1214.1700 Scope. This subpart establishes NASA policy and selection procedures for accommodation of space flight participants aboard flights of the Space Shuttle. [56 FR 47148, Sept. 18, 1991] §1214.1701 Applicability. This subpart applies to NASA Headquarters and field installations. §1214.1702 Relation to other Part 1214 material. Except as specifically noted, all regulatory provisions of Space Shuttle policies also apply to space flight participants. In the event of any inconsistencies in the policies, the regulatory policies established for crew members will govern with respect to space flight participants. § 1214.1703 Definitions. (a) Space flight participants. All persons whose presence aboard a Space Shuttle flight is authorized in accordance with this regulation. (b) Committee. The Space Flight Participant Evaluation Committee, established in NASA Headquarters for the purpose of directing and administering the program for space flight participants. The Committee consists of the following NASA Headquarters officials: Associate Deputy Administrator (Chair), General Counsel, Associate Administrator for External Relations, Associate Administrator for Management, Associate Administrator for Space Flight, Associate Administrator for Public Affairs and Assistant Administrator for Equal Opportunity Programs. [56 FR 47148, Sept. 18, 1991] $1214.1704 Policy. (a) NASA policy is to provide Space Shuttle flight opportunities to persons (individuals outside the professional categories of NASA astronauts and payload specialists) whose presence onboard the Space Shuttle is not required for operation of payloads or for other essential mission activities, but is determined by the Administrator of NASA to contribute to other approved NASA objectives or to be in the national interest. However, flight oppor tunities for space flight participants will not be available in the near term. NASA will assess Shuttle operations and mission and payload requirements on an annual basis to determine when it can begin to allocate and assign space flight opportunities for future space flight participants, consistent with safety and mission considerations. When NASA determines that a flight opportunity is available for a space flight participant, first priority will be given to a "teacher in space," in fulfillment of space education plans. (b) To be considered for selection as space flight participants, applicants must: (1) Be free of medical conditions which would either impair the applicant's ability to participate in, or be aggravated by, space flight, as determined by NASA physicians. (2) Be willing to undergo appropriate background investigation. (3) Be willing to undergo necessary training. (4) Meet additional requirements that may be stated in Announcements of Opportunity (AO) soliciting applications for particular spaceflights. (c) Persons accepted as space flight participant candidates will enter into an agreement with NASA for the period of training, flight, debriefing, and post-flight activities. The agreements will cover such pertinent matters as, but not limited to, responsibilities and authorities of the respective parties, compensation where appropriate, insurance, and liability. (d) Typically the selection of space flight participants will be based on their comparative abilities to fulfill the objectives and purposes stated in Announcement of Opportunities (AO's) covering one or more Space Shuttle missions in which their participation is desired. A NASA-designated outside review panel will evaluate the qualifications of applicants to select those who most appropriately meet those purposes of participant flight associated with the particular AO. NASA will retain the authority to make final selection of space flight participants for flight training and eventual flight from among those applicants rated most highly in the review process. NASA will encourage the participation of a wide and diverse array of participants, including women and minorities. [49 FR 17737, Apr. 25, 1984, as amended at 56 FR 47148, Sept. 18, 1991] 1214.1705 Selection of space flight participants. (a) The agency will publicly announce each space flight participant opportunity through appropriate means, including notice in the FEDERAL REGISTER and press releases. Each such Announcement of Opportunity will include a listing of basic qualification requirements to be met (including those of §1214.1704(b)), a statement of the specific National Aeronautics and Space Act purposes to which this opportunity is directed, what information is required of applicants to onstrate their ability to fulfill those purposes, the criteria on which applicants will be judged, and administrative information such as to whom applications should be directed, the opening and closing dates for applications, and any other information or matters determined to be pertinent to the program in general and/or the specific flight. dem (b) All applications received in response to the AO will be screened to eliminate those applicants not meeting the basic qualification requirements. (c) Remaining applications will be forwarded to the outside review panel established for the announcement in question and composed of members appropriate to the specific purposes stated in that announcement. The review panel will evaluate all the applications and recommend to NASA a list of those applicants who appear most likely to meet the purposes. (d) NASA selection of applicants qualified to undergo necessary training and be certified for flight will be made by the Committee, based upon criteria that include: (1) Recommendation of the outside review panel. (2) Ability to undergo successfully the necessary period of training to ensure adaptation to flight experience and mission activities. (3) Ability to pass medical and psychological examinations to minimize the possibility