables then
cost $12M, the shuttle would be used on virtually all space launches. Initially, the shuttle
5
program was on the verge of being deemed to expensive. The OMB looked to cut the
shuttle program entirely in 1971, and it was only with the aid of the Air Force that the
shuttle program stayed. NASA appealed to the Air Force for support; in exchange, the
Air Force would be able to help shape the design requirements. NASA convinced the Air
Force that it could complete all future launches using the NASA vehicle. The Air Force
had been having its own problems getting its space programs funded, and recognized that
the shuttle could greatly aid their agenda. With the Air Force’s support the shuttle
requirements began to take shape. The Air Force wanted to be able to launch large
military satellites into a polar orbit. These satellites could weigh upwards of 40,000
pounds. This requirement translated into a 65,000 pound requirement to LEO on a due
East inclination launch. The payload bay would also have to be very large in order to
accommodate such large satellites. Additionally, the Air Force wanted the shuttle to have
abort capability after a single orbit, and the ability to land back at its launch site; thus, a
large cross range requirement was imposed
4
. With the polar orbit requirement, a cross
range of 1,000 miles was needed in order to land back at Vandenberg. The orbiter now
needed a higher lift to drag ratio than previously designed, and would require greater
thermal protection, which led to heavier wings. With the shuttle weight beginning to
grow, the boosters also had to grow in size and capability.
Various different shuttle designs were considered. Initial designs from Lockheed
included a two-stage, fully reusable shuttle built with all aluminum. With the Air Force
influencing the shuttle program, it further recommended the use of aluminum. The Air
Force had performed a study that showed the current aerospace industry did not have the
tooling needed to fabricate large structures from titanium
. NASA and contractors further
studied the titanium versus aluminum consideration. These trade studies showed that a
titanium shuttle would weigh 15% less than its aluminum counterpart. Titanium could
withstand an additional 350°F, and would save in the amount of thermal protection
required, in addition to being a lighter material. Yet, titanium carried a greater
development risk, and therefore a greater development cost. The full revolution of LCC,
and quality from initial design had not yet begun to take root in the United States. The
focus during this period of design was on keeping the development costs down. Thus,
aluminum was used for the shuttle structure. Many future decisions were also made with
6
low development cost in mind; these decisions would have large impacts on the later
phases of the shuttle program.
A new engine had to be developed to meet the requirements of the space shuttle;
this engine would become the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME). The experience of
using liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen engines to achieve higher Isp levels led to a
preference for this fuel. NASA designers wanted an engine to produce 415,000 pounds
of thrust, and the Saturn J-2 could only provide 230,000 pounds of thrust. Pratt and
Whitney (P & W), plus Rocketdyne emerged as the two competitors for this contract. P
& W had working for many years on developing high performance liquid hydrogen and
liquid oxygen engines. While P & W focused on developing the turbopumps,
Rocketdyne decided to run tests that would demonstrate other features of the SSME
design by building a complete thrust chamber: this included the required thrust levels,
stable combustion, and the proper chamber pressure
. NASA designers then increased the
desired thrust to 550,000 pounds to match an increased payload capacity. Rocketdyne
demonstrated an initial superior product, since its thrust levels reached 505,000 pounds
while P & W only went to 350,000 pounds. Rocketdyne was eventually awarded the
contract, although there was a contentious battle fought through auditors that concluded
NASA had made a sound decision.
Figure 2: Rockwell Resuable Shuttle Design.
The initial 1
st
stage booster concepts for the shuttle were large winged vehicles
that would fly back to Earth. Rockwell’s initial design used 12 SSMEs’, and 12 jet
engines for use during flyback
. However, under the tightening budget due to OMB cuts,
7
the program could no longer fund a completely reusable vehicle. Again, an emphasis in
the United States on LCC was nowhere near the levels where it is now; thus, the
emphasis was placed on the development cost of the shuttle. Lockheed Martin had
already been working on a partially reusable concept. This design would carry the
hydrogen in an expendable, external tank. This tank could be aluminum, and would burn
up upon entry. The development costs would be reduced, and the orbiter no longer had to
carry the bulky hydrogen inside its structure. Additionally, the orbiter weight would be
reduced since the hydrogen tanks no longer needed to be thermally protected to the levels
required by re-entry. After reviewing this idea, NASA immediately directed Rockwell
and McDonnell Douglas, who were also competing for the prime shuttle contract, to
consider storing the liquid hydrogen in expendable tanks
. The next progression was to
realize that the oxygen fuel should also be stored in the expendable tank. Now the orbiter
could be smaller and independent of the external tank designs, except for the structural
interfaces. With a smaller orbiter, the staging point could occur lower in the trajectory,
which would reduce the booster requirement, which would reduce the development cost.
Figure 3: Rockwell Early External Tank Configuration.
While the external tank (ET) was taking shape, a debate was occurring over how
to accomplish finishing the booster stage. Martin Marietta began to push its Titan rocket
concept, where six solid rocket boosters would surround the external tank. Thiokol,
Aerojet, and United Technology were pushing their own solid rocket booster designs.
The NASA Marshall Space Flight Center entered with a desire for pressure-fed liquid
8
boosters surrounding the core
. However, the OMB continued to press NASA for
lowering development costs, and therefore the solid booster design was chosen
. The Air
Force had experience in building large solid rocket motors with their work on the Titan
III, and this further convinced the OMB that NASA should use solid boosters.
Additionally, NASA conceded that some boosters may be lost at sea, and solids would be
cheaper to replace. Therefore, the OMB appropriated NASA’s shuttle development
accordingly for this option
.
Once NASA had decided upon the design of the STS, requests for proposals
(RFPs) went out on March 17, 1972. Four companies responded: Rockwell, McDonnell
Douglas, Lockheed and Grumman. Lockheed had no experience with building piloted
spacecraft, and their proposal for the orbiter was heavier than the other three.
Additionally, Lockheed’s orbiter would cost $40M (FY ’72) more than Rockwell’s
shuttle design
. While McDonnell Douglas had built the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft,
their review went poorly
. They answered questions with vague, general answers, and did
not leave NASA’s shuttle review team with a good impression
. Grumman and Rockwell
had worked together on building the maneuvering portion of Apollo. Yet, Rockwell won
the proposal due to a lower orbiter dry weight and a lower development cost. Rockwell’s
proposal included the least amount of “man-years” for the shuttle program, and NASA
administration officials recognized that this is where true savings would be realized
.
Rockwell was contracted for the STS program.
Figure 4: Rockwell's Final Shuttle Design.
9
4.0 NASA Shuttle Responsibilities
The STS program is split over many different parts of the United States. Six
different field centers have some direct contribution to the shuttle program. Several other
field centers and Department of Defense (DOD) facilities make contributions.
Additionally, many private contractors work in the STS program. This section will
explore the responsibilities of each field center, and examine why Johnson Space Center
(JSC) was chosen as both the lead center for Shuttle, and the site for mission control.
4.1 Field Center Roles in the STS Program
NASA headquarters, which is located in Washington D.C., controls the various
space flight centers and installations that constitute the total NASA program. It has
responsibility for determining projects and their direction. Headquarters also shapes
NASA policy decisions. They perform design reviews and evaluate the progress of all
programs across NASA. Finally, the establishment of management structure, procedures
and performance criteria are all completed at Headquarters. The STS program is one
program that is monitored directly by this office
5
.
Figure 5: NASA Installations and Prime Contractor Locations.
10
JSC, located in Houston, Texas, is the lead center for the STS program and the
program office for the STS resides here. JSC is NASA’s main center for the design,
development and testing of manned spacecraft systems. This center had a principal role
in the shuttle design: this included the orbiter, payload integration and overall STS
program integration. This center is currently “responsible for operational planning,
astronaut selection, crew and console operator training, flight control, and control of
experiments and payload aboard
” the STS. The mission control center (MCC) at JSC
runs the flight operations for the shuttle immediately after launch and until landing is
completed. JSC also runs the White Sands testing facility, which is responsible for the
hypergol propulsion testing.
Kennedy Space Center (KSC), located at Cape Canaveral, FL, is the launching
pad for STS missions. KSC was developed in the late 1950s with the specific goal of
launching manned spacecraft. Currently, it is the home to the shuttle fleet: Atlantis,
Endeavor, and Discovery. KSC is the primary NASA center for test, checkout and
launch of manned space vehicles. This center handles the post-processing of the shuttle
once it has safely landed. All shuttle logistics, including items such as propellant storage,
happen at KSC. Also, KSC operates the facilities which are used for mating the orbiter to
the external tank (ET) and the solid rocket boosters (SRB).
Figure 6: STS at KSC Launch Complex.
Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), located in Huntsville, Alabama, is in
charge of the propulsion aspects of the STS system. This center is known as “rocket
11
city” due to its role in developing launch vehicles for use by NASA. Wernher von Braun,
one of the pioneers of rocketry, was at one time director of this center. MSFC has the
principal role for providing the ET, the SSMEs, and the SRBs. MSFC operates the
Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) where the ETs’ are manufactured. This center also
has a key role in the development of shuttle payloads. This includes Spacelab, which is a
reusable “modular scientific research facility carried in the Shuttle cargo bay”
5
.
Figure 7: Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL.
Stennis Space Center (SSC), located near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, is
responsible for SSME and other orbiter propulsion testing. Its large test beds were used
for developing the SSME, and continued to be used for developing upgrades. These test
beds can accommodate full SSME testing and thus provide an important service to the
STS program.
Figure 8: SSC SSME Test Bed.
12
Another NASA center that provides support for the STS program is the Goddard
Space Flight Center (GSFC), in Greenbelt, Maryland. This is the primary facility for
tracking and communicating with the Shuttle. Goddard is in charge of maintaining
relations with the various tracking stations around the world that are used during a shuttle
mission. GSFC also operates the Wallops Flight Facility, which is a small launching pad
that performs a variety of research missions.
Both the Ames Research Center (ARC), located near San Jose, California, and
the Langley Research Center (LaRC), provide support for the STS program. ARC
provides support through wind tunnel testing and thermal protection system development.
LaRC is the primary research facility for structures and materials. It is at LaRC that the
landing gear for the shuttle is tested. In addition, LaRC also performs
aerothermodynamics analysis for space vehicles and preliminary aerodynamics research.
The DOD is another agency that provides support for the STS program. This
support is provided by the “Air Force Space Division” located in California
. This
division would be the primary “contingency support for the Space Shuttle in the event of
an emergency landing”. Additionally, the Space division designed a second launch
complex at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Initially begun in 1966, but
canceled three years later due to cost overruns, this shuttle complex never developed into
the launch site foreseen by the Air Force. In 1979, $4B was injected to finish
development, but following the Challenger accident, NASA and the Air Force decided to
consolidate and focus launch operations solely at Cape Canaveral.
4.2 JSC as lead STS center
JSC has held the title of lead center for the STS program for virtually all of the
program’s lifetime. A break did occur after the Challenger accident, which will be
discussed later, but JSC was eventually restored to lead status once again. Using this lead
center style of management has wide ranging effects upon the STS program. There has
been debate within NASA about whether the lead center arrangement is the most optimal
for managing a large program. However, the tradition of lead center management dates
all the way back to NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for
Aeronautics (NACA)
6
. LaRC was typically the research lead in cross center projects,
13
while Lewis Research Center and ARC took more of a secondary role. Thus, a precedent
had been set to which the NASA administration was accustomed.
JSC was created in 1961 as the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC). This was to be
the new home for the Space Task Group (STG), which was the precursor to the official
human spaceflight program at NASA. This group was initially formed at Langley in
conjunction with the formation of NASA, which was a direct response to the Soviet
launch of the satellite Sputnik. The United States administration could not believe that
the country was now second to the USSR in terms of space technology. The U.S. also
feared what kind of military capabilities the USSR might also be able to launch in space.
Thus, NASA was created, and charged with the future of the U.S. space program. Once
NASA began officially functioning on October 1, 1958, one of the first orders of business
was to organize the Space Task Group.
This group was formed at Langley, and initially did not have a good course of
action. The public and many officials in government did not believe that the American
response to Sputnik should be to put an “American in space”
. However, under the
effective leadership of former President Lyndon B. Johnson (for whom the Houston
facility is named after), who was a senator at the time, the public and government was
quickly convinced of the necessity for human space travel. During this period, the STG
immediately began to come up with ideas for a manned launch. The group went to meet
with Wernher von Braun and his associates at MSFC to discuss this plan further. After
consulting with von Braun and his team of engineers, the preliminary designs for what
would later become the Mercury project were completed. NASA administration quickly
realized that the STG would need a new home.
While operating at LaRC, the STG reported directly to NASA headquarters
.
Some within LaRC wanted to keep the STG at LaRC, but make them operate within the
center. NASA administrator James Webb believed that STG should be its own entity and
thus began a study of where this group should work. Friction had begun between STG
and other researchers at LaRC due to the fact that STG did not report directly to LaRC
management. GSFC initially believed that they should receive the new group, but this
transfer was quickly ruled out due to a lack of facilities. Others in the NASA
administration believed that ARC should be the new home of STG
. This would provide
14
better contact with the eventual contractors for Mercury, and provide an easy way for
both NASA and the contractors to help create the Mercury project. Webb eventually
decided that a new facility should be created for this group. A task force was created to
study possible sites for the new MSC. The initial location that was chosen was Tampa,
Florida
. The conditions for choosing a site included both flight test facilities, and large
tracts of land. Tampa had both, with an Air Force base that was due to close. However,
two months after the study was completed, but before a final decision had been made, the
Air Force decided to keep the base in Tampa open. The second choice for the MSC was
Houston, Texas. Houston also had an Air Force base, Ellington, but this base had not
been used since World War II
. Additionally, Rice University immediately recognized the
benefits of having a science organization in their “backyard”, and agreed to donate 1,000
acres of land
. Finally, whether or not political pressure was truly applied, it definitely
helped Texas that Senator Johnson, leading the charge for human space exploration, was
also from Texas. The Representative in charge of Appropriations, and therefore NASA’s
“purse”, was from the Houston district. All of these factors led to the creation of the
MSC in Houston, Texas.
Figure 9: Original Area for JSC Development.
7
While the MSC was being constructed, STG remained the lead center for the
Mercury program. After the facilities were constructed, the center immediately became
the lead for the Gemini, and Apollo missions. Development on these last two programs
had begun before the finish of construction at MSC due to the push by President John F.
Kennedy, who further defined NASA’s mission when he declared that the United States
15
would be headed to the Moon. All three manned programs operated out of JSC. Thus,
when time came for the development of the STS program, it seemed only natural that JSC
remain as the lead center. Headquarters also designated JSC as the lead for negotiations
with the contractors, which further entrenched JSC in this role. Finally, the American
public had become used to the astronauts as the face of NASA. The astronauts operated
out of JSC, and thus the public viewed this facility as the proper center of manned
spaceflight.
Figure 10: Aerial View of JSC.
