Title: Our 2025 Assessment of NASA's Major Projects Description: NASA plans to invest billion this year on major projects, including those that would return American astronauts to the moon. For our annual report on NASA. We looked at the status of these projects, including their costs and whether they're on schedule. We'll learn more from GAO's Bill Russell. Related work: GAO-25-107591, NASA: Assessment of Major Projects Released: July 2025 [ START ] {Music} [ Bill Russell: ] There are a couple projects that have accounted for the lion's share of the cost increases, but there are tools in place to help better manage those going forward. [ Holly Hobbs: ] Hi, and welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for fact-based, nonpartisan news and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. I'm your host, Holly Hobbs. NASA plans to invest billion this year on major projects, like those that would return American astronauts to the moon. In a new report, we looked at the status of these projects, including their costs and whether they're on schedule. We'll learn more about these efforts from GAO's Bill Russell. Thanks for joining us, Bill. [ Bill Russell: ] Thanks, Holly. [ Holly Hobbs: ] So, Bill, our report looked at projects that are dubbed major projects. What does that mean? [ Bill Russell: ] Yeah, for NASA, those are projects that have an expected life cycle of over $250 million. And there's even a higher category called Category 1. So those are major projects that you think about when NASA is trying to go back to the moon. So, the human landing system that's going to be 'the eagle has landed' part of the Artemis mission. There's the Space Launch System Block 1B, which is going to be a larger, more capable rocket to support the moon missions, and maybe even beyond a range of projects like the NEO Surveyor--so that's looking to find Earth-killer asteroids and other items in space that we might want to keep track of, just to name a few. [ Holly Hobbs: ] So we looked at both the costs and whether projects were on time or on schedule. What did we find? [ Bill Russell: ] Right. So for the past year, most NASA major projects were doing fairly well staying within cost and schedule margins. So that's 14 out of 18 projects that were in development. So that's the later stages where you're building things and you're really testing the capabilities. Four projects, unfortunately, did have cost and schedule overruns. One of them--the Orion crew capsule--accounted for the lion's share of some of those almost $500 million in cost overruns. They had more than $350 million of those cost increases. And that was due to a number of issues, including--if you remember, after Artemis I, there were issues with the heat shield. So, they've been working to try to resolve that. Plus, schedule delays as Artemis II and the subsequent missions have been pushed out, that has caused some cost increases as well. [ Holly Hobbs: ] Is there something unique about the Orion project that makes it the most over costs? [ Bill Russell: ] I think part of it is the magnitude. That's one of those Category One projects that has expected cost over $2 billion. So, anything that occurs on that project is going to have an outsized effect compared to some of the others in the portfolio. But I think some of the key issues there were, they really needed some time to figure out what happened after Artemis I, in terms of the integrity of the heat shield and what the possible solutions would be. They had added some new requirements over time to have a docking capability. So that added to the costs. You know, historically, there are costs associated with COVID and other things, as we got through the pandemic. So just a range of issues. But it adds up to, you know, more than $350 million just in the last year. [ Holly Hobbs: ] And we look at NASA's major projects every year. What's new this year? [ Bill Russell: ] This year we did an analysis that we haven't done in the prior quick looks, where we went back to 2009--almost at the beginning of doing these project assessments--and looked at all of the projects that had completed development. So that means they either got to launch or they completed the project efforts, or they're very close to that stage. And so that was a group of 53 projects. And what we found is at least 30 of them managed to complete their project goals at or near their cost estimates. So, we defined that as anything under 15% cost growth, and 30 of them made it. But then for the rest, there was cost growth. So that includes resetting baselines, redefining the requirements, adding new funds to try to get the project completed. And of those four or five just in the Artemis portfolio accounted for pretty much the same amount of cost increase as the entire rest of projects in NASA that had completed development. So, 48 non-Artemis projects had a total cost increase of about $8.1 billion. And then just five Artemis projects had a cost increase of almost $7 billion. So it shows the outsized impact of some of those Artemis projects and the level of complexity, the scale of the efforts are pretty big. So, when changes to those programs occur or delays in those project schedules occur, it really adds up. [ Holly Hobbs: ] So, what is NASA doing to address some of these issues? [ Bill Russell: ] So they put a number of efforts in place to help manage some of these costs. In terms of the Artemis programs, there's the Moon to Mars program, which is almost like a program office that sits above the other project offices. And they help coordinate across some of the various efforts. So, for example, Orion, even if that's ready to go today, if the Human Landing System is not ready or the Space Launch System, then you're not going to have an Artemis mission, right? So they all have to work in tandem. That office is helping to identify and triage problems across the suite of programs in the Artemis mission set. [ Holly Hobbs: ] The project that most of us know about are the Artemis missions. Those are the ones that aim to put Americans back on the moon and then go on to Mars. What's the status of NASA's efforts on there? [ Bill Russell: ] Right now some of that is up in the air, I think, with the new budget submission. There's a question of how many Artemis missions will occur. So we're on coming up to Artemis II, which is going to be a test flight with astronauts on board. They'll go around the moon and back. And that'll demonstrate the capability to potentially do the actual moon landing. And right now, everything is underway to get ready for that. So, you have the Human Landing System, which is going to actually take the crew to the moon and back up to the Orion crew capsule. You have the Space Launch System, the ground systems that are needed to move all of that to the launch pad. So, all of that is underway. And I think we'll just have to see what changes happen as the new team comes into NASA. {MUSIC} [ Holly Hobbs: ] So Bill just told us that most of NASA's projects are meeting cost estimates and schedule goals. But some of the most expensive of these projects are BILLIONS over their estimates and delayed. Bill, what more do we think NASA should be doing to meet its goals and cost estimates? [ Bill Russell: ] I think the key is to focus on those efforts, make smart choices going forward. As we seen with the Artemis programs, to the extent that they're delayed or changes occur that they can adjust quickly. We have the new budget coming out that anticipates further changes to NASA's major programs. So, trying to make smart choices there and implement that will be important going forward. [ Holly Hobbs: ] And last question, what's the bottom line of this report? [ Bill Russell: ] The bottom line is for the past year, most NASA projects are doing very well in terms of cost and schedule performance. There are a couple, like the Orion Crew Capsule project, that have accounted for the lion's share of the cost increases, but there are tools in place that NASA has to help better manage those going forward. [ Holly Hobbs: ] That was Bill Russell talking about GAO's new review of NASA's major projects. Thanks for your time, Bill. [ Bill Russell: ] Thank you, Holly. [ Holly Hobbs: ] And thank you for listening to the Watchdog Report. To hear more podcasts, subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. And make sure to leave a rating and review to let others know about the work we're doing. For more from the congressional watchdog, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, visit us at GAO.gov. [ END ]