Sep 28 2006
From The Space Library
The crew of ISS Expedition 13 returned to Earth. Commander Pavel V. Vinogradov and Science Officer Jeffrey N. Williams landed in their Soyuz TMA-8 spacecraft near the Russian city of Arkalyk. Accompanying Vinogradov and Williams was spaceflight participant Anousheh Ansari, who had flown to the ISS with the crew of Expedition 14 on 18 September 2006.
NASA, “International Space Station Status Report,” status report SS06-042, 28 September 2006, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/sep/HQ_SS06042_station_status.html (accessed 18 March 2010).
The House Committee on Science held a hearing to examine NASA’s development of the Orion CEV, NASA’s planned replacement for the Space Shuttle. Hearing witness Allen Li of GAO testified that NASA had contracted with Lockheed Martin to develop Orion before it had established clear cost estimates and design requirements for the project. GAO had previously raised the same concerns in a July 2006 report. Li reported that, in response to the GAO report’s criticism, NASA had made efforts to control the project’s costs. However, he acknowledged that NASA needed to do more to control costs and to clarify the project’s design requirements. The other hearing witness, NASA’s Scott J. Horowitz, Associate Administrator of the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, reported that Orion’s design relied on proven technologies, whereas earlier projects had relied on anticipated technological breakthroughs. He argued that NASA would therefore be able to control the costs of building Orion more easily than it had controlled the costs of previous projects. Furthermore, Horwitz pointed out that NASA was developing Orion for multiple applications over several decades. Committee members concluded that they would continue to monitor development of the CEV and other elements of NASA’s exploration initiative to ensure the completion of those projects in a fiscally responsible manner that did not interfere with other NASA programs.
U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Science, “Democrats Call for Increased Oversight of NASA’s Exploration Program,” press release, 29 September 2006, http://science.house.gov/press/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=1200 (accessed 15 April 2010); U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Science, Implementing the Vision for Space Exploration: Development of the Crew Exploration Vehicle, 109th Cong., 2nd sess., 28 September 2006, 48–53, http://science.house.gov/commdocs/hearings/full06/Sept%2028/Horowitz.pdf (accessed 15 April 2010); U.S. Government Accountability Office, “NASA: Sound Management and Oversight Key To Addressing Crew Exploration Vehicle Project Risks” (testimony of Allen Li before U.S. House Committee on Science; report no GAO-06-1127T, Washington, DC, 28 September 2006), http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d061127t.pdf (accessed 15 April 2010).
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