As the budget in the 1970s began to dwindle, Headquarters wanted to keep
staffing at their location to a minimum, probably due to the fact they were so visible to
Washington. This further entrenched JSC as the lead center for shuttle operations. The
lead center style of management was thought to be the most effective use of resources in
this budget slashing era. Headquarters would still control the major milestones, but MSC
had direct program management responsibility. Both KSC and MSFC would report to
MSC (which did “rankle” a few employees at MSFC). Integration panels were created
for each center, which all reported to the Systems Integration Office at JSC. MSFC was
designated lead center for developing the propulsion systems, while KSC was in charge
of designing and directing the launch and recovery facilities.
JSC would stay as the lead center for the STS program until the Challenger
accident. It oversaw all the initial launches and successes of the program. However, the
16
Challenger accident led to internal reviews, which revealed flaws within this management
structure. Headquarters took control of the STS program office, and reorganized the STS
structure accordingly. JSC had lost some stature with headquarters and in the public eye
due to the Challenger accident. Furthermore, crew systems and flight capsule
development were transferred to MSFC. This structure was relatively constant until
NASA administrator Dan Goldin shook up the NASA organization with the “faster,
better, cheaper” mantra and style. Goldin, in 1996, decided that JSC should once again
be the lead center for the STS program. In trying to cut costs from NASA’s budget, he
also believed that the lead center management style was the most cost effective for the
STS program. This was part of a general move of all program management
responsibilities to the NASA field centers
8
. Once again JSC would have authority over
the funding and management of Shuttle activities. MSFC did not like the new
arrangement, and others in the administration wondered why the shuttle should return to
the flawed management structure of before. No mishaps had occurred while the STS
program was under the watchful eye of Headquarters, but the transfer was completed
nonetheless.
As will be seen later, the structure of the STS program has many influences upon
the LCC of the program. While some benefits are realized from removing Headquarters
from day to day operations of the Shuttle, a lead center with multiple other
responsibilities outside of the STS program can result in overlap of responsibilities. JSC
is also in charge of the International Space Station (ISS) program and must devote many
of its resources to successful operation of that program. In addition, overlapping
responsibilities can occur within the program if the center roles are not truly defined.
One example is how both JSC and KSC operate flight operations. KSC is in charge of
the launch operations until the shuttle clears the tower; then JSC is responsible for flight
operations until the STS program is on the ground again. Yet, exactly where each of
these centers takes over their role is not completely defined. Obviously, once in orbit,
JSC has complete control of the shuttle; however, both KSC and JSC will monitor launch
and landing operations. The choice of how this occurred, and why JSC was also
designated the site for the MCC is the discussion of the next section.
17
4.3 Mission Control Center Development
For the first manned spaceflight program, the Mercury project, KSC had initial
flight control operation with the flight monitoring systems located at GSFC. The Cape
Canaveral launch facilities, which started with missile development and testing, were
turned over to NASA by President Eisenhower in 1959. During the development of the
Gemini and Apollo programs, the NASA administration quickly realized that a new,
state-of-the-art MCC needed to be built. KSC immediately thought that this should be
built at their site in Florida. They claimed intimate flight operation knowledge because
they were already used to operating the flight controls for project Mercury; although this
operation did not require much after the launch of the spacecraft since Mercury was a
non-maneuvering vehicle. However, communications at the Cape were a source of
controversy and politics. There was an ownership question about who controlled the
current networking existing at the Cape. The DOD insisted that they owned the cabling
inside the fences, while Radio Corporation of America said they carried the cable to the
fence itself. Also, NASA employed three different telephone carriers that could not agree
about how to construct new cable for the Cape. Meanwhile, both Gemini and Apollo
program directors were clamoring that MCC should be at JSC. With MCC at JSC, it
would put the flight controllers in direct contact with the design engineers of each
program. NASA also realized that through the use of new networking technology, they
could build a MCC virtually anywhere. JSC became the choice for a brand new MCC
center. However, with the construction of new facilities for the Saturn launch vehicle at
KSC, a new control center was also built for monitoring launches.
JSC has monitored flight operations since Gemini IV. Other center participation
included KSC who provided backup services for launch and trajectory, and GSFC
continued their involvement with vehicle tracking. The MCC was very busy throughout
the Gemini and Apollo programs, with constant launches and monitoring. With the
advent of the shuttle program, MCC would be the focal point of flight operations for that
vehicle. There was no incentive to adjust, plus the STS program was worried about
keeping itself afloat. However, as will be seen later, the choice of MCC at JSC has led to
overlaps within the STS program that should be evaluated for the next generation launch
vehicle.
18
Figure 11: MCC at JSC.
19
5.0 STS Contractors
Throughout the history of manned space flight, NASA has consistently used the
help of private industry to accomplish its missions. From the project Mercury, to the ISS,
private contractors have had a hand in developing human spaceflight. For the early
projects, NASA engineers had most of the experience due to their research work for
NACA. There was very little turnover in NASA during the early years, and thus a great
deal of expertise existed at the organization. With their hands-on experience through
previous research, NASA engineers were able to effectively manage and guide the
contractors to the final design of the project. The NASA engineers were collaborators
with the private contractors, rather than simply purchasing hardware. This situation
changed as industry gained more experience, and dwindling budgets within NASA
caused greater turnover. By the time of full scale development of the STS program,
NASA had already undergone major personnel changes and losses. The relationship with
contractors moved towards a more traditional role of buying hardware. However, with
program management for STS in NASA hands, NASA engineers still played a major role
in defining the hardware designs. This section will examine the use of contractors
through history, and examine the contractor situation as it has changed for the STS
program.
5.1 Contractor Use in Manned Spaceflight History
For the first human spaceflight, project Mercury, the competition for the prime
contract came down to Grumman Aircraft and McDonnell Aircraft. This was the contract
to build the capsule that the astronauts would fly in. At the time, Grumman had many
Navy projects it was working on that were only in the conceptual phases of their design.
NASA was worried about both scheduling conflicts and the priorities of Grumman, and
awarded the prime contract for the capsules to McDonnell Aircraft. The initial contract
for twelve space capsules was worth $18.3 M (FY ’59), with a fee of $1.15M (FY ’59)
9
.
However, costs quickly spiraled up due to the combination of an optimistically low bid
and more requirements that were added, such as a request for spare parts. Additionally,
each of the capsules delivered was unique and tailored for the specific mission.
20
McDonnell eventually included some 4000 suppliers, 596 direct sub-contractors
from 25 different states, and 1500 second-tier subcontractors. As alluded to earlier,
NASA engineers and McDonnell worked closely together. STG drew up the original
fifty page document for its ideas of what the final capsule design should look like.
Included in this document was a great amount of detail and some fifteen different
subsystems. Thus, it would be up to the McDonnell production engineers to expand on
these preliminary specifications and flesh out the design. They made the blueprints, and
also designed the tooling necessary to turn the capsule design into a piece of hardware.
After much collaboration with STG, McDonnell delivered their first capsule on April 1,
1960. Though it was stripped of many of its subsystems, this delivery showed that the
Mercury project was truly on its way toward launching a human into space. The final
capsule cost for the delivered twenty vehicles was $45.6M (FY ’59)
.
Figure 12: Mercury Capsule delivered by McDonnell.
10
The next manned spacecraft, project Gemini, was originally seen as an extension
of the Mercury program, except that the capsule would now carry two people. Since the
project was to be the same concept as Mercury, NASA decided that no competitive
bidding was required and the contract was awarded to McDonnell Aircraft again. With
Mercury still going at the time, the initial parameters set the contract ceiling limit as
$25M (FY ’61) with further cost parameters to be determined later. In the initial
contract, NASA told McDonnell to use equipment that had already been developed. This
is an early example of engineers realizing the benefit of using commercial-off-the-shelf
(COTS) parts
11
.
21
For the launch vehicle, NASA decided that the Air Force should be included in
some manner for this project. Therefore, they decided to “contract” the Air Force for the
launch vehicle systems. The Air Force was to provide the fifteen Titan II launch vehicles
and eleven Atlas-Agena target vehicles required for the program
. The Air Force in turn
contracted out Martin-Baltimore for the Titan and Lockheed Missiles and Space for the
Atlas-Agena. The DOD was contracted out to provide launch and recovery support, plus
aid in choosing the astronauts for the program. Including the Air Force added another
layer of management to the program. MSC could only set guidelines for launch vehicle
development; if they saw a problem, the procedure was for them to tell the Air Force,
which would then tell the private contractors. Also, since MSFC had already been
working on the Agena vehicle, NASA administration decided that MSFC should be in
charge of those vehicles. Thus, for changes in that program, MSC had to first tell MSFC,
which would then tell the Air Force, who would then tell Lockheed of the new business.
MSC completed its first down payment for the Atlas-Agena vehicles in March of 1962,
but the Air Force did not tell industry to begin work until a full two weeks later.
Many contractors, sub-contractors and vendors would be used for this program.
Over 200 of them had contracts worth $100,000 (FY ‘1966) or more
12
. Even though this
project was building upon Mercury, and was supposed to use COTS, the first system was
delivered to the launch site over a year late. The project ran into budget, design and
communication problems which caused this delay. The final spacecraft cost for the total
Gemini capsules was $696M (FY ’67).
Figure 13: Gemini Spacecraft.
22
The last manned spacecraft to launch from Earth before the STS launches began
was the Apollo capsule. This program was large and very challenging technically. Many
contractors and vendors would come together to work on this program. The prime
contract was to build the command module, the service module, an adapter and the
ground support equipment. Four contractors came back with proposals for the program.
The final choice was not without controversy as the Martin Company came back with the
highest rated overall score, which was a combination of three categories: technical
approach, technical qualification, and business
13
. North American Aviation (NAA),
which would later merge with Rockwell Corporation, had the highest technical
qualification score. Additionally, NAA had worked with NASA/NACA before on
projects such as the X-15 and Navajo. NASA administration chose NAA due to the fact
that they had worked with them before. However, word had leaked out that Martin Co.
had received the highest total score, and NASA administration had to answer before
Congress about why NAA was chosen for the contract.
There were many other contracts to be awarded for this ambitious program.
Grumman Aircraft was give prime contract for the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM).
They in turn used six major subcontractors. The launch vehicle was to be developed
from the Saturn program, for which MSFC would be in charge. Rocketdyne was the
contractor for the new engine, while Douglas, P & W, Convair, Chrysler and others were
used on the rest of the vehicle. The Saturn V, which would launch the Apollo astronauts,
used three separate stages. The first stage was contracted to Boeing, while Rockwell
received the second stage and Douglas the third. Apollo culminated with 15 manned
launches, and six successful moon landings. The use of contractors throughout such a
large program set the precedent for the STS vehicles.
23
Figure 14: Apollo Contractors and Physical Locations.
5.2 The STS Contractors
The STS program uses many different contractors throughout its structure. As
mentioned earlier, Rockwell, which eventually merged into Boeing, held the prime
contract for developing the orbiter. Rocketdyne, which merged with Rockwell, was the
prime contractor for the SSMEs. This section will further detail the prime contractors for
the STS program, list a few subcontractors, and show a breakdown of the contractor
structure in 1994. Again, 1994 is used because of the detail of the data that was found for
this year. The dollar amount and private workforce of each contractor is listed in Table
1; this table lists the contractor full-time equivalent of an employee. Figure 15 illustrates
the percentage of the STS program budget that goes to each contractor.
First, under the MSFC are the various hardware contractors. Rockwell
Rocketdyne, in conjunction with P & W, is the developer in charge of the SSMEs. These
engines are built and tested in various parts of California, Mississippi, and Florida. Two
of the subcontractors involved with this project are Honeywell and Hydraulic Research.
Lockheed Martin is in charge of the ET. They perform all designs and assemblies of the
tank. This tank has almost half a million parts and is produced at the MAF. Some of the
sub-contractors that work for Martin Marietta are Kaiser Aluminum, Reynolds Metals,
GE, and Grumman. Thiokol and USBI perform the work required for the SRBs. Thiokol
24
Table 1: 1994 Prime Contractor Breakdowns.
14
Contractor Function $M (FY '94)
Contractor
Workforce
Rocketdyne
SSME
$287 2018
P & W
SSME
$85 334
Martin Marietta
External Tank
$372 2635
Thiokol
Reusable Solid Rocket Motors
$404 2589
USBI
Solid Rocket Boosters
$152 1024
Lockheed
Shuttle Processing Contract
$533 6309
Rockwell
Orbiter Logistics
$199 1340
EG & G
Base Operations
$38 520
Rockwell 1
Orbiter Production, Ops/Launch
Support, Spares (Orbiter Project)
$288 1803
Rockwell 2
System & Ops Integration
(Program Office)
$151 699
Rockwell 3
Space Operations Contract
(Mission Operations)
$264 2214
Loral 1
Flight Software Development
$35 280
Loral 2
SR & QA
$20 251
Loral 3
Mission Support Contract (MCC
Dev)
$21 170
Lockheed
Engineering, Test & Analysis
$39 490
Krug
Medical Sciences
$4 39
Kelsey Seybold
Medical Sciences
$1 13
Johnson Eng.
Flight Crew Support
$12 120
Ham Std.
EVA
$25 119
SPAR
RMS
$13 60
Boeing
Flight Equipment Processing
$35 333
MSFCKSCJSC
is responsible for the design, manufacturing and testing of the solid rocket motors (SRM).
They perform testing at their facilities in Utah. Thiokol is also a major sub-contractor for
Lockheed Space Operations. They perform many portions of the Shuttle processing
work, “including inspection, assembly and checkout of the [SRBs] and [ET]
”.
Additionally, Thiokol also aids in recovering, performing disassembly, cleaning,
25
SSME, 8.31%
Shuttle
Processing
Contract, 22.28%
Orbiter Logistics,
4.73%
NASA
Institution,
18.71%
Orbiter
Production,
Ops/Launch
Support, Spares ,
6.37%
SRM, 12.76%
Other, 5.40%
Space Operations
Contract (Mission
Operations),
7.82%
System & Ops
Integration ,
2.47%
ET, 9.31%
KSC Base
Operations,
1.84%
Figure 15: 1994 STS Contractor Percentage Breakdowns.
14
Figure 16: Thiokol SRB Testing.
26
inspecting, and refurbishing the boosters. USBI is in charge of processing and
refurbishing the non-motor segments of the SRBs. USBI directly refurbishes the frustum,
plus the forward and aft skirt of the SRB. It also rebuilds the thrust vector control
system. USBI has also developed an efficient logistics system that helps manage over
70,000 required parts; this system is also copied for use on the ISS. Furthermore, USBI
performs many activities at the SRB Assembly and Refurbishment Facility at KSC.
These functions include replacement of insulation on the booster components, installation
of electronic and guidance systems, and installation of the parachutes.
