The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), an advisory committee reporting to NASA and Congress, released its 2024 annual report on Thursday, examining the agency's safety performance, achievements, and challenges over the past year.
The report highlights NASA's progress in addressing recommendations made by the panel in previous years, emphasizing the agency's focus on risk management and safety culture in an increasingly commercialized space environment. The panel specifically cites its 2021 recommendations for NASA to adapt to the changing landscape, including evaluating its approach to safety and technical risk and evolving its relationships with private sector and international partners.
The report acknowledges NASA's ongoing efforts to implement its strategic vision and objectives through the NASA 2040 initiative, which aims to operationalize the agency's vision across headquarters and centers. The establishment of the Moon to Mars Program Office in 2023 has also led to a focus on safety and risk management for the Artemis campaign.
The report details concrete actions NASA should take to fulfill previous recommendations and outlines recommendations for the agency's future endeavors. It addresses safety assessments for the Moon to Mars program and current International Space Station operations, as well as risk-related issues surrounding NASA's planned transition to commercial low Earth orbit destinations. The report also covers human health and medicine in space and the impact of budget constraints and uncertainty on safety.
The annual report is based on the panel's 2024 fact-finding and quarterly public meetings, direct observations of NASA operations and decision-making, discussions with NASA management, employees, and contractors, and the panel members' experiences. Congress established the panel in 1968 to provide advice and recommendations to the NASA administrator on safety matters following the 1967 Apollo 1 fire.