of hazard to persons or missions. (4) Adaptability to living and working in space. (5) Willingness to enter into an agreement with NASA covering pre-flight, flight, and post-flight activities, with individual rights and responsibilities set forth in that agreeement. of a (6) Satisfactory completion background investigation conducted to NASA's standards as adjudicated by the NASA Security Officer. (e) The Committee will submit a list of those candidates suitable for selection to the NASA Administrator, who will select the requisite number to undergo the necessary training to prepare them for space flight. (f) Those candidates who successfully complete the training will become qualified as space flight participants. Flight assignments will be made by the Administrator from this qualified group. NASA reserves the right to solicit additional space flight participant applications, if necessary. (g) Authority to officially designate candidates for training, certify candidates as qualified space flight participants, and assign space flight participants to specific Space Shuttle flights is reserved to the Administrator. The TDRSS represents a major investment by the U.S. Government with the primary goal of providing improved tracking and data acquisition services to spacecraft in low earth orbit or to mobile terrestrial users such as aircraft or balloons. It is the objective of NASA to operate as efficiently as possible with the TDRSS. This is to the mutual benefit of all users. Such user consideration will permit NASA and non-NASA service to be delivered without compromising the mission objectives of any individual user. To encourage users toward achieving efficient TDRSS usage, this reimbursement policy has been established to purposely influence users to operate with TDRSS in the most efficient and orderly manner possible. Additionally, the reimbursement policy is designed to comply with the Bureau of the Budget Circular A-25 on User Charges, dated September 23, 1959, which requires that a reasonable charge should be made to each identifiable recipient for a measurable unit or amount of Government service or property from which a special benefit is derived. [56 FR 28048, June 19, 1991] § 1215.101 Scope. This Subpart sets forth the policy governing TDRSS services provided to non-U.S. government users and the reimbursement for rendering such services. It excludes TDRSS services provided as standard or optional services to Space Transportation System (STS) users under existing policy for Shuttle and Spacelab (14 CFR subparts 1214.1, 1214.2, and 1214.8); i.e., user command and telemetry support, which utilizes and is a part of the Shuttle or Spacelab communications system, is a Shuttle/ Spacelab service. Cooperative missions are also not under the purview of this Subpart. The arrangements for TDRSS services for cooperative missions will be covered in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), as a consequence of negotiations between NASA and the other concerned party. Any MOU which includes provision for any TDRSS service will require signatory concurrence by the Associate Administrator for Space Operations prior to dedicating Office of Space Operations resources for support of a cooperative mission. [56 FR 28048, June 19, 1991] § 1215.102 Definitions. (a) User. Any non-U.S. Government representative or entity who contracts with NASA to use TDRSS services. (b) TDRSS. The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System including Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS), the White Sands Ground Terminal (WSGT), and the necessary TDRSS operational areas, interface devices and NASA communication circuits to unify the above into a functioning system. It specifically excludes the user ground system/TDRSS interface. (c) Bit stream. The digital electronic signals acquired by TDRSS from the user craft or the user generated input commands for transmission to the user craft. (d) Flexible support. Support requests which permit NASA, at its option, to schedule service at any time during the period of a single orbit of the user mission. Missions requiring multiple support periods during a single orbit may be classified as constrained support. (e) Constrained support. Support requests which specify the exact times NASA is to provide service, or conditions of support which can be translated into exact times for service, such as sub-satellite positions, apogee/perigee position, etc., for which support is needed. (f) Scheduling service period. One scheduled contact utilizing a single TDRS whereby the user by requesting service is allotted a block of time for operations between the user satellite and TDRSS. §1215.103 Services. (a) Standard services. These are services which the TDRSS is capable of providing to low-earth orbital user spacecraft or other terrestrial users. (1) Tracking services. (2) Data acquisition service. (3) Command transmission service. (4) Emergency line outage recording in the event of a communications failure between White Sands, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), and Johnson Space Center (JSC). (5) A weekly user spacecraft orbit determination in NASA standard orbital elements as determined by NASA for TDRSS target acquisition purposes. (6) Delivery of user data at the NASA Ground Terminal (NGT) located at White Sands. (7) Pre-launch support for data flow test and related activities which require use of a TDRS. (8) Pre-launch support planning and documentation. (9) Scheduling user services via TDRSS. (10) Access to tracking data to enable users to perform orbit determination at their option. (b) Mission unique services. Other tracking and data services desired by the user beyond the standard service and the charges therefor, will be identified and assessed on a case-by-case basis. § 1215.104 Apportionment and assignment of