At KSC in 1994, there were only three main contractors. However, the largest
contractor, Lockheed, held the biggest single contract within the STS program. This
Lockheed contract was for their Space Operations division. They were responsible for all
ground processing of the shuttle fleet at KSC. Their overall responsibility for shuttle
processing included operation of all the main facilities. These facilities include the
Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF), the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), and the
Orbiter Refurbishment and Maintenance Facility. Lockheed Space Operations also
maintains both shuttle launch pads: Launch Complexes 39-A and 39-B. Two more
facilities that are maintained within this contract are the logistics facility and the
hypergolic maintenance facility. Lockheed also provides services in support of the
shuttle at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Among the sub-contractors supporting Lockheed
are Thiokol, mentioned earlier, Grumman Technical Services, Johnson Controls,
Rocketdyne, USI, and EG & G.
Another contract operating out of KSC is for orbiter logistics by Rockwell. Since
Rockwell manufactured the orbiters’, this contract is appropriate for the base. At KSC,
Rockwell is involved with the integration of the Shuttle system, and helps to maintain the
technical integrity and configuration of the orbiters. Rockwell also provides logistic
support.
The last prime contractor shown above that operates out of KSC is E G & G
Florida: they are NASA’s base operations contractor for the Cape. They are responsible
for the operation of the utilities, maintenance of the facilities, administrative services and
technical operations. They are also the technical support for KSC computers and data
processing. Finally, E G & G is responsible for fire protection and security.
27
With the program office at JSC, most of the contractors in the STS program are
centered here. Rockwell occupies the largest amount due to its direct responsibility for
building the orbiter. It is through the JSC office that Rockwell manages production of
spares, and systems integration. Rockwell also helps support customer integration
through JSC. The MCC is operated by Rockwell employees; they are responsible for the
flight operations of the shuttle. Rockwell has numerous sub-contractors working for
them including SAIC, Honeywell and Allied Signal.
Another contractor who supports the MCC is Loral systems. They are responsible
for much of the software used by the STS program. Three separate contracts exist for
Loral: one for upgrades and development for the MCC, one for software for the shuttle,
and finally a contract for safety, reliability and quality assurance (S R & QA). Loral uses
the sub-contracting team of IBM, Syscom Development, GHG, Cimarron Software, and
Booz-Allen, in addition to others. Other direct contractors at JSC include Hamilton
Standard for the space suits, SPAR for robotic arm development and support, and
Johnson Engineering for flight crew support.
In 1994, there were many different contractors operating out of the three main
field centers that worked on the STS program. JSC was managing 86 different contracts
with over 56 direct contractors
. With budget cuts looming, and the belief that
overlapping responsibilities were plaguing the STS program, this region of NASA was
seen as an area for which costs could be improved. Over 28,000 employees, including
contractors and civil service workers, were charging to the shuttle. Various studies were
performed on the STS program, including the “Functional Workforce Review”, which
suggested that NASA could reduce its STS workforce by 13% without compromising
safety. In 1995, the “Kraft Report” was published that made various claims such as the
STS as a mature system. This report advocated drastic changes within the STS program,
such as consolidating “operations under a single entity”
8
. NASA’s independent safety
committee, the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, strongly disagreed with the Kraft
conclusions and rebuked it sharply. Additionally, many engineers within NASA felt that
the STS program was headed back towards the days of the pre-Challenger era and began
to voice their concerns. However, during this time period under the Clinton
administration, the government as a whole was looking for ways to reduce bureaucracy.
28
Goldin, the sitting NASA administrator, thought favorably upon the idea that NASA
could lead the way towards implementing the President’s vision. Thus, the Kraft report’s
recommendations were implemented, and NASA issued a contract for the prime Shuttle
operations. This contract would be wide ranging, and worth a large sum of money per
year. Rather than take their chances alone, both Lockheed and Rockwell teamed up to
form a new company, with each having a 50% stake. This new company, United Space
Alliance (USA), won the sole source contract in 1995, and a new era in Shuttle
operations was ushered in.
5.3 United Space Alliance
USA was awarded the contract based upon their experience and wealth of
knowledge. In actuality, it is doubtful that any other companies could have truly
competed for this contract, which became known as the Space Flight Operations Contract
(SFOC). The contract was split into two phases. Phase I duties included:
• Flight operations
• Mission design and planning
• Software development and integration
• Payload integration
• Logistics operations
• Astronaut and flight controller training
• Shuttle processing, launch and recovery
Figure 17: Dan Goldin announcing USA's Partnership with NASA.
29
Other companies submitting bids would know that if they won, they would have to
purchase much of the infrastructure that was put into place by both Rockwell and
Lockheed. Additionally, maintaining the orbiter would have become a big challenge to
any outside company because of its technical complexity. Regardless, USA won the
contract and became responsible for 61% of the shuttle operations. While some in
Congress had reservations about safety integrity, the contract was pushed through and
completed.
USA believed they could cut shuttle operating costs between $500M and $1B per
year (FY ’95). They would accomplish this through streamlining operations and
reducing personnel even further. At the time of formation, once the organization had
been completed, the number of employees in USA was 9,900. The total NASA STS
workforce at this time was just under 20,000.
The complete savings under USA never fully materialized as initially estimated.
Although exact savings for the program are difficult to ascertain, one estimate has put
them at $167M per year
. Unfortunately, these estimates have never been verified by the
General Accounting Office (GAO)
15
. The full cost savings were supposed to be realized
from the completion of Phase II responsibilities: these responsibilities included
transferring the control of the MSFC contracts for the main shuttle hardware over to
USA. Yet, MSFC managed to successfully resist this turnover and USA’s complete
streamlined approach would never be implemented.
5.4 Current Prime Contractor Breakdown
The STS program currently has about 92% of its total program budget earmarked
for contractors. A breakdown of the contractors is shown in Figure 18. USA operates the
largest part of the shuttle program. Boeing, which bought Rockwell, and therefore
Rockwell’s share of USA, is now responsible for the orbiter itself. Lockheed Martin
purchased Martin Marietta, and is now responsible for the ET. Compared to 1994,
NASA has been further removed from the STS program. MSFC is still in charge of the
big hardware contracts for the shuttle, with the exception being the SRB non motor
segment. That portion has been taken over by USA.
30
Thiokol
12%
Lockheed
10%
Rocketdyne
9%
Boeing
18%
NASA
9%
USA
42%
Figure 18: Current STS Breakdown.
While the move towards privatization has reduced costs of the STS program,
there is still room for improvement. With MSFC resisting the transfer of contracts for
further consolidation, cost savings may be missed. However, NASA admitted that they
had not performed a true cost benefit analysis with regards to full consolidation of the
contracts
16
. NASA simply believed that full consolidation of the contracts under a sole
entity would produce savings. While this did agree with the Kraft report findings, that
report was a source of controversy within NASA. Additionally, only one center, JSC was
ever considered as the source for full consolidation. Without a true cost benefit analysis,
that considered all options, NASA could not be entirely sure of how much the STS
program could be further reduced by consolidating the contractors.
31
6.0 Breakdown of 1994 Shuttle Costs
In this report, the most detailed data about the workforce and cost was obtained
from a 1994 study of the STS program
. The program has changed quite a bit since that
time, and the latter portions of this project will reflect that. However, this data will be
used to lay a foundation for why the STS program has such a high cost. Examining the
STS breakdown will also lead to ideas and plans that could result in cost savings to use
for the current structure.
As mentioned earlier, five main areas were designated as indirect and support
costs. These areas charge the STS program, yet do not work directly on the orbiter itself.
Each segment will be broken down into various sub-sections to show which functions of
the STS program are responsible for the high cost. Through an examination of each of
these sections, this project will show why such a high cost occurs, and later reveal
possible solutions for the current STS program and future manned spacecraft.
Each of the five areas of indirect and support cost can be broken down further into
eleven sub-regions. These eleven sub-regions are as follows
:
• Program Integration, Program Management, & NASA Institution
• Launch and Landing
• Solid Rocket Motor Project
• ET Project
• Orbiter Project and Logistics
• Mission Operations (JSC)
• SRB Project (MSFC)
• SSME Project (MSFC)
• Crew Operations and Training (JSC)
• Payload Support (KSC)
• Propellants (Cryogenics-KSC)
These sub-regions are mostly self-explanatory. The program integration category refers
to NASA management, administration and indirect support people that aid the STS
program in general. The propellants category only refers to the actual propellants and not
32
any of the support or facility cost that may be associated with it. These eleven sub-
regions will be used as an insight into the indirect and support costs of the STS program
6.1 Systems Management, Operations and Planning
This category of the STS program is responsible for a whopping 44% of the total
program cost in 1994. Throughout the shuttle program, there is a lot of management and
institution support that directly charges this area of NASA. Of the five indirect and
support cost regions, this area has the most man-hours being utilized. The top-level
functions of this area are defined below
17
:
• Customer relations
• Vehicle manifesting and scheduling
• Ground systems scheduling and management
• Software production (upgrades and mission unique)
• Personnel management
• Sustaining operations engineering (vehicle and facilities)
• Work control
• Public affairs
• Economic development
• Business management (contracts, procurement, legal, financial)
• Advanced planning
• S R & QA
Table 2 lists the breakdown of cost of each sub-region under the Systems
planning and management category. Figure 19 provides the breakdown of this category
into its eleven sub-regions using percentage values. As can be seen from both the table
and the chart, NASA management and institution costs are the biggest region from this
category. In the 1994 STS workforce breakdown
18
, as can be seen in Appendix A,
NASA institution has over 5000 employees who are charging the STS program under this
category. All of these employees are civil servants who work directly for NASA. Within
the institution heading, the workforce is further broken down into the field center and the
number of employees that fit within one of three categories: direct labor and travel,
indirect labor and travel, and operation of installation. With JSC as an example, the
33
Table 2: Systems Management Breakdown.
System Planning & Management: Sub-Regions $M (FY '94)
Program Management & NASA Institution 860.8
Launch & Landing 192
Crew Operations & Training 71.8
External Tank 31.4
Orbiter Project & Logistics 25
Mission Operations 135.4
Solid Rocket Boosters 52.1
Solid Rocket Motors 67.2
SSME 51.3
KSC P/L -
KSC Propellants -
Total 1487
MSN Ops
9%
SRB
4%
SRM
5%
Launch &
Landing
13%
Program
Management &
NASA
Institution
60%
ET
2%
Orb Proj &
Logistics
2%
Crew Ops &
Training
5%
Figure 19: Systems Management Area broken into Sub-Functions.
34
institution has 1662 employees who charge this area. 798 are for direct labor and travel,
166 are for indirect labor and travel, and 698 are responsible for the operation of the
installation. The direct labor employees are believed to be engineers and scientists who
support the STS program, while the indirect labor employees are secretaries and other
administrative employees who provide the overhead support to the engineers and
scientists. The operation of the installation category most likely refers to employees who
manage the utilities of the installation. The breakdown of this area is listed in Table 3.
Also shown in this table are the numbers of program management at each field center.
Table 3: Breakdown of Program Management and NASA Institution Employees.
Institution
5328
JSC 1662
Direct Labor & Travel 798
Indirect Labor & Travel 166
Operation of Installation 698
KSC 2197
Direct Labor & Travel 974
Indirect Labor & Travel 188
Operation of Installation 1035
MSFC 749
Direct Labor & Travel 242
Indirect Labor & Travel 37
Operation of Installation 470
Hq 615
Operation of Installation 615
SSC 105
Operation of Installation 105
Program Management
380
JSC 165
KSC 100
MSFC 100
SSC 15
EmployeesProgram Management & NASA Institution
The launch and landing sub-category is the next major area within the systems
management area. Table 4 catalogs the major employee areas of this sub-category. All
of these employees listed are working through KSC. As can be seen, the two largest
35
areas are for support services: launch support and program support. Both of these areas
are larger than the SR & QA group located at KSC.
Table 4: Launch and Landing Sub-Areas.
Launch and Landing Employees
Program Operations Support 430
Launch Support Services 350
SR & QA 282
Operations Management 89
The third highest area within the systems management region is for mission
operations. Mission operations are charges by JSC employees. This charge is only for
support and sustaining engineering within mission operations, not for the actual flight
controllers and operators who work during shuttle flights. Those charges are to a
different area that will be explored later. However, mission planning is included within
this region. Table 5 lists the major employee functions within this sub-category.
Table 5: Mission Operations Sub-Area.
Software Production & Development
208
Flight Design Division 424
Systems Division 184
Program & Doc. Support 644
STSOC Support 554
Flight Software Support 31
Shuttle Data Support 29
MOD Directorate Office 30
EmployeesMission Operations
Only the three major regions of the systems management section will be explored
in the main body of this paper. As seen above in the employee tables, a lot of support is
used for the shuttle program. Additionally, there are many employees working directly
on the STS program at each field center whose responsibilities are not entirely clear.
Some other employee numbers that are listed in Appendix A include 632 for SRM
support, 209 for ET support, and 196 for orbiter support. Additionally, another 327 are
required for crew operations support and training.
36
6.2 Concept-Unique Logistics
This section is the next largest section charging to the shuttle. This area is
responsible for 26% of the total STS program cost per year. Combined with the
preceding section, nearly 70% of the STS program is charging to these two categories.
The responsibilities of this category include
:
• Propellants: acquisition, storage, distribution, conditioning, sampling and waste
disposal management
• Other fluids, gasses and unique consumables: acquisition, storage, distribution,
conditioning, sampling and waste disposal management
• Line Replacement Unit (LRU) hardware for both flight and ground systems
The LRU category is responsible for a wide variety of hardware and logistics duties.
Responsibilities within this region include the acquisition, storage and preservation of
LRUs. Also included are component repair and failure analysis, fabrication of tubing,
and the thermal protection system. Table 6 lists this category broken into its sub-regions
by cost, while Figure 20 shows the percent of this “concept-unique logistics” category for
which each sub-region is responsible.
Table 6: Concept-Unique Logistics Cost Breakdown.
Concept-Uniq Logistics $M (FY '94)
Program Management & NASA Institution 0.9
Launch & Landing -
Crew Operations & Training -
External Tank 263.2
Orbiter Project & Logistics 177.8
Mission Operations -
Solid Rocket Boosters 46.2
Solid Rocket Motors 337
SSME 44.8
KSC P/L -
KSC Propellants
Total 869.9
37
Orb Proj &
Logistics
20%
SRB
5%
SRM
40%
SSME
4.5%
Program
Management &
NASA Institution
0.5%
ET
30%
Figure 20: Concept-Unique Breakdown Percentages.
The largest categories within the concept-unique region are the main STS
hardware pieces. The largest area, the SRM, also corresponds to one of the largest
contractors, Thiokol. The next largest area, the ET, also corresponds to a large
contractor, Martin Marietta. Table 7 lists the employee breakdowns within each major
region shown in Figure 20.
Table 7: Major Employee Areas of Concept-Unique Logistics Section.
Function Area Employees
SRM Manufacturing & Refurbishment Labor 2095
External Tank Production 2041
Orbiter & GFE (JSC) 1174
Orbiter Logistics & GSE (KSC) 1111
Solid Rocket Boosters 985
SSME Hardware Spares and Refurbishment 226
38
The hardware needed to support the STS program requires a large employee level.
