National Aeronautics and Space Administration

In this year’s report, we identified three key challenges for NASA—improving the management of major programs and projects, partnering with commercial industry, and enabling mission critical capabilities and support services.

We contracted with the independent public accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP to audit NASA’s fiscal year 2024 financial statements. This audit resulted in a “clean” or unmodified opinion.

The Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act requires Inspectors General to conduct periodic assessments of agency purchase and travel card programs to analyze the risk of illegal, improper, or erroneous transactions. For fiscal year 2024, we concluded the risk for these transactions was low, and...

For nearly 25 years, astronauts have continuously lived and worked onboard the International Space Station. As the Station ages, NASA will be challenged to ensure the safety of astronauts aboard and to sustain continuous operations, which includes conducting science and research and maintaining the...

NASA uses rocket propulsion test (RPT) sites to see how engines and components will react in launch conditions and in space and address any issues before launch. Much of NASA’s RPT infrastructure is aging and requires significant funding to maintain, while demand for NASA’s large-scale RPT...

Cybersecurity remains one of NASA’s top management challenges. While NASA’s information security program maintained a Level 3 rating this year, it still falls short of what the Office of Management and Budget considers effective.

The Geospatial Data Act seeks to foster efficient, government-wide management of geospatial data—information identifying the geographic location and characteristics of natural or constructed features and boundaries on Earth. As required by the Act, we audited NASA’s collection, production...

NASA is developing a second mobile launcher (ML-2)—the ground structure used to assemble, transport, and launch the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