NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel releases its 2024 annual report, focusing on strategic vision, risk management, and safety in human space exploration and commercial ventures.
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| The 2024 Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel report examines NASA's safety progress and key challenges, highlighting Moon to Mars, low Earth orbit safety, and human health risks. Image: NASA |
Washington, USA — February 7, 2025:
NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) has released its 2024 annual report, highlighting the agency's safety performance, accomplishments, and challenges over the past year. The advisory committee, which reports to both NASA and Congress, examined key areas including the agency’s strategic vision, governance, and the Moon to Mars program, as well as the health and medical risks involved in human space exploration.
Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Susan J. Helms, chair of ASAP, emphasized NASA’s progress in addressing the broad-ranging recommendations made over the years, noting that the agency's focus on vision, strategy, and program management is crucial to ensuring the safe execution of its national mission.
The report reflects the panel’s ongoing focus on risk management and safety culture, particularly in light of increasing space commercialization. ASAP reiterated its 2021 recommendations, stressing the importance of evaluating NASA’s approach to safety and technical risks, as well as adapting the agency's relationships with private sector and international partners.
In its findings, the panel commended NASA's progress in integrating safety and risk management within the Artemis program and its continued work on the NASA 2040 initiative, aimed at operationalizing the agency's long-term vision. The report also discussed safety assessments for Moon to Mars, the International Space Station, and NASA's transition to commercial low Earth orbit destinations.
The ASAP’s 2024 report, based on the panel’s observations and discussions with NASA management, employees, and contractors, underscores the agency’s ongoing commitment to safety in an evolving space landscape.