Additionally, a number of these employees must handle the true logistics area of using all
this hardware. All the spares must be properly acquired and preserved, the propellants
acquired and handled, and in general, a wide variety of equipment must be maintained.
This category does not even include most of the general GSE, although the line between
what constitutes as GSE for the orbiter and what’s needed for the STS program as a
whole can be blurry.
6.3 Operations Support Infrastructure
The third largest area under the STS cost breakdown umbrella is the operations
support infrastructure region. This area includes all the facilities and equipment that is
needed to support the shuttle program. A majority of this cost will be out of KSC, due to
the number of facilities used to run the STS program. Over 500 facilities must be
maintained to run the shuttle program. The responsibilities of “operations support
infrastructure” are as follows
:
• Maintaining all shops and labs
• Utilities
• Maintaining the roads and grounds
• Heavy equipment, such as cranes, and generators
• Communication and information services
• Environmental compatibility management
• Pyrotechnic storage and handling
• Personal environmental protection equipment
This category is the support behind the STS operation. To maintain all the necessary
facilities, a large number of employees and equipment is required. Table 8 provides the
cost breakdown of this category, while Figure 21 illustrates the percentage for which each
sub-region is responsible.
The largest category for this STS region is for launch and landing. For launch
operations, a large number of facilities and equipment is required. Thus, a large
employee base is required to operate these facilities. The three largest employee regions
within launch and landing are the operations and maintenance of various facilities,
39
Table 8: Breakdown of Operations Support Infrastructure Cost.
Operations Support Infrastructure $M (FY '94)
Program Management & NASA Institution 0.2
Launch & Landing 136.1
Crew Operations & Training -
External Tank 76.8
Orbiter Project & Logistics -
Mission Operations 93.7
Solid Rocket Boosters 53.7
Solid Rocket Motors -
SSME -
KSC P/L -
KSC Propellants
Total 360.5
Launch &
Landing
38%
ET
21%
MSN Ops
26%
SRB
15%
Program
Management &
NASA
Institution
0.5%
Figure 21: Percentage Breakdown of Operations Support Infrastructure Cost.
40
maintaining the system equipment and providing for communications. The employee
numbers are listed in Table 9.
Table 9: Largest Employee Regions within Launch and Landing Operations.
Launch and Landing Employees
Facility Operations & Maintenance 1301
Communications 437
System Equipment Maintenance 209
The mission operations area is the next largest sub-category within operations
support infrastructure. This sub-category is also large because of the support necessary
for maintaining JSC’s training facilities. These include maintaining and supporting the
flight operations trainer, and the shuttle avionics integration laboratory. The next largest
categories within this indirect cost region are the ET and the SRBs. The ET requires over
400 employees for maintaining the facilities and providing project support. The SRB
uses 350 employees for support labor. In order to support the employees needed for the
many STS systems in the concept unique logistics area, an additional number are required
to provide support for them.
6.4 Traffic and Flight Control
This section of the indirect and support costs is responsible for almost 6% of the
STS program cost. The duties within this category include
:
• Landing facilities traffic control
• Launch facilities traffic control
• Ground and flight vehicle communications systems management
• Weather advisory for launch, landing and ground operations
• Ascent flight safety monitor and control
• Audio and visual monitoring of ground launch operations
There are only three sub-categories within this region: program management, launch and
landing, and mission operations. The cost breakdown is listed in Table 10, and the graph
of the percentage values are shown in Figure 22.
41
Table 10: Cost Breakdown of Traffic and Flight Control.
Traffic/Flight Control $M (FY '94)
Program Management & NASA Institution 72.3
Launch & Landing 49.4
Crew Operations & Training -
External Tank -
Orbiter Project & Logistics -
Mission Operations 77.7
Solid Rocket Boosters -
Solid Rocket Motors -
SSME -
KSC P/L -
KSC Propellants -
Total 199.4
Launch &
Landing
25%
Mission
Operations
39%
Program
Management
& NASA
Institution
36%
Figure 22: Percentage Breakdown of Traffic and Flight Control.
Within mission operations, the largest category is for the MCC center. 667
employees operate this facility during STS missions. Another 161 support the launch
control at KSC. For weather advisories, over 100 employees are used across the various
centers.
42
6.5 Vehicle Depot Maintenance
The last indirect and support cost area is for vehicle depot maintenance. This
category includes all of the maintenance activities required every three years for
refurbishment at the facilities in Palmdale. These maintenance activities are not the
normal turnaround maintenance required every time the shuttle flies a mission. All of
these maintenance activities are either unplanned maintenance or for refurbishment. The
responsibilities for this category are:
• Vehicle overhaul and modifications (structural, flight controls, etc.)
• Modular element overhaul, including OMS-RCS pods, SSME
• Hot test propulsion hardware
• Space software upgrades (non-flight)
Within this area of indirect cost, there are only three different sub-regions that charge to
this area. They are launching and landing, the orbiter, and the SSME project. Table 11
lists the cost breakdown of the vehicle depot maintenance category, while Figure 23
shows the percentages.
Table 11: Vehicle Depot Maintenance Cost Breakdown.
Vehicle Depot Maintenance ($M FY '94)
Program Management & NASA Institution -
Launch & Landing 1.5
Crew Operations & Training -
External Tank -
Orbiter Project & Logistics 108.3
Mission Operations -
Solid Rocket Boosters -
Solid Rocket Motors -
SSME 29.2
KSC P/L -
KSC Propellants -
Total 139
The largest cost goes to the orbiter refurbishment. Each orbiter is taken out of
service every three years for major overhaul. The orbiter is transported using a specially
fitted Boeing 747 that takes the orbiter to the (now) Boeing facility in Palmdale,
California. Over 200 employees work at the orbiter facility in Palmdale. In addition to
43
the schedule repair, some unplanned maintenance will usually occur for an orbiter. These
repairs are performed at KSC, and require another 400 employees. However, many of
these employees are also used for helping with turnaround of the shuttle. The bulk of the
SSME hot testing will occur at SSC, and over 140 employees will charge to this area.
Some of these employees will operate out of Marshall where the SSME program is
located.
Launch &
Landing
1%
Orb Proj &
Logistics
78%
SSME
21%
Figure 23: Vehicle Depot Percentage Breakdown.
These are the indirect and support costs of the STS program. Again, they do
apply to the 1994 shuttle project, but are used as basis for which to make
recommendations. The exact duties of many personnel in the shuttle blur across various
boundaries within the program. Examples of this are the employees who support the
shuttle maintenance for both turnaround and true depot maintenance. Table 12 and Table
13 list a summary of the main information presented in this section. In the next section,
this project will analyze the total indirect and support cost areas to show some
inefficiencies and generate some possible solutions to reducing the STS program cost.
44
Table 12: Summary of Indirect Costs by category in $M FY 1994
PGM
Ingrtn,
PMS,
NASA
Launch &
Landing
SRM
Proj
ET
Orb Prob
& Logistics
MSN
Ops
SRB Proj
SSME
Proj
Crew Ops
& Training
KSC P/L
KSC
Propellants
Sys Plan'g &
Mgmnt
860.8 192 67.2 31.4 25 135.4 52.1 51.3 71.8
Concept-Uniq
Logistics
0.9 337 263.2 177.8 46.2 44.8 16.5
Operations
Support Infra
0.2 136.1 76.8 93.7 53.7
Traffic/Flight
Control
72.3 49.4 77.7
Vehicle Depot
Maint.
1.5 108.3 29.2
Table 13: Indirect Cost Summary broken down into Employee Numbers
PGM
Ingrtn,
PMS,
NASA
Launch &
Landing
SRM
Proj
ET
Orb Prob
& Logistics
MSN
Ops
SRB Proj
SSME
Proj
Crew Ops
& Training
KSC P/L
KSC
Propellants
Sys Plan'g &
Mgmnt
5708 1381 632 209 196 1493 347 230 327
Concept-Uniq
Logistics
66 2095 1710 1100 290 226 159
Operations
Support Infra
30 1628 557 894 350
Traffic/Flight
Control
642 259 731
Vehicle Depot
Maint.
83 707 143
45
7.0 Analysis and Improvement Ideas for the STS Program
The high launch cost of shuttle is a large problem for NASA. By reducing these
costs, NASA could move funds to different areas, such as work on the President’s new
initiative. The shuttle budget for FY 2005 will be $4.232B. With a reduction of 20%,
over $800M could be saved and used towards the President’s initiative. Both the U.S.
public and Congress would most likely look favorably on such a decrease within the
program, and therefore boost support for the goal of a manned Mars mission.
The 1994 STS breakdown will be the basis for analysis and to determine how such
reductions could take place. The program has obviously undergone large changes since
that time, but this report will take those changes into account. The goal of these
improvements within the STS program will be for “freeing” up funds to use for the new
exploration proposal.
7.1 Systems Management Restructuring
As seen from section 6, this area was responsible for 44% of the total program
cost. A first idea is to examine the structure of this division. Within such a large
program, there exists a possibility that responsibilities are overlapping. Management has
been restructured at least twice since the 1994 program. Below, Figure 24, is the current
structure of the STS program
. All offices are located at JSC unless specified otherwise.
The red lines denote sub-branches of an office. For example, the Space Shuttle
Processing group that works out of KSC is responsible to the Space Shuttle Systems
Integration office. Unless a box is denoted by red, this group will report to the Space
Shuttle Program Office directly. The structure from the program office to the NASA
administrator was not included, but it can be found in Reference 7. By examining the
responsibilities of the various program offices, overlap and inefficiency can be
determined.
There is overlap of responsibilities occurring within the management structure.
Within the STS program office are six different managers who oversee the various
departments. The groups below them all report to these managers in some manner.
However, there is a lot of cross-information that needs to flow between various groups in
46
order for the STS program to function. For example, the shuttle systems integration
office has some responsibilities for determining the environmental impact of some
Figure 24: STS Program Management.
materials, and how to properly dispose of them. Yet, they must coordinate with the
vehicle engineering office because the engineering office is constantly using new
materials for any type of upgrades. The engineering office is also responsible for the
environmental compliance required for any new hardware upgrades.
A further instance of cross-flow is that the engineering office is responsible for
the upgrades that are needed to install at the Palmdale refurbishing facility. However,
any SSME upgrades, for example the Advanced Health Monitoring System, are
developed by the SSME Office out of the projects office located at MSFC. The same
applies for any hardware developed for the SRBs or the ET: the engineering office is in
charge of implementing these upgrades, but an entirely different branch is in charge of
developing them. However, the decision for hardware upgrades, another example being
47
the new lightweight aluminum-lithium ET, and how to develop these upgrades must
result from a consensus of the two offices
19
.
Another case of iteration between various branches of the STS program is when
the projects office must confer with the systems integration office, the KSC integration
office, and KSC processing regarding the logistics of the main shuttle hardware. These
four offices must all work out the varying schedules of areas such as delivery, testing,
and maintenance of the hardware. The projects office will need to know of any new
problems with the hardware that occurs during flight, while the both the systems
integration office and KSC integration office must be kept abreast of new procurements
of the ET and SRBs. Additionally, this will all affect the KSC processing branch, since
they will perform the physical work that needs to be done in order to turn the orbiter
around for another flight.
Finally, one more occurrence of the necessary cross-flow of information occurs
on for the mission and crew operations of the shuttle. The MOD is in charge of planning
the mission while in space, and to help provide the proper training for the people
involved. They also help maintain the training laboratories that are needed
20
, but the
Flight Crew Directorate works with the astronauts who require the training. The
astronauts will then use systems from the Extravehicular Activity (EVA) office, for this
office provides the space suits. However, this office must go back and coordinate with
the MOD because the EVA is also in charge of planning the spacewalks.
Other examples of this iteration of information exist in the STS program.
However, rather than use more explanation, Figure 25 shows the current iteration
between the program offices. Figure 25 is borrowing from an idea in the optimization
field of work. This figure is an illustration known as a design structure matrix (DSM) that
shows where information needs to be passed in order for the top body to operate. The
lower boxes are known as Contributing Analyses (CA) that perform their function and
report back to the head level. The analogy being drawn here is that the STS program
office represents this top body, and all the secondary offices are the CA’s. Only one
“sub-sub-category” is represented in the graph: the Space Shuttle Processing Office out
of KSC. This is the only sub-sub-level included because this office needs to coordinate
48
with other offices that are not within its directly higher level office. The DSM of the
“sub-sub-levels” is included in Appendix C.
In keeping with the optimization analogy, a DSM will represent the best system
when there are as few feedfoward and feedback loops within each of CAs’. Ideally, the
top level function will dictate to each of the CA’s only the information that is needed for
the singular CA to run its analysis. The responsibility of determining the best system
optimization falls directly upon the top level function. Using this method, no internal
optimizations within the CAs’ that can affect another CA will occur. Otherwise, while a
particular CA may be optimized, the system as a whole will be sub-optimized.
Figure 25: STS Management DSM.
Illustrated in Figure 25 is an example of a bad DSM. There are many feedforward
and feedbackward loops of information between the various shuttle offices. These
secondary level offices not only rely on the program office, but also on each other. Thus,
multiple iterations must occur within each of the lower offices in order to pass back the
information required by the overall program office to make an appropriate decision. In
optimization, the number of function calls is used as a measure of the efficiency of the
49
program. Figure 25 shows an expensive system due to the required number of function
calls that will be needed before the information is passed back to the system office.
The highly respected statistician, W. Edwards Deming, teaches that large
programs like STS must be thought of as a system
21
. The goal must be total system
optimization. Anything less than this goal will cause losses for the program. Therefore,
to increase efficiency, many of these loops within the program offices must be
eliminated. This is one idea for reducing the system management cost.
Figure 26 is a new solution for the STS management structure. As will be seen in
the DSM, many of the feedforward and feedbackward links were eliminated. This
management structure was created with only optimization in mind. Therefore, a dramatic
reorganization has taken place. Additionally, some of the changes in structure were done
due to logistics concerns and management.
Figure 26: Proposed STS Management Structure.
The largest secondary office will now be the Space Shuttle Projects Office that is
located out of KSC. In both the Kraft report and USA’s initial contract bid, the end result
for cost optimization was that the projects office should be taken out of MSFC and
located at JSC. However, with logistics concerns (that are discussed more in-depth in the
50
next section) factored into restructuring, this office would now be located at KSC.
Logistics would be able to work directly with Space Shuttle Processing, as well as all the
hardware offices in order to coordinate any matters related to schedule and maintenance.
Yet, by locating these offices together, they will constantly have access to each other in
order to work together to achieve the overall system goal. Unfortunately, as will be seen
in the new DSM, some iteration will have to occur between the Vehicle Engineering
Office and the Projects Office in order to mesh the upgrades for hardware properly.
However, with the Vehicle Engineering Office also located at KSC, this iteration will be
able to occur more smoothly and efficiently. Another of Deming’s teachings is that
physical communication greatly aids the program in all cases
. Thus, the overall STS
program will gain because coordination across three different NASA centers for
processing and logistics will no longer be required. The launch integration manager from
the STS program office has been moved into the Space Shuttle Processing Office so that
they can work at the same field center.