services. No user may apportion, assign, or otherwise convey to any third party its TDRSS service. Each user may obtain service only through contractual agreement with the Associate Administrator for Space Operations. [56 FR 28048, June 19, 1991] § 1215.105 Delivery of user data. (a) As a standard service, NASA will provide to the user its data from the TDRSS as determined by NASA in the form of one or more digital or analog bit streams synchronized to associated clock streams at the NGT. (b) User data handling requirements beyond the NGT interface will be provided as a standard service to the user, to the extent that the requirements do not exceed NASA's planned standard communications system. Any additional data transport or handling requirements exceeding NASA's capability will be dealt with as a missionunique service. (c) No storage of the user data is provided in the standard service. NASA will provide short-term temporary recording of data at White Sands, only in event of a NASA Communications Network (NASCOM) link outage. (d) NASA will provide TDRSS services on a "reasonable efforts" basis and, accordingly, will not be liable for damages of any kind to the user or third parties for any reason, including but not limited to failure to provide contracted-for services. The price for TDRSS services does not include a contingency or premium for any potential damages. The user will assume any risk of damages or obtain insurance to protect against any risk. [48 FR 9845, Mar. 9, 1983, as amended at 56 FR 28049, June 19, 1991] § 1215.106 User command and tracking data. (a) User command data may enter the TDRSS via the NASCOM interface at one of three locations: (1) For Shuttle payloads which utilize the Shuttle commanding system, command data must enter the system via the Johnson Space Center (JSC) and is governed by the policies established for STS services (see § 1215.101). (2) For free flyers and other payloads, command data must enter the system at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) if it is to be a standard service. (3) The use of other command data entry points [e.g., the NASA Ground Terminal (NGT) at White Sands, NM, or Johnson Space Center (JSC), for payloads using an independent direct link from TDRS to the user payload] is considered to be a mission unique service. (b) NASA is required to maintain the user satellite orbital elements to sufficient accuracy to permit the TDRS system to establish and maintain acquisition. This can be accomplished in two ways: (1) The user can provide the orbital elements in a NASA format to GSFC to meet TDRSS operational requirements. (2) The user shall insure that a sufficient quantity of tracking data is received at GSFC to permit the determination of the user satellite orbital elements. The charges for this service will be determined by using the onorbit service rates. § 1215.107 User data security and frequency authorizations. (a) User data security is not provided by the TDRSS. Responsibility for data security resides solely with the user. Users desiring data safeguards shall provide and operate, external to the TDRSS, the necessary equipment or systems to accomplish data security. Any such user provisions must be compatible with data flow through TDRSS and not interfere with other users. (b) All radio frequency authorizations associated with operations pursuant to this directive are the responsibility of the user. If appropriate, authority(ies) must be obtained from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for operations consistent with U.S. footnote 303 of the National Table of Frequency Allocations, FCC Rules and Regulations, at 47 CFR 2.106. [56 FR 28049, June 19, 1991] § 1215.108 Defining user service requirements. Potential users should become familiar with TDRSS capabilities and con straints, which are detailed in the TDRSS User's Guide (GSFC document, STDN No. 101.2), as early as possible. This action allows the user to evaluate the trade-offs available among various TDRSS services, spacecraft design, operations planning, and other significant mission parameters. When these user evaluations have been completed, and the user desires to use TDRSS, the user should initiate a request for TDRSS service. (a) Initial requests for TDRSS service from non-U.S. Government users should be addressed to NASA Headquarters, Code OX, Space Network Division, Washington, DC 20546. Upon review and preliminary acceptance of the service requirements by NASA Headquarters, the appropriate areas of GSFC will be assigned to the project to produce the detailed requirements, plans and documentation necessary for support of the mission. Changes to user requirements shall be made as far in advance as possible and shall be submitted in writing to both NASA Headquarters, Code OX, Space Network Division, and GSFC, Code 501, Greenbelt, MD 20771. (b) Acceptance of user requests for TDRSS service is the sole prerogative of NASA. Although TDRSS represents a significant increase to current support capabilities, service capacity is finite, and service will be provided in accordance with operational priorities established by NASA. Request for services within priority groups shall be negotiated with non-NASA users on a first come, first service basis for inclusion into the TDRSS mission model. [48 FR 9845, Mar. 9, 1983, as amended at 56 FR 28049, June 19, 1991] § 1215.109 Scheduling user service. (a) User service shall be scheduled only by NASA. Scheduling refers to that activity occurring after the user has been accepted and placed in the TDRSS mission model as specified in §1215.108(b). See Appendix C for a description of a typical user activity timeline. (b) Schedule conflict will be resolved in general by application of principles of priority to user service requirements. Services shall be provided either as normally scheduled service or |