International Space Station: U.S. Life-Cycle Funding Requirements.
Abstract
As requested, we reviewed issues associated with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) International Space Station program. As agreed with your office, this report (1) provides an estimate of the station's development, assembly, and operations costs and compares this estimate with the estimate in our June 1995 report; (2) identifies program uncertainties that may affect those costs; (3) discusses potential debris tracking costs; (4) discusses the status of program reserves; and (5) describes recent actions to measure prime contractor performance based on rebaselined information. NASA and its international partners--Japan, Canada, the European Space Agency, and Russia-are building the space station as a permanently orbiting laboratory to conduct materials and life sciences research, earth observation and commercial utilization, and related uses under nearly weightless conditions. Each partner is providing station hardware and crew members and is expected to share operating costs and use of the station. The NASA space station program manager is responsible for the cost, schedule, and technical performance of the total program. The Boeing Corporation, the prime contractor, is responsible for development, integration, and on-orbit performance of the station. By the end of 1997, the United States and its partners had produced well over 358,000 pounds of space flight hardware, of which the prime contractor was responsible for about 260,000 pounds.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA347352
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office