The program integration officer from the STS office has been moved into the
management office along with the administrative office. Many of their tasks will be
related, and thus should be consolidated into one branch. Both the business office and
the customer and flight integration office have been moved; they are now sub-levels to
the management office. Using this structure, all customer integration responsibilities can
be handled within the same group.
The flight crew operations directorate has been consolidated into two parts: half
will go into the MOD, and the other half will enter the EVA group. The MOD and EVA
groups will still need to work together, but eliminating an overlapping branch can help
streamline the structure. The MOD will then be able to plan the in-space missions, while
the EVA can provide the details for supporting the astronauts. Both of these branches
will fall under the systems integration office, which will now mainly be responsible for
the human portion of the STS program.
The DSM for this new structure is shown in Figure 27. Now there is only one set
of feedforward and feedback loops through the structure. System optimization will occur
more quickly and become less cumbersome. The number of “function calls” will be less,
and therefore the structure will be more efficient when compared to the current STS
51
structure. In examining cases through history, various businesses have undergone
management restructuring in order to streamline costs. General Mills was able to boost
their profit by 12% over the previous year by streamlining management
22
. Another
example is Federal Express, which was able to increase profit by 10% through
management restructuring
23
. Profit does not directly apply to NASA since it is a
government institution, but with profit being a measure services sold subtracted by the
cost to provide those services, the cost reduction can be seen. The services provided by
these companies were done at a lower cost in order to increase profit.
Figure 27: New Management DSM.
Another idea for reducing cost within this area is to eliminate the duplicity of
responsibilities that appears to be occurring. Included in Appendix B is the STS
workforce breakdown over the last ten years. There are some slight differences between
the 1994 figures of the STS breakdown used earlier in this report and the numbers listed
in Appendix B for the year 1994. However, from examining the workforce from 1993 to
1994, the number of employees was in a state of flux during this time, and therefore the
differences between these two sources can be explained by this flux. The chart in
Appendix B shows that some reduction in employee levels has occurred. However, the
flight rate of the STS program has also gone down, which made it even easier (and more
necessary) to reduce employee levels.
52
Regardless, the 1994 figures showed that overlapping responsibility was
occurring. In section 6.1, many responsibilities were overlapping. The biggest example
is for the institution costs. The exact nature of the employees’ responsibilities within this
area must be determined, but there is a category for the operation of the installation.
1035 employees are used for this category at KSC, but KSC also has its own base
operations contract which utilizes 208 employees. Another concern is that the operation
of an installation is being charged to the STS program. This whole category must be
investigated further to see if workforce reductions have decreased, and what
responsibilities the employees currently have. Additionally, the program management
category should also be evaluated. The number of managers at each installation appears
disproportionate. For example, in 1994, the total workforce, including contractors and
employees, was higher at KSC than at JSC, but JSC had more management.
Through deeper investigation by a thorough audit of the STS program,
inefficiencies could be rooted out. A restructuring of the STS program management
would be greatly beneficial towards reducing the overall STS cost. An initial estimate,
based upon business cases and a reduction in management levels suggests that between 5
and 20% of management costs could be reduced. This could result in savings over
$350M per year (FY ‘94). With the budget levels for FY 2005 already surpassing the
1994 budget levels, but with launch levels reaching only slightly more than half the
number of launches for 1994, the shuttle cost per flight will dramatically increase.
Therefore, STS program changes should be implemented, with management restructuring
as one example.
7.2 Reducing Costs in the Concept-Unique Systems Area
The logistics of this area are very challenging, and thus result in the large cost for
this section of the STS program. Many different parts and shuttle hardware must be
transported from places all over the country to supply the STS program. Unfortunately,
most of this hardware is a one of a kind type system; therefore, the workforce that
produces the hardware must be kept on the payroll in case the need arises for a
replacement part. This is the main area of STS indirect costs for which the “standing
army” of STS program workers has a direct influence. As mentioned above, 2000
53
employees are needed to produce the ET, and another 2000 are required to manufacture
the RSRMs. These pieces of hardware are two examples of items that need to produced
every year; undesirably, whether the STS program is flying 4 launches a year or 8
launches a year, or no launches a year, these employees must remain on the payroll.
Figure 28 illustrates the STS logistics structure. The orbiter must undergo
maintenance in the OPF, or be transported to the Palmdale facility in California if it is
time for refurbishment. However, the Palmdale facility is now closing, and the effects of
this will be discussed shortly. The SSMEs undergo maintenance in the VAB shop, unless
they require overhaul and are then transported to Rocketdyne in California. Then they
must undergo testing at SSC and are trucked back to KSC. Each ET is manufactured at
MAF, and then brought by barge to KSC. This trip takes roughly five days, and the ship
used to pull the barge is one of the fleet of SRB recovery ships. The SRBs are recovered
after each flight by one of these ships, and then undergo disassembly at KSC. The motor
segments are then transported back to Thiokol by rail, while the aft and forward skirts
continue to undergo refurbishment at KSC. After Thiokol processes the RSRMs, they are
then moved back to KSC by rail once more.
Figure 28: STS Program Hardware Flow.
54
Even using the main STS hardware as examples, the logistics of planning for
these pieces to come together for a shuttle launch is challenging. However, considering
that MSFC controls these main hardware pieces, but KSC is where they are assembled
together, inefficiency is created. This is one reason that the MSFC projects should be
moved to KSC. The logistics will be much easier to handle when the projects office can
work directly with the logistics and processing office at all times. When the complete
STS program is considered from a logistics point of view, with all the parts that need to
come from various suppliers all over the country, the complete system is very challenging
to manage. The logistics facility at KSC handles 190,000 space shuttle parts alone. For a
program of this magnitude, the entity controlling the hardware should be working directly
with those responsible for managing the logistics of that hardware.
Another of Deming’s philosophies is that consolidating the suppliers is always
better for quality, and will result in cost savings
. The current STS situation makes it
challenging to accomplish this task. As shown in the earlier sections of this project, the
STS method of obtaining parts and hardware is derived from the earlier programs of
Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. Those programs had the philosophy that the equipment
should be of the best design and materials, with little regard for cost. This is no longer an
acceptable way of thinking, and this ideology has hurt the STS program. Too many
unique parts are used, and thus consolidating suppliers is very challenging. An example
of an orbiter subsystem that trades high performance over the logistics concerns is the
hypergolic propellants that are used for the shuttle Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS)
and RCS engines. The first concern with using these propellants is the fuel and oxidizer
immediately ignite upon contact. Thus, the storage facilities must be maintained at
considerable distances from each other. Also, when loading these propellants, they
cannot be loaded in parallel; serial loading must occur before launch. The next concern is
for the handling of these propellants. Workers must be specially trained in order to load
these propellants into the shuttle before launch. They must also work on purging these
systems after launch for orbiter processing. Cumbersome suits, known as a self-
contained atmosphere protective ensemble (SCAPE) must be worn when handling these
toxic propellants
24
. Thus, the lack of concern for the logistics of the STS program has
had a large impact on the total cost of the system.
55
Some consolidation has already been performed at the Cape. In 1994, 25 vendor
stores were consolidated and $1.8M was immediately saved
25
. It has been suggested that
further consolidation at the Cape could reduce between 30-70% more in logistics costs.
However, within the STS program, there is no standard method for operating logistics
.
In order to treat the STS program as a system and achieve optimization, each field center
should have the same, standard logistics method. This will help save logistics costs, even
if STS offices are not consolidated, simply due to the fact that each field center will know
how logistics are being handled across NASA. Thus, the employees at the different
centers who are in charge of various parts will know how to track these parts in the
supply chain. Those responsible for physical logistics will also know where they can find
the necessary information regarding hardware in order to better mange the acquisition of
parts and propellants.
Further investigation should be completed to see if there is different equipment
that uses the same type of materials. This is one method in which the suppliers can be
consolidated. Another of Deming’s teachings is that to achieve high quality through the
system, the system must stop relying on inspection. The STS program requires a lot of
inspection on its hardware all the way through processing. For example, inspections are
completed on the orbiter before and after processing, the ET after it arrives by barge, and
the RSRMs. Under Deming’s theory, if quality is built into the process for this hardware
and variability is reduced, inspection will no longer be needed. However, due to the
complex technology that a launch vehicle requires, and its unique nature, this theory does
not appear applicable. Using the SSME as an example, this engine is manufactured in
low numbers, and with a high level of technology. This engine has not reached full
maturity and many inspections are required for each one. However, Deming’s idea for
inspection is one that should be considered. The steps needed in order for the SSME to
reach full maturity should be determined and reached. General Electric Aircraft Engines
(GEAE) is a good example of a company that builds sophisticated hardware, but has
introduced quality into the process in order to reduce the amount of inspection required
26
.
GEAE also builds a low number of engines that incorporate a high amount of technology,
yet they do not rely on the amount of inspection that the SSME requires. Determining
56
the current maturity levels of the main hardware and the steps required to reach full
maturity should be considered and implemented to help reduce the costs of this area.
With a large, constant employee workforce, non-standard logistics practices, and
many suppliers producing equipment all over the United States, the indirect cost of
concept-unique logistics is high. However, using the estimates of consolidation and
standardization, it may be possible to reduce this area by $200M (FY ’94). New
practices would have to be implemented, and the facilities at KSC evaluated further to
see if true consolidation could be handled, but the resultant savings could greatly aid the
STS program and NASA. Additionally, if the system could stop relying on as much
inspection, then even more savings could be realized. With the STS program to continue
until 2010, these ideas should be evaluated for their implementation in the program.
7.3 Other Areas for Costs Reduction
The next largest category within the indirect and support costs of the STS
program is the operations and support infrastructure. As seen earlier, a lot of employees
must be used to maintain all of the facilities used throughout the STS program. Much of
this is a result of such unique systems being used. A lot of upkeep must be performed,
and with each facility tailored to a unique portion of the STS program, there is a lack of
standardization within this area. For example, the VAB sits on 8 acres of land, and is 525
feet tall. For comparison, the height of the Statue of Liberty is 305 feet tall. While this is
the largest building at the Cape, over 500 more facilities require constant maintenance
27
.
This adds up to over 6 Mfeet
2
of facilities that require attention.
Additionally, all of the ground support equipment must be maintained. Much of
this equipment is dated and therefore requires more maintenance than usual. Estimates of
updating this equipment have reached as high as $800M. These examples were looking
at the facilities on the Cape alone. When the training labs at JSC and the testing facilities
for the SSME and hypergolic propellants are also considered, the huge costs of the
operations and support infrastructure region becomes clear. Unfortunately, there appears
to be little possibility for cost savings. All of these facilities and ground equipment must
be properly maintained in order to ensure the safety and integrity of the STS program.
There can be no simple reduction in this area of indirect costs if every employee is
57
performing a different job. The only possibility for cost reduction would come from an
audit of the support services provided in order to ensure that there are no overlapping
responsibilities. This audit should also show that there are enough employees to cover all
the facilities, since a typical overtime pay rate costs 50% more than normal working
hours.
For the traffic and flight control portion of the indirect costs, some duplicity may
be occurring. The decision to build the MCC at JSC has had a large influence of program
costs throughout NASA’s history. Even though networking provided a solution for
keeping communications flowing between the NASA field centers, a different MCC from
the actual launch site has resulted in inefficiencies. KSC provides direct launch support
to JSC and helps monitor the launches. Additionally, when landing occurs, both JSC and
KSC must be working. When MCC was placed at JSC to help the Gemini and Apollo
programs little thought was given to the processing required. At the time, neither of these
programs was reusable, so not much of a difference was made. However, with the STS
program, and all the processing required for the orbiter, having flight operations and
ground operations at different facilities is hindering possible cost reductions.
Moving MCC to KSC could help reduce costs by combining flight operations
with ground operations. The flight operations employees would constantly be kept
abreast of schedule changes that need to be made, and can plan accordingly. Also, with
this combination, the ground operations can properly prepare for what the mission is
trying to accomplish, and tailor their work accordingly. The flight controllers in MCC
would have a good idea of how the orbiter was prepared for the mission, and thus could
tailor their planning even more. During launch operations KSC monitors the shuttle until
the tower is cleared, and then JSC takes over. KSC will also monitor the shuttle during
landing, since the Cape is the only landing facility for the shuttle now that Edwards has
ceased operation. With JSC also monitoring these operations, overlapping
responsibilities are occurring. Using figures from the workforce, between $25M and
$50M can be saved by eliminating these overlapping responsibilities. Also, further costs
could be reduced due to eliminating the operation of virtually the same type of facility
during launch and landing operations. With the flight controllers working with the
ground operations employees, each STS mission could be streamlined even more.
58
The last indirect cost area of the STS program to be examined for reductions is in
the vehicle depot maintenance area. Most of the costs can be directly attributed to the
Palmdale facility. Operating the Palmdale facility to perform major refurbishing requires
another facility with virtually the same capabilities as the KSC processing facilities. KSC
can perform major overhauls already, and the only concern would be handling multiple
orbiters at the same time. Two orbiters can be handled in parallel, but major refurbishing
requires twelve months of service
28
. However, with the current flight rates of the shuttle
program, the Palmdale facility will be closed with refurbishment now being handled by
the Cape. Refurbishment can take place in one bay of the OPF, while normal post
processing can take place in the other.
Figure 29: Shuttle at the Palmdale Facility.
The roundtrip transfer of the shuttle to Palmdale facility costs $5.6M. It has been
estimated that between $16M and $70M could be saved each year by transferring the
refurbishment responsibilities from Palmdale to KSC. The orbiter Columbia was the last
shuttle to undergo refurbishment at Palmdale. The project had cost overruns and
eventually required seventeen months after an initial estimate of seven months. The cost
of this refurbishment jumped from $70M to $145M. After the Columbia was returned to
KSC, an additional three months of work were required before this orbiter could finally
return to service. In 1992, NASA performed studies that showed at least $30M could be
saved by moving the Palmdale facilities to KSC. However, politics prevented this
transfer to KSC due to the loss of jobs within California. In order to truly reduce the STS
59
indirect costs, politics must be ignored and what is best for the program must be
implemented.
True consolidation of the contractors would also help reduce the indirect costs of
the STS program. Original estimates by USA had pegged cost savings of $500M per
year by transferring the MSFC projects to USA’s control. As mentioned earlier, these
results were never verified by the General Accounting Office. In fact, NASA admitted
that they had not performed a true cost benefit analysis of these phase II activities and
merely assumed that transferring the contracts would produce cost savings
29
. While this
assumption that consolidation would help reduce costs is most likely correct, a cost
benefit analysis should be completed. Yet, this analysis should also include the scenario
of consolidating the contractors at KSC. It is the logistics and processing offices at KSC
that physically work with the hardware and therefore must know exactly what is
happening with it in the supply chain. They must be kept abreast of schedule and
upgrade developments so they can plan accordingly. In addition, with all of the physical
work occurring at KSC, the further consolidation of contractors and movement to KSC
would help the program. With this change, all of the manufacturers of hardware and the
offices dealing with system integration would be able to physically interact on a daily
basis. Again, changes in schedule, processing or in other areas could be met by all the
teams working on the STS program together. With the current system, the lack of
physical interaction results in less cooperation. Deming stresses that to achieve quality
within a system, there must be a high level of cooperation throughout the program
. In
1981 review of various publications, over 122 studies were collected that examined the
benefits of cooperation. In an “overwhelming number of cases cooperation was found to
improve higher achievement than competition or independent work”.
