The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) is a senior advisory committee established by Congress in 1968 that reports to NASA and Congress. It evaluates NASA's safety performance by directly observing NASA operations and decision-making and advises the agency on ways to improve safety. The ASAP also examines NASA's compliance with safety recommendations and its management and culture related to safety, particularly concerning human spaceflight. The panel releases an annual report outlining key safety concerns and recommendations for NASA's programs, including the International Space Station, Moon to Mars missions, and commercial partnerships.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel criticized NASA’s mishap reporting requirements as ambiguous for events that occur during testing.
The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel highlighted concerns about Starship’s readiness in its 2025 report.
The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel warned on February 25, 2026 that the existing Artemis III plan carried too many firsts to represent an acceptable risk posture.
NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) concluded that the original Artemis III plan was high risk and unlikely to be achievable on the advertised timeline.
The 2025 Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) Annual Report warns that NASA is at a risky crossroads due to budget cuts, workforce losses, and shifting contracting practices.
NASA's independent Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel's annual report judged the Artemis 3 Moon landing plan to carry significant risk, including for the number of 'firsts' it was attempting.
The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel was established by Congress in 1968 following the Apollo 1 fire.
Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Susan J. Helms is the chair of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel.
The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel concluded that SpaceX's Starship HLS could be years late for a 2027 landing.
NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel stated that the HLS schedule could be years late for a 2027 Artemis 3 Moon landing.
NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel believes Artemis 3's scheduled 2027 lunar landing could be years late due to challenges with Starship.
The NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) has warned that SpaceX's Human Landing System (HLS) for Starship could arrive years late for the Artemis III mission scheduled to land on the Moon in mid-2027.
NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel praised the decision to return Starliner uncrewed after a thruster failure on its return.
NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel cited recent anomalies including upper stage malfunctions on two Falcon 9 launches at its 2024-10-31 public meeting.
NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel reported that NASA and SpaceX are working well together on the HLS version of Starship.
The PrK leak issue did not appear on the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel's public meeting agenda on 2024-02-28 because the panel did not receive a briefing on the station at that quarterly meeting.
The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel identified a very tight timeline for developing commercial stations and uncertainties about their business cases that create programmatic and safety risks for NASA's low Earth orbit plans.
The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel recommended that NASA include explicit defensible assumptions and specific metrics and deadlines for judging company progress in developing commercial business cases for stations.
The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel held a public meeting on 2023-10-26 where it issued a recommendation calling on NASA to provide a comprehensive understanding of the requirements needed to transition from the ISS to commercial low Earth orbit destinations.
NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) expressed skepticism at its 2023-05-25 public meeting that NASA and Boeing could complete certification work in time for a July launch.