Implementation of Safety and Mission Assurance Risk Identification and Elevation to NASA Expendable Launch Vehicle Services
Caimi, Raoul
NASA Kennedy Space Center

The philosophy and processes whereby launch vehicle risks are identified and elevated to the Launch Services Program and Agency management for their use in formulating a go for launch decision are discussed. The overall process that is followed will be depicted using a generic launch vehicle example from the early phases of mission planning to the final launch. The overall process is comprised of a hierarchy sub-processes that are performed on the plethora of issues that arise during the build-up to launch. The relationship between those sub-processes and the overall risk process will be demonstrated. This will be used to show how the overall process culls out the issues that represent credible launch risks. In addition, it will be shown how this philosophy and these processes support the implementation of the NASA governance model for programs.