30
7.4 Complete STS Privatization
In September of 2001, Space Shuttle program manager Ron Dittemore argued
for a virtual complete transfer of shuttle services to private industry
31
. He discussed how
privatization would reduce shuttle program costs. Dittemore suggested that a company
should be created whose responsibility is to maintain the shuttle while also building
experience in space launch operations for the next generation reusable launch fleet.
60
Ideally, this company would also manage the ISS program. All civil service employees
who currently work in program management, ground operations, mission operations and
the astronauts would be transferred to this private company.
One rationale for this privatization has been the erosion of the civil service
workforce in the STS program. The article says that the loss of NASA workforce to
private industry is robbing the STS program of the necessary experience to be able to
perform the proper checks and balances. These checks and balances are the inspections
of procedures and processes that must be used in order to ensure the safety of human
space flight. Another motive for privatization is the current contract structure. Most of
the current contracts are created in such a way that short-term, profit motivated decisions
are made. There is little regard to the long term health of the STS program. This contract
structure is in direct opposition to Deming’s philosophy about long term vision. Deming
stresses that for a successful company, long term planning must always be factored into
decision making
. Dittemore also suggests that vehicle operations and processing
employees should be kept separate from hardware design. He argues that healthy tension
is needed between these groups in order to ensure that the process of checks and balances
is kept intact. There needs to be tension so that these groups will question each others’
processes and methodology on vehicle design.
The idea of privatization appears to be a good one, because it will eliminate
unnecessary waste within the system. The STS program is obviously inefficient and
private industry should be able to rectify this situation through its drive for profit.
However, there are a couple of areas for concern within this idea. First and foremost is
safety. The question arises about whether or not a private company can truly make
decisions that will reduce their “bottom line” in order to ensure safety. Even when a
design or process decision is not on the magnitude of life threatening, will the company
be able to mitigate risk properly in the face of decreasing profits or even losses. While
Dittemore did discuss an independent safety organization at NASA for oversight, this
organization must be given incredible authority to be effective. The oversight committee
must be able to stop a launch and also review many of the design and process decisions
that the private company makes. Whether a private company would accept such an
arrangement is also another question. Another concern involves the long term health and
61
goals of this private company. With the current structure of U.S. business and Wall
Street, where earnings’ reports are made each quarter, there is a question of whether long-
term decisions can be made to ensure the health and safety of the system. Regardless,
Dittemore does draw attention to the fact that the STS program is inefficient and changes
should be made.
One last point of disagreement with Dittemore’s article regards his separation of
the vehicle operations employees from the hardware designers. While the
acknowledgement is made that he has a very unique perspective on the shuttle program,
the idea of not using concurrent engineering does not appear strong. He argues that the
separation is needed for the checks and balances required within the STS program.
However concurrent engineering has resulted in many cost reductions across a whole
range of businesses. Part of Deming’s teachings to the Japanese auto makers was the
involvement of process and manufacturing engineers with the vehicle designers. The
operations employees are the people who work directly on the shuttle and therefore the
vehicle designers must be concerned with how they complete their work. If processing
the vehicle requires an employee to wear a huge cumbersome suit after undergoing an
extensive hazardous materials training course, then the vehicle designer needs to know
that using this material will result in a higher LCC. Concurrent engineering helped the
Japanese automakers reach the top of their industry. GEAE is another example; they
have applied the six sigma quality control processes with very good results. Vehicle
designers make decisions considering both manufacturability and maintainability. The
checks and balances will occur when the manufacturing engineers inform the vehicle
designers that making a certain design choice will raise the LCC versus another choice.
This is another reason for why the move of the projects office to KSC would be
beneficial. The projects office could discuss directly with the processing and operations
employees about the effects of implementing new developments in the hardware.
Throughout history, concurrent engineering has only benefited the system for which it
has been applied.
62
7.5 Total Cost Savings
System management is the largest cost to the STS program. Restructuring could
lead to savings as large as $350M. When combining this with other changes that can be
made across the system, there is the possibility for large savings within the STS program.
Using the estimates regarding logistics, another $200M could be reduced through
consolidation of stores and enhancing the logistics process. Consolidation of the
contractors would also help by moving the management of the main STS program
hardware to the same location as the managers responsible for logistics. Additionally, the
closing of the Palmdale facility should lead to savings of at least $30M per year. By
combining flight and ground operations, another $50M could possibly be saved through
reductions of overlapping responsibilities. While immediate cost savings are not realized
within the operations infrastructure area, it is believed that the possibility exists for cost
reductions. An audit to make sure that the right numbers of employees are working in
this area should be completed in order to determine possible cost reductions. Thus, there
is the possibility that $600M could be saved through management restructuring, reducing
overlapping responsibilities, consolidating contractors, combining flight and ground
operations, and moving the major refurbishment site to KSC.
A Monte Carlo simulation was performed using these estimates to show the large
possible savings. Each of the five indirect cost areas was given triangular distributions;
the ranges are listed in Table 14. For the first two areas, the minimum values used were
not as low as estimates from the previous paragraph. Additionally, the mean of these two
indirect cost areas were chosen in a conservative manner. These values were picked
using a conservative approach in order to reinforce how much money can truly be saved
in the STS program. While the true amount that can be saved from these indirect cost
areas may be disputed, by choosing conservative values, the results will not be in-doubt.
The results of the simulation are illustrated in Figure 30. Additional statistics are
listed in Table 15. While $600M is an aggressive estimate, the simulation shows that this
number may be possible, even with conservative assumptions. The mean is very close to
$600M, and the standard deviation is not very large. Finally, upon examination of the
80% confidence interval, a minimum of $548M can be saved from the STS program.
63
Table 14: Input Distributions for Monte Carlo Simulation
Minimum Mean Maximum 1994 True Value
System Mngmnt
1287 1387 1400 1486
Concept-Uniq Logistics
730 800 840 886.4
Operations Support Infrastructure
320 345 360 360.5
Traffic/Flight Control
150 170 185 199.4
Vehicle Depot Maint.
90 110 125 139
FY 1994 $M
Table 15: Statistics from the Monte Carlo Simulation
Mean Standard Deviation 80% Confidence Range
594 36.28 548-642
$M FY '94
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
493 517 540 563 586 609 632 656 679 702
Cost Savings $M FY '94
Frequency
Figure 30: Monte Carlo Simulation for Cost Savings.
The STS program has been able to reduce program costs during the last 10 years,
and therefore a study into exactly where these cost savings occurred should be performed
to determine what implementations can still be made. The reductions have not been as
large as predicted here, and therefore some areas could still be improved for efficiency
and reduced cost.
64
8.0 Future Design Recommendations
For the next generation launch vehicle, the designers must learn from the past.
The lessons learned about LCC from the manned spaceflight program must be utilized in
order to achieve the new exploration initiative. Vehicle designers can no longer simply
use the best performance design. By striving for the highest possible performance, LCC
will go up due to the use of technology that is not fully mature. This will drive up costs
due to the massive inspections needed to operate this design. Using the best technology
available for hardware will also lead to the standing army that the STS program has now.
By using high technology, skilled workers who are specially trained must be kept on the
payroll, or else new workers must constantly be trained. However, these new workers
would not have the experience and thus are prone to more errors which drive up costs.
The vehicle designers must also design for manufacturability and maintainability
(in the case of a reusable vehicle). This will lower the cost of production and aid the
launch processing team. If the launch processing team can spend fewer hours performing
pre-launch operations, additional savings can be achieved. An excellent example of this
is the use of hypergolic propellants for the OMS and RCS. If another propellant could be
used that is easier to handle and requires less training, immediate cost savings can be
accomplished. For a reusable system, maintainability is the key parameter. As Deming
points out, inspection is a total loss for the system. Therefore, building a new launch
system that is easier to maintain, with less inspections, will result in a lower LCC. This
can be achieved by using more COTS or hardware that has reached full maturity.
One of the most important lessons that should be learned from the STS program
design is how the OMB must not influence the final decision. Deming’s teachings have
proven many times that reductions in development cost can hurt the LCC of the program.
For this next generation vehicle, LCC will be one of the most important parameters.
Vehicle designers must take it upon themselves to strive for achieving the lowest LCC
possible. An example from the STS program was the use of an aluminum structure for
the orbiter instead of titanium. Since titanium could have resisted temperatures at least
another 350°F, the thermal protection system (TPS) would not have needed to be so
heavy. This would have resulted in weight savings on the orbiter, in addition to using
fewer TPS tiles. The tiles themselves are hard to manufacture and require constant
65
inspection and refurbishment. Thus, the initial savings in development of the orbiter by
using aluminum has increased the LCC of the orbiter. This kind of tradeoff must be
considered by vehicle designers for whom it is imperative to strive for a low LCC.
One more recommendation for the next generation launch system involves the use
of contractors. Deming has taught that single suppliers are always better, but this will be
hard to achieve in a system as complex as launch vehicles. Thus, the number of contracts
and contractors should be kept to a minimum where possible. An example from the STS
program is how Lockheed now operates Martin Marietta, and is also part of USA, which
manages the ground operations. Ideally, the logistics manager for the ET is able to
accomplish his work quickly and effectively due to the use of a single supplier.
However, the space industry as a whole is small, and this hurts the community. There are
not enough private contractors with the experience required of the launch vehicle industry
to be able to infuse new ideas. Many of the contractors in the future will most likely be
the major contractors used in the STS program today: Lockheed, Boeing, Thiokol, etc.
Thus, the cheapest way of doing business for them will result in heritage designs. While
this will help the LCC, a lack of innovation will always hurt the community.
The structure of the contracts awarded should also be altered slightly. Even
though there is a low production of parts, quality control should be built into the
contracts. Penalties should be assessed for requiring many inspections, and having to
order many spare parts. A program that GEAE now uses is to rent the aircraft engines to
airframe manufacturers. Using this approach, GEAE is now required to pay the bill for
maintenance, and they no longer make their money on spare parts. This could be used if
the next launch system is reusable; ideally, higher quality will be achieved since the
manufacturer of the reusable equipment would be in charge of maintenance. There is the
safety versus profit argument once again, but for this case, airplanes all over the world
have flown with minimal loss of vehicle due to engine failure. By building quality into
the contract, manufacturers would be pushed to use the suppliers that have the highest
quality. Deming has pointed out that if a company knows there will be lots of inspection
for which there is no cost to the company, then the lowest bid on parts may win the
supplier contract. Using quality will eliminate this practice and require contractors to use
the suppliers that will lower the LCC. One last idea for contract structure is to reward the
66
contractors for the ease of maintainability. If the vehicle design can be processed quickly
without large degradations in performance, then this should be rewarded. All future
contracts should have clauses that can reward for helping to reduce the LCC of the
system.
8.1 A Future Launch Vehicle System
With the goal of reducing LCC, one idea for the next generation launch system is
to use expendable launch vehicles. Currently, two launch vehicles that would suffice are
almost reaching the test phase. In addition, they are already being developed with human
cargo in mind
32
. These launch vehicles are the Atlas V heavy configuration (although
Lockheed claims there non-heavy configuration would work), and the Delta IV heavy
configuration. The Delta IV could be used for launching both payload and human cargo.
An initial estimate of the Delta IV heavy is $170M (FY ’98)
33
. The cargo capacity of this
launch vehicle to the ISS is 51,000 [lb]. The space shuttle can only carry 35,400 [lb].
The Delta can therefore launch more payload for much less money than it costs the STS
program.
Figure 31: Delta IV Heavy Preparing to be Loaded Vertically onto the Launch Pad.
67
If future launch human launch rates hold, then approximately four human
launches will occur per year. An assumption is made that the Delta IV heavy would not
be able to carry both cargo and a human crew. Therefore, three cargo launches and four
human launches of the Delta IV would need to occur to match STS capability. This
results in a launch cost of $1.2B per year. However, development will be needed in order
to ensure that human space flights can take place on the Delta IV heavy. This will drive
up the price of a man-rated version. Another assumption is made that a man version of
the Delta IV heavy may cost $300M. Now the launch cost would reach $1.7B. This is
still much cheaper than the current STS program. However, the crew exploration vehicle
(CEV) must still be developed. The orbiter development costs are not included in the
current program budget since they have already been paid for. Thus, only the recurring
CEV cost will be considered. The cost of an Apollo command service module was
$277M (FY ’03)
34
. If the new launch system was an Apollo type architecture, then an
additional $1.1B for the service modules must be added in. However, the launch cost per
year is still only $3.2B, which is over $0.5B less than the current STS program. There
will be additional recurring costs that must be included, such as the operation support
infrastructure, and the cost for oversight inherit in any manned space mission. Also, the
launch pad situation at KSC must be evaluated to determine if the launch rate can be
accommodated. However, it is highly doubtful that the next generation Apollo capsule
would cost so much with the knowledge the community has gained. Thus, even this
quick estimate on a new architecture has provided a lower program cost per year, and that
was using very high cost estimates.
This Apollo style architecture was a simple estimate of the costs of an idea for the
next generation launch vehicle. If further cost controls can be implemented in this style
of architecture, such as building quality into the future CEV, then the total LCC will be
lower than the current STS program. If the CEV is chosen to be a reusable vehicle, then
it must truly be a reusable vehicle. While the STS is technically a reusable vehicle, since
the airframe is flown over and over again into space, the processing and refurbishing that
must take place after each mission makes the orbiter turnaround complex. A turnaround
time of three months will not be acceptable for the next generation launch vehicle. The
requirement of such a large skilled workforce is also unacceptable in order to achieve the
68
space initiative. The launch system must be streamlined with as little inefficiency as
possible in order to achieve low LCC for access to space.
Figure 32: Shuttle Undergoing Routine Processing in the OPF.
69
9.0 Conclusions and Future Work
9.1 Conclusions
There are inefficiencies occurring in the STS program. These inefficiencies
cannot be tolerated; the LCC of this program must be continually reduced so that the new
space initiative can proceed. Ideas for rooting out the inefficiency include:
• Restructure management across the STS organization. The systems management
area represented 44% of the total STS program cost in 1994.
• Consolidating the contractors and logistics is another way to rid the STS program
of cost wastefulness. Better supply chain management would result in more
savings to the STS program.
• Combine flight and ground operations at KSC. With the dual launch operations
centers at KSC and JSC, duplicity is occurring within the program that can be
removed.
• Continue with closing the Palmdale facility. All future refurbishment will take
place at KSC.
