NASA, Industry, and the Commercial Crew Development Program: The Politics of Partnership

Abstract

On May 22, 2012, a Falcon 9 rocket owned by an upstart new aerospace company, named SpaceX, blasted off from Cape Canaveral. It carried an unmanned spacecraft known as Dragon. This event marked the successful launch of the world’s first privately developed space-cargo delivery vehicle. Thus began a new chapter in history, nurtured by NASA’s public/private Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. This chapter traces the policy evolution of COTS and its successor, the Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program. With the expected retirement of the space shuttle (initially 2010, later 2011), NASA had to find a way to get cargo and crew to the International Space Station. Going the “private” route eventually became the chosen strategy. The COTS and CCDev programs illuminate not only public/private relations, but also the politics of innovation in public policy. (W. Henry Lambright)