NASA’s Commercial Crew Program
Returning America to Human Spaceflight
Steve Stich
Program Manager
NASA Commercial Crew Program
Sponsored by PSW Science Member Adarsh Deepak
Video
About the Lecture
This lecture will be about NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. It will provide an overview of the program and its implementation of successful public-private partnerships. Lessons learned from these successes and ways that they can be applied to other programs will be discussed.
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program was formed to facilitate the development of a US commercial crew space transportation capability, with the goal of achieving safe, reliable and cost-effective access to and from the International Space Station and low-Earth orbit. NASA and industry have invested substantial time, money and resources in the Program in the successful and still-ongoing development of commercial human space transportation systems, including the SpaceX Crew Dragon system and the Boeing Starliner system. The Program’s technical, policy, and financial challenges and opportunities will be discussed, together with the complexities of the arrangements, agreements and contracts required to implement the program and carry out its operations. The lecture will discuss how the Program has stimulated economic growth and the creation and development of new space markets. The lecture will also discuss ways in which the Program augments NASA’s ability to support broader government efforts to stimulate the LEO space market and to achieve its goal to be one of many customers – both government and private – of commercial spaceflight services.
Bibliography
https://www.nasa.gov/leo-economy/low-earth-orbit-economy
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/commleodevt_plan_6-7-19_final1.pdf
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/economic-development-of-low-earth-orbit_tagged_v2.pdf
About the Speaker
Steve Stich is the Program Manager for the Commercial Crew Program (CCP). He leads and directs business, technical management, and integration of the Program with NASA’s partners, Boeing and SpaceX. He is responsible for implementation of CCP’s objectives, consistent with NASA’s exploration strategy. He establishes and implements program policy; provides management direction of the program and strategic vision, leadership, and guidance in areas of policy, planning, internal and external agreements, contract management, cost management, risk management, knowledge management, program processes, and organizational efficiencies. He also leads collaborative relationships with other agencies and organizations, including the Federal Aviation Administration, the Launch Services Program, and various Technical Authorities for Engineering, Safety and Mission Assurance.
Prior to his current position Steve served in a variety of capacities during over 34 years with NASA, including Deputy Manager, Commercial Crew Program; Director, Exploration Integration and Science Directorate, Johnson Space Center (JSC); Deputy Director JSC Engineering; Asteroid Redirect Mission Integrated Crewed Mission Lead; and Space Shuttle Flight Director, among others.
Steve has been named Federal Engineer of the Year, NASA, been awarded the Silver Snoopy, and he received three NASA Exceptional Leadership Medals as well as Numerous Outstanding Performance and Group Achievement Awards
Steve earned his BS in aerospace engineering from Texas A&M University.