Figure 33 illustrates a summary of the cost savings resulting from the ideas presented in
this paper. The first bar is the baseline 1994 STS program, while the next bars show
results from reducing cost in that indirect area. Moving to the right reduces the program
cost further until each area has been considered. This chart is meant to be read as a
Pareto chart, showing in order where the largest cost reductions can be achieved.
The Monte Carlo simulation further validated these results. Using conservative
estimates a mean savings of $594 M (FY ’94) was achieved. The 80 percent confidence
bands showed that a minimum of $548 M could be saved in the STS program. Again,
this analysis was completed using the 1994 STS program figures. There have been some
reductions in cost as well as manpower, and therefore more work must be done to
determine the exactly where additional savings can be achieved. With the return to flight
scheduled by fiscal year 2005, and the budget for that year easily exceeding the 1994
budget with a lowered flight rate, there are still cost reductions can and should be made.
70
2500
2600
2700
2800
2900
3000
3100
3200
3300
3400
3500
Bas
e
l
in
e
Mn
g
m
n
t R
e
stru
ct
u
ri
n
g
Logi
s
t
i
cs Cons
o
lidation
Traffic/Flight Control
V
e
hi
c
le
D
e
p
o
t
Ma
i
nt
.
S
u
p
p
o
r
t
I
nf
r
as
t
ru
ct
u
re
Indirect Cost Area
STS Program Cost $M FY 1994
Figure 33: Summary of Indirect Cost Region Reduction
Drawing on an idea from the field of optimization, a DSM was used to illustrate
the inefficiency of the current management structure. A new structure was proposed that
had less iteration loops so that the overall efficiency of the structure can be increased.
Another solution within the systems management division was to eliminate duplicate
roles. The workforce has dropped by over 10,000 since the 1994 STS employee
breakdown, so this may not result in a high amount of savings. However, the possibility
71
still exists that by determining overlapping responsibilities within management, cost
reductions can be made.
Finally, by changing the method of working with contractors, further cost
reductions may be available. The number of contractors should be kept to a minimum;
system optimization will be much easier to achieve with a reduction in the number of
different companies. Additionally, by altering the contract structure a reduction in the
LCC could be achieved. The goal would be to try to build quality into the contract, and
making the contractors responsible for the usage of spare parts. These ideas should be
explored because the STS program will be operating until 2010; therefore, any reductions
in cost can be used on the new and exciting space initiative.
The future launch vehicle system must learn from the past about LCC. The idea
of reduced development costs in favor of higher costs down the road is no longer
tolerable. The public will be wary of a high cost of the new space initiative, so reducing
the LCC of the next generation launch vehicle is crucial. If this requires a higher
development cost than another option, then the effect of LCC must be explained to the
public and Congress. The overall LCC must be shown to be lower in order to receive
support. Then NASA must act upon its promise and prove that the LCC will be lower.
This will occur as long as the vehicle designers are focused on a low LCC objective,
while also achieving safe, human spaceflight. By focusing on LCC, the need for a large
standing army of workers should be reduced substantially. The logistics of planning the
manufacturing and acquisition schedule will also be considered. The method of storing
spares and the use of COTS should further reduce the LCC. Finally, by creating a system
that is superior in its maintainability than the current launch system, a reduction will
occur in both the possibility of failure and LCC.
NASA has a challenging mission in the years ahead. The goal will be to balance
the support of the public and Congress with the requirements to carry out the new
exploration initiative. By focusing on LCC, both objectives can be achieved. This is an
exciting time to be an aerospace engineer working the in the space community. The
opportunity is at hand for innovation and fresh thinking to lead the U.S. into a new space
era. This cannot happen without learning from the past, and using those lessons to make
our space future even brighter. The future of the U.S. involvement in space is being
72
decided right now, by the selections we make, and therefore we cannot afford to choose
incorrectly. By learning from our previous experience in human space flight, these
decisions will be made properly in order to lead us to destinations never before
conceivable.
9.2 Future Work
This project has barely scratched the surface of a whole host of topics that can be
studied to further reduce LCC. The first area for future work is to perform the cost
benefit analysis of moving the MSFC projects office to JSC as previously planned. The
next step would be to examine what would happen if the office is moved to KSC instead.
Another step for the cost-benefit analysis is to examine the effects of moving MCC to
KSC. The duplicity of roles between the two installations in the area of launch operation
should be further scrutinized. Additionally, more investigation into the roles of the
institution and operation of installation employees should be completed. This inquiry
should delve into the exact responsibilities of these employees. Another query should be
performed to determine where the reduction in STS workforce from 1994 to now has
occurred. The STS breakdown in 1994 is extremely insightful, but having a current
version would be better.
The supply chain and logistics concerns of the STS program should also be
studied more carefully. There are most likely many suppliers of parts to this program, so
the goal will be to look for further consolidation. It would not be surprising to learn that
varying field centers used different suppliers for the same type of service. Furthermore,
the effects of design decisions on logistics planning should be studied. An example is the
use of a certain propellant or material. Possibly choosing one type of material would
result in less of a logistics challenge versus a different type of material. The performance
effect between these two choices could be slight, so the one that results in a lower LCC
should be chosen. Even more interesting would be if there was a definite difference
between the performances of selecting one design over another. How they match up in
LCC, whether this savings is truly worth the degradation in performance, and how
exactly to determine this tradeoff would be an intriguing topic for study. Many more
STS program decisions could be investigated in this manner. One example would be the
73
use of hypergolic propellants on the orbiter and what ramifications this choice had later
on in the orbiter’s life.
A very interesting area for study is to further Deming’s idea that inspection causes
loss to the system. Launching people to space is one of the most technologically
challenging activities that the human race has performed. However, the reason for the
high number of inspections should be investigated. There may be a way to root out
variability in many of the hardware parts so that they can be expected to function
with“six sigma” reliability. GEAE has honed their practice to reduce many defects and
result in better maintainability. While launch vehicles are obviously more complex, there
must be better processes that can be used in order to reduce inspections and maintenance.
One thing that would help the STS program is using fully matured technology.
Constantly upgrading the system without reaching a freeze of design will continually
cause the need for high inspections and maintenance. The benefits of using technology
that is not fully mature should be evaluated, along with the benefits of upgrading this
technology. While upgrades are nice to have, the effect they have on the LCC must be
determined. If the LCC goes higher, then the true benefit of the system must be re-
evaluated. Safety upgrades are very hard to quantify, and therefore make the decision of
upgrading even tougher. Also, the hardware within the STS program should be evaluated
to determine what effort will be required to reach full maturity. Once this maturity is
reached, standardization of practices can occur, which will result in a lower LCC.
However, if reaching full maturity will outweigh the savings in LCC, then there will be
no benefit in accomplishing this task. This is important for the STS program, which has a
finite life span.
A large problem with Deming’s teachings is that they were made for the
manufacturing sector. It is much tougher to implement his ideas in an area where
production rates are low. However, there must be a point, using a frozen design, where
enough hardware can be produced so that the process is refined to reduce the variability,
and therefore the need for inspection. This point may possibly be unrealistic because the
manufacturing process cannot root out variation until the 500
th
unit is produced.
However, if this point can be reached at much lower levels, for example the 100
th
unit,
then the cost of producing these units versus the savings they will create in LCC should
74
be studied. This idea would require the standardization within a new launch vehicle so
that there is no difference between the first piece of sub-hardware and the 20
th
piece of
sub-hardware. However, in order to achieve low LCC, this must be the case. By rooting
out variation, and being able to know with high degrees of accuracy the reliability of the
hardware, the need for inspections should be reduced.
75
10.0 References
1) McClesky, Carey M., “Identifying STS Cost and Cycle Time”, SLI Architecture
Group, presentation, August 21, 2002.
2) Heppenheimer, T.A., The Space Shuttle Decision, 1965-1972, Smithsonian Institution
Press, Washington D.C., 2002.
3) Gross Domestic Product Deflator Inflation Calculator,
www.jsc.nasa.gov/bu2/inflateGDP.html.
4) The Space Shuttle program, Wikipedia Encyclopedia,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_shuttle#The_Shuttle_decision.
5) NASA, “The Best We Can Be”, NASA Report: NASA-TM-101781, 1989.
6) Dethloff, H.C., Suddenly, Tomorrow Came…A History of the Johnson Space Center,
NASA history series, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, 1993.
7) JSC Digital Image Collection, http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/search/search.cgi.
8) Gehman, H.W. and others, “Columbia Accident Investigation Board Report”, NASA,
Washington D.C., August 2003.
www.caib.us/news/report/pdf/vol1/full/caib_report_volume1.pdf.
9) Swenson, Jr., L. and others, This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury, NASA
history series, 1989.
10) Grimwood, J.M., Project Mercury: A Chronology, NASA Special Publication 4001
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4001/p2a.htm.
11) Hacker, B.C. and Grimwood, J.M., On the Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project
Gemini, NASA history series, 1977.
12) Hacker, B.C., Grimwood, J.M., and others, Project Gemini: Technology and
Operations, NASA history series, 1969, Washington D.C.
13) Brooks, C.G., Grimwood , J. M., Swenson, L. S., Chariots for Apollo: A History of
Manned Lunar Spacecraft, NASA history series, 1979.
14) NASA, “Report of the Space Shuttle Management Independent Review Team”,
NASA Report: NASA-TM-110579, 1995.
15) NASA Office of the Inspector General Review, Vol 2., No. 1, May 2000
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oig/hq/review3.pdf.
76
16) NASA Office of the Inspector General, Audit Memorandum, March 14, 2000,
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oig/hq/ig-00-015.pdf.
17) HRST, “A Catalog of Spaceport Architectural Elements”, NASA document, October
1997.
18) Zapata, Edgar, “WBS STS v.3”, NASA.
19) NASA, “Space Shuttle: 2001 Annual Report”
www.t2spflnasa.r3h.net/shuttle/reference/2001_shuttle_ar.pdf.
20) NASA, “Space Shuttle: 2000 Annual Report”,
www.t2spflnasa.r3h.net/shuttle/reference/2000_shuttle_ar.pdf.
21) Deming, W.E., The New Economics, MIT Center for Advanced Engineering Study,
Cambridge, MA, 1993.
22) General Mills Business release, biz.yahoo.com/bw/040316/165460_1.html.
23) Federal Express earnings,
www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/markets/ericgillin/10149185.html.
24) Staton, E.J., “Developing the Operational Requirements for the Next Generation
Launch Vehicle and Spaceport”, Georgia Institute of Technology Space Systems Design
Lab, April 2002.
25) Hodge, S.M., and McClain, M.L., “Logistics: Consolidating for the Future”, AIAA
Space Programs and Technologies Conference, AIAA Paper 95-3571, September, 1995.
26) Breyfogle III, F.W., Implementing Six Sigma: Smarter Solutions Using Statistical
Methods, 2nd ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, 2003.
27) Rumerman, J.A., NASA Historical Data Book: Volume VI, NASA History Office,
Washington D.C., 2000.
28) Halvorson, T., “Shuttle Overhaul Work Headed to Florida from California”,
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/shuttle_020205.html.
29) Office of Inspector General, “NASA OIG Review”, May 2000,
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oig/hq/review3.pdf.
30) Aguayo, R., Dr. Deming: The American Who Taught the Japanese About Quality,
Carol Publishing Group, New York, NY, 1990.
31) Dittemore, R., “Concept of Privatization of the Space Shuttle Program”, NASA,
September, 2001, http://www.nasawatch.com/shuttle/09.28.01.privatization.plan.pdf.
77
32) Kridler, C., “First Delta 4 Heavy Moved to Cape Launch Pad”,
www.space.com/missionlaunches/fl_delta4_031210.html.
33) Isakowitz, S.J., Hopkins Jr., J.P., Hopkins, J.B., International Reference Guide to
Space Launch Systems, AIAA, Reston, VA, 1999.
34) Wade, M., “Apollo CSM”, www.astronautix.com/craft/apolocsm.htm.
35) Isakowitz, S.J., Hopkins Jr., J.P., Hopkins, J.B., International Reference Guide to
Space Launch Systems, AIAA, Reston, VA, 1999.
36) Magee, J.F., Copacino, W.C., Rosenfield, D.B., Modern Logistics Management, John
Wiley & Sons, New York, NY, 1985.
78
Appendix A: STS 1994 Workforce Breakdown
ID 1994 STS WBS
8 Flt/Year
Baseline
Headcount
Shuttle Operations 28,311
TOTAL EXTERNAL TANK 2,376
Mission Analysis 209
ET01 Launch Support Services 49
ET02 Flight Support 128
ET03 Technical Directives 32
Production 2041
ET04 Build and Support 1710
ET05 Facilities Self-Sustaining 331
Project Support 126
Plant Operations 0
ET06 Replacement Equipment 0
ET07 Utilities 0
ET08 Rehab Equipment 0
ET09 Special Studies 0
Logistics 0
ET10 Refurbishment 0
ET11 ET Transportation 0
ET12 Government Bills of Lading 0
ET13 Pressurants 0
MAF Communications 14
ET14 Labor 14
ET15 GSA FTS 0
ET16 Maintenance 0
ET16 Equipment/Supplies/Materials 0
79
ET17 Local Phone Service 0
Slidell Computer Complex 106
ET18 ADPE Purchases 0
ET19 Labor 106
ET20 ADPE Lease/Maintenance 0
Technical Evaluation and Analysis 6
ET21 Science and Engineering 0
ET22 Rockwell Support 0
ET23 Computer Labor Support 6
TOTAL SOLID ROCKET MOTOR (SRM) 2,727
SRM01 Sustaining Engineering 632
SRM02
Touch & Support for Manufacturing
& Refurbishment Labor 2095
SRM03 SRM Propellant 0
SRM04 Expendable/Reusable Hardware 0
SRM05 Tooling Maintenance & Computer Support 0
SRM06 Freight 0
SRM07 Institutional Support 0
TOTAL SOLID ROCKET BOOSTER (SRB) 985
SRB01 Touch & Support Labor 440
SRB02 Expendable/Reusable Hardware 0
SRB03 Sustaining Engineering & Management 489
SRB04 Vendor Refurbishment of Reusable H/W 0
SRB05 Travel, Computer & ODC 0
SRB06 KSC Support, Comm. & Sys Analysis 56
TOTAL ENGINE (Sustaining Engineering) 599
SME01 Flight Support 186
SME02 Anomaly Resolution 143
80
SME03 Inventory Management & Warehousing 44
SME04 Hardware Rerfurbishment 98
SME05 New Hardware Spares 128
SME06 Transportation 0
TOTAL ORBITER & GFE (JSC) 1174
ORB01 Sustaining Engineering & Launch Spt 693
Orbiter Support 408
ORB02 PICS 2
ORB03 NASA Std Initiators (NSI) 3
ORB04 Pyros, Standard Operations 13
ORB05 RMS-Ops & Support 26
ORB06 RMS-Sustaining Engineering 38
ORB07 RMS-Program Management 14
ORB08 FCE Operations Management 4
ORB09 EMU/EVA Field Support/O&R 10
ORB10 EMU Logistics 10
ORB11 FEPC Tasks 283
ORB12 SSA Provisions (FEPC) 3
ORB13 Parachute Maintenance 2
ORB14 Flight Data Support 42
ORB15 Orbiter /ET Disconnects 31
TOTAL ORBITER LOGISTICS & GSE (KSC) 1111
LOG01 Spares 222
LOG02 Overhaul & Repair 431
LOG03
Manpower to Support Logistics,
Procurement, Engineering 276
LOG04 Tile Spares & Maintenance 153
LOG05 GSE Sustaining Engineering 29
81
TOTAL PROPELLANT (KSC Launch Ops) 0
PROP Propellant 0
TOTAL LAUNCH OPERATIONS (KSC) 7552
Shuttle Processing 2864
Orbiter Operations 1797
KSC01 Orbiter Maintenance 807
KSC02 Orbiter Shop Operations 117
KSC03 Orbiter Modifications 89
KSC04 Orbiter Landing Operations 107
KSC05 Orbiter Processing Support 398
KSC06 Orbiter Tile Operations 279
SRB Operations 251
KSC07 SRB Processing Operations 75
KSC08 SRB Stacking 74
KSC09 SRB Retrieval & Disassembly Operations 51
KSC10 SRB Shop Operations 25
KSC11 SRB Modifications 1
KSC12 SRB Processing Support 25
ET Operations 67
KSC13 ET Processing Operations 45
KSC14 ET Shop Operations 5
KSC15 ET Modifications 2
KSC16 ET Processing Support 15
Launch Operations 601
KSC17 Integrated Vehicle Servicing 181
KSC18 Integrated Vehicle Test & Launch Ops 259
KSC19 Launch Operations Support 161
Payload Operations 148
KSC20 Payload Integration and Support Services 148
KSC21 Payload Operations Support 0
82
Systems Engineering/Support 171
KSC22 Engineering Services 62
KSC23 Systems Engineeering 109
Facility Operations & Maintenance 1301
KSC24 Facility O&M Support Operations 235
Facility Maintenance 684
KSC25 OPF Maintenance 70
KSC26 HMF Maintenance 21
KSC27 VAB Maintenance 62
KSC28 LCC Maintenance 8
KSC29 MLP Maintenance 95
KSC30 Transporter Maintenance 26
KSC31 PAD A Maintenance 135
KSC32 PAD B Maintenance 147
KSC33 SLS Maintenance 7
KSC34 CLS Maintenance 1
KSC35 Logistics Facilities Maintenance 10
KSC36 RPSF Maintenance 10
KSC37 SRB Retrieval Vessel Maintenance 16
KSC38 Miscellaneous Facility Maintenance 66
KSC39 Dredging Operations 0
KSC40 Processing Control Center Maintenance 6
KSC41 OSB Maintenance 4
Launch Equipment Shops (LES) 109
KSC42 Launch Equipment Shops (LES) 76
KSC43 Decontamination/Cleaning/Refurb/Shops 2
KSC44 Janitorial Services 1
KSC45 Corrosion Control 30
KSC46 Facility Systems 56
KSC47 Maintenance Service Contracts 0
KSC48 Inventory Spares and Repair 8
83
System Equipment $209.0
KSC49 SE Maintenance 209
KSC50 SE Acquisition 0
KSC50.1 Capital Equipment Procurements 0
LPS/Instrumentation & Calibration (I&C) 696
LPS Engineering and Software 158
KSC51 LPS Engineering 40
KSC52 LPS S/W Development & Maintenance 69
KSC53 LPS Software Production 49
LPS O&M 397
KSC54 Checkout, Control & Monitor Subsystem 168
KSC55 CDS Operations 66
KSC56 Record & Playback System O&M 48
KSC57 LPS Maintenance/Support Engineering 115
Instrumentation & Calibration 141
KSC58 Instrumentation 101
KSC59 Calibration 40
Modifications 157
KSC60 OPF Modifications 19
KSC61 HMF Modifications 2
KSC62 VAB Modifications 6
KSC63 LCC Modifications 1
KSC64 MLP Modifications 4
KSC65 Transporter Modifications 0
KSC66 PAD A Modifications 5
KSC67 PAD B Modifications 4
KSC68 SLS Modifications 0
KSC69 CLS Modifications 0
KSC70 RPSF Modifications 1
KSC71 Miscellaneous Facility Modifications 10
KSC72 SE Modifications 6
84
KSC73 LPS Hardware Modifications 99
KSC74 Istrumentation & Calibration Modifications 0
KSC75 Communication Modifications 0
KSC76 PAD B Block Modification 0
Technical Operations Support 1019
Safety, Reliability, Maintainability & Quality 282
KSC77 Safety 108
KSC78 Reliability 32
KSC79 Quality Assurance 142
Logistics 218
KSC80 Logistics Engineering 48
KSC81 Systems & Audit 13
KSC82 Receiving Service Center 0
KSC83 Supply 117
KSC84 Transportation 40
KSC85 Procurement Service Center 0
Facility/SE Engineering 233
KSC86 Systems Integration/Design Engineering 165
KSC87 Special Engineering Projects 35
KSC88 Ground Systems Change Control 33
KSC89 Technical Data/Documentations Service 0
Operations Management 89
KSC90 Manifest Planning 46
KSC91 Flt Element/Mission-Related Change Ctl 25
KSC92 Configuration Management Office 18
KSC93 Non-IWCS H/W, S/W and Maintenance 6
KSC94 Launch Team Training System (LTTS) Pgm 22
Integ Work Ctl System (IWCS) Development 169
KSC95 IWCS Shop Floor Control Project 26
KSC96 IWCS Work Preparation Support System 17
KSC97 IWCS Automated Reqments Management 11
85
KSC98 IWCS Computer Aided Schedule & Planning 19
KSC99 IWCS Project Integration 10
KSC100 IWCS Operations, Management & Support 86
Program Operations Support 430
Program Administration 158
KSC101 Contract/Financial Management 69
KSC102 Management Planning & Procedures 14
KSC103 Team Member Management/Administration 75
KSC104 Training 204
Human Resources 68
KSC105 Security 67
KSC106 Human Resources Service Center 1
Communications 327
KSC107 Voice Communications O&M 120
KSC108 Wideband Transmission & Navaids O&M 97
KSC109 Cable and Wire O&M 45
KSC110 Communications Support 49
KSC111 OIS-D Implementation 16
KSC112 Base Operations Contract (BOC) 208
KSC113 Launch Support Services 350
KSC114 Weather Support 29
TOTAL PAYLOAD OPERATIONS (KSC) 378
KSC115 P/L Transportation & Interface Verification 318
KSC116 P/L Processing GSE Sustaining Engrg 60
TOTAL MISSION OPERATIONS (JSC) 3118
Mission Operations Facilities 1546
JSC01 Control Center Operations 667
JSC02 Integrated Training Facility Operations 285
JSC03 Integrated Planning System Operations 71
86
JSC04 Shuttle Avionics Integration Lab (SAIL) 228
JSC05 Flight Operations Trainer 42
JSC06 Software Production/Software Dev. Facility 208
JSC07 Mockup & Integration Lab 12
JSC08 Control Center Systems Division 21
JSC09 Integrated Planning System Office 8
JSC10 Simulator and Traininbg Systems Division 4
JSC11 STSOC Material 0
Mission Planning & Operations 928
JSC12 Systems Division 184
JSC13 Ops Division 131
JSC14 Training Divivion 125
JSC15 Flight Design Division 424
JSC16 Recon Division 64
Program & Doc. Support/Management 644
JSC17 STSOC Support 554
JSC18 Flight Software Support 31
JSC19 Shuttle Data Support 29
JSC20 MOD Directorate Office 30
TOTAL CREW OPERATIONS (JSC) 327
Aircraft Maintenance & Ops $279.0
JSC21 T-38 Training Aircraft 159
JSC22 Shuttle Training Aircraft 111
JSC23 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft 9
JSC24 Heavy Aircraft Training 0
JSC25 Astronaut Support 0
JSC26 STSOC Flt Crew Ops Directorate Support 48
JSC27 TOTAL CREW TRAINING & MEDICAL OPS (JSC)191
87
TOTAL PROGRAM OFFICE/HEADQUARTERS 1046
Program Office 1012
STS01 Management, SE&I, Flight Analysis 494
STS02 Payload Integration 257
STS03 STSOC Mission Integration Support 56
STS04 Other Support 11
STS05 Landing Site Support 5
STS06 Config Mgmt, Mission Verif, & PRCB 54
STS07 ADP Facility & Ops, MIC Support, Publications 123
STS08 ADP Equipment 0
STS09 Program Office Support 12
Headquarters $34.0
HQ01 Systems Engineering & Integration Support 34
HQ02 Auditing Services Tax 0
HQ03 EEE Parts Program 0
TOTAL INSTITUTION 5328
Institution JSC 1662
CS01 CS Direct Labor & Travel 798
CS02 CS Indirect Labor & Travel 166
CS03 Operation of Installation 698
Institution MSFC 749
CS04 CS Direct Labor & Travel 242
CS05 CS Indirect Labor & Travel 37
CS06 Operation of Installation 470
Institution KSC 2197
CS07 CS Direct Labor & Travel 974
CS08 CS Indirect Labor & Travel 188
CS09 Operation of Installation 1035
Institution Headquarters 615
CS10 Operation of Installation 615
88
Institution SSC 105
CS11 Operation of Installation 105
TOTAL PMS 380
PMS01 MSFC 100
PMS02 JSC 165
PMS03 KSC 100
PMS04 SSC 15
TOTAL NETWORK SUPPORT 0
NET01 Tracking, Telemetry, Comm. & Data Processing
TOTAL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING 1019
MSFC Propulsion Systems Engineering 248
Institutional Program Support 97
SYS01 Computer/SPO 27
SYS02 Data Reduction 40
SYS03 Information Servvices/HOSC 24
SYS04 Information Services Direct 5
SYS05 Facilities 1
Science & Engineering 59
SYS06 Technical Tasks 7
SYS07 Mission Operations (EO) HOSC 52
SYS08 Weather Support 4
General Shuttle Support (Integ. Contractor) 88
SYS09 Rockwell Prime 68
SYS10 Administrative Operations Support 9
SYS11 Small Business (Facility & HOSC Equip) 11
JSC Engineering Directorate 545
SYS12 Engineering Analysis 143
SYS13 Flight Software Support 402
89
SYS14 White Sands Test Facility 108
SYS15 JSC Center Ops 67
SYS16 Ames 51
90
Appendix D: Endnotes
1
McClesky, Carey M., “Identifying STS Cost and Cycle Time”, SLI Architecture Group, presentation,
August 21, 2002.
2
Heppenheimer, T.A., The Space Shuttle Decision, 1965-1972, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington
D.C., 2002.
3
Gross Domestic Product Deflator Inflation Calculator, www.jsc.nasa.gov/bu2/inflateGDP.html.
4
The Space Shuttle program, Wikipedia Encyclopedia,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_shuttle#The_Shuttle_decision.
5
NASA, “The Best We Can Be”, NASA Report: NASA-TM-101781, 1989.
6
Dethloff, H.C., Suddenly, Tomorrow Came…A History of the Johnson Space Center, NASA history
series, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, 1993.
7
JSC Digital Image Collection, http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/search/search.cgi.
8
Gehman, H.W. and others, “Columbia Accident Investigation Board Report”, NASA, Washington D.C.,
August 2003. www.caib.us/news/report/pdf/vol1/full/caib_report_volume1.pdf.
9
Swenson, Jr., L. and others, This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury, NASA history series, 1989.
10
Grimwood, J.M., Project Mercury: A Chronology, NASA Special Publication 4001
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4001/p2a.htm.
11
Hacker, B.C. and Grimwood, J.M., On the Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project Gemini, NASA
history series, 1977.
12
Hacker, B.C., Grimwood, J.M., and others, Project Gemini: Technology and Operations, NASA history
series, 1969, Washington D.C.
13
Brooks, C.G., Grimwood , J. M., Swenson, L. S., Chariots for Apollo: A History of Manned Lunar
Spacecraft, NASA history series, 1979.
14
NASA, “Report of the Space Shuttle Management Independent Review Team”, NASA Report: NASA-
TM-110579, 1995.
15
NASA Office of the Inspector General Review, Vol 2., No. 1, May 2000
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oig/hq/review3.pdf.
16
NASA Office of the Inspector General, Audit Memorandum, March 14, 2000,
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oig/hq/ig-00-015.pdf.
17
HRST, “A Catalog of Spaceport Architectural Elements”, NASA document, October 1997.
18
Zapata, Edgar, “WBS STS v.3”, NASA.
19
NASA, “Space Shuttle: 2001 Annual Report”
www.t2spflnasa.r3h.net/shuttle/reference/2001_shuttle_ar.pdf.
20
NASA, “Space Shuttle: 2000 Annual Report”,
www.t2spflnasa.r3h.net/shuttle/reference/2000_shuttle_ar.pdf.
92
21
Deming, W.E., The New Economics, MIT Center for Advanced Engineering Study, Cambridge, MA,
1993.
22
General Mills Business release, biz.yahoo.com/bw/040316/165460_1.html.
23
Federal Express earnings, www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/markets/ericgillin/10149185.html.
24
Staton, E.J., “Developing the Operational Requirements for the Next Generation Launch Vehicle and
Spaceport”, Georgia Institute of Technology Space Systems Design Lab, April 2002.
25
Hodge, S.M., and McClain, M.L., “Logistics: Consolidating for the Future”, AIAA Space Programs and
Technologies Conference, AIAA Paper 95-3571, September, 1995.
26
Breyfogle III, F.W., Implementing Six Sigma: Smarter Solutions Using Statistical Methods, 2
nd
ed., John
Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, 2003.
27
Rumerman, J.A., NASA Historical Data Book: Volume VI, NASA History Office, Washington D.C.,
2000.
28
Halvorson, T., “Shuttle Overhaul Work Headed to Florida from California”,
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/shuttle_020205.html.
29
Office of Inspector General, “NASA OIG Review”, May 2000,
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oig/hq/review3.pdf.
30
Aguayo, R., Dr. Deming: The American Who Taught the Japanese About Quality, Carol Publishing
Group, New York, NY, 1990.
31
Dittemore, R., “Concept of Privatization of the Space Shuttle Program”, NASA, September, 2001,
http://www.nasawatch.com/shuttle/09.28.01.privatization.plan.pdf.
32
Kridler, C., “First Delta 4 Heavy Moved to Cape Launch Pad”,
www.space.com/missionlaunches/fl_delta4_031210.html.
33
Isakowitz, S.J., Hopkins Jr., J.P., Hopkins, J.B., International Reference Guide to Space Launch Systems,
AIAA, Reston, VA, 1999.
34
Wade, M., “Apollo CSM”, www.astronautix.com/craft/apolocsm.htm.
93
