A Decade of Success

Born from the idea to revolutionize government contracting, United Space Alliance has completed its first decade as the recognized industry leader in space operations.

In its first 10 years, USA completed 38 Space Shuttle missions and was instrumental in establishing a permanent human presence in orbit on the International Space Station (ISS). Launch scrubs for technical issues were reduced by 43 percent, and 85 percent of the time the Shuttle launched on schedule.

“Our ability to consistently get the crew off the launch pad with a safe and healthy machine that enables mission success speaks for itself,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Mike McCulley. “We’ve been able to put things together so that crews could, with a few exceptions, get the job done that they needed to get done.”

Though officially formed in 1996, USA’s history actually began in 1995 when space industry giants Lockheed Martin and Rockwell International Space Systems Division (now part of The Boeing Company) decided to join forces to respond to NASA’s call to consolidate Space Shuttle operations under one operator. NASA’s move to consolidate contracts – the recommendations of a blue-ribbon aerospace advisory panel – was designed to reduce the overall cost of human space flight, while maintaining safety.

The joint venture, known now as USA, assumed prime responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the Space Shuttle Program under the Space Flight Operations Contract (SFOC) on October 1, 1996, ushering in a new way of doing business.

“I view SFOC as the poster child for good government,” McCulley said. “If you think about it, some guys in the government had an idea about how to keep quality and safety up, and do it a lot cheaper and efficient at the same time. Then they convinced two fairly fierce competitors to become partners.”

And the idea has worked, McCulley continues, “You can’t find a measure – safety, quality or cost – that did not get better over the course of the SFOC. It’s well documented.”

According to McCulley, most prominent among the accomplishments are the 38 successful missions done during a period when the average window for Shuttle launches was reduced to an average of five minutes.

“There are some people that didn’t believe that the Space Station could ever be built, because they felt we’d never be able to launch because of those five-minute launch windows. Well, over and over we’ve done it.”

Additionally, the success of the SFOC contract saved taxpayers more than $2 billion through program cost reductions, including more than $500 million as a result of improved and streamlined processes resulting from consolidating Shuttle operations under one single prime contract.

However, USA’s road to success was not without challenges.

“Early on, the challenges were administrative ones,” McCulley said. “We had to build a new company out of pieces and processes of other ones. We had to create our own unified processes, policies and culture. That was a huge challenge.”

McCulley credits the Vision 2002 effort with helping to create the unique USA culture.

“Vision 2002 is how we came to having one set of common goals and a unified vision for our future,” he said. “We set it up so that anything we did would be in support of those goals, and they’ve served us pretty well.”

As USA begins its next decade, the landscape is significantly different than that when it was originally formed.

“Now, we’ve got four years of hard work left with the Shuttle,” McCulley said. “We’ve got 10 years, at least, of hard work with the Space Station. We’re already doing work on Constellation.

“Ten years from now, we may be a smaller company, but I see us operating the CEV and CLV and running things back and forth to the Station.”

USA’s next decade will be a decade of transformation as the company transitions to a multicontract, multicustomer environment. McCulley noted that numerous initiatives are currently underway to protect, grow, diversify and enhance USA’s business base.

“Getting us ready for the next phase of our history is what the entire Vision 2002 USA initiative was about,” he said. “Yes, we have a lot of work to do, but I think this team has demonstrated that it’s up to any challenge it’s faced with.”

Ten years after it was first formed, USA remains the only company in the world with extensive experience in all aspects of processing, maintenance and operation of space transportation and servicing systems. And as was demonstrated numerous times during the Return to Flight period, employees routinely show their ability to creatively address new issues to ensure the success of current space operations needs, as well as their determination to make a difference on Earth by expanding human experience and knowledge through the exploration of space.

“Of course, I’m horribly biased,” McCulley said, “but I think it’s a wonderful success story.”

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A Decade of Success

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