Milestones to NASA's Reinvention

1991

• NASA projects a $22 billion budget for the year 2000.

1992

• Administrator Richard Truly resigns amid dispute over a new management plan for NASA.
• President George Bush appoints Daniel Goldin, general manager of TRW's Space and Defense Technology Group, as the agency's ninth administrator and as an agent of change.
• Goldin appoints teams to oversee six months of bureaucratic introspection. Afterward, he and senior managers conduct town hall meetings across the United States to acquaint the public with NASA's new vision.
• Efforts begin to reduce space shuttle operating costs by $1.2 billion, or 30 percent.

1993

• Goldin orders a redesign of the space station to cut costs.
• The administrator's staff, headquarters associate administrators and field center directors hold a series of retreats in which they craft the agency's new strategic plan.

1994

• Federal budget cuts force NASA to revise its optimistic spending plan. The new budget projection is $11.6 billion at the turn of the century.
• NASA welcomes Russia as a full partner in the international space station program.
• The strategic plan is published.
• Goldin initiates an internal examination of NASA's roles and missions and asks a panel of experts to investigate ways to cut further the $3.2 billion cost of operating the $8 billion shuttle fleet.

Spring 1995

• Based on the internal review, senior managers revise the strategic plan to outline a framework of five "enterprises" that identify what the agency does and for whom.
• Following the expert panel's advice, NASA announces it will switch to a single prime shuttle contractor, combining dozens of separate contracts into one.

• Lockheed Martin, holder of the shuttle processing contract, and Rockwell International, holder of the shuttle flight operations contract, agree to form United Space Alliance to bid on the prime shuttle contract.

September 1995

• NASA evaluates expressions of interest from USA and three other prospective prime contractors.

November 1995

• Goldin announces that, to minimize safety risks and schedule disruptions, the agency will skip the traditional bidding process and negotiate a contract with USA.

December 1995

• Congress approves Goldin's decision and the Federal Trade Commission approves the USA joint venture.

April 12, 1996

• Rockwell International and Lockheed Martin rework contracts with NASA, establishing United Space Alliance as the single prime contractor and allowing for an early start of operations.

June 1, 1996

• Two-thirds of Lockheed Martin's workforce in Florida and Rockwell's entire workforce in Houston are transferred to USA.

July 26, 1996

• The remaining Lockheed Martin employees are transferred to USA.

Aug. 12, 1996

• United Space Alliance submits a formal space flight operations contract proposal to NASA.

Sept. 6, 1996

• USA and NASA agree on a contract price.

Sept. 30, 1996

• The six-year, $6.9 billion contract is signed.

Oct. 1

• Employees of a Rockwell International shuttle logistics depot at Kennedy transfer to USA. USA assumes operational responsibility for the $8 billion shuttle fleet.

December

• Construction begins on the U.S.-led international space station.

1998

• NASA decides whether layoffs are necessary to cut the federal workforce.

1999

• Tests begin on the Lockheed Martin Venture Star, a prototype for the next-generation space shuttle.

2000

• Restructuring ends with NASA's civil service employment at a 40-year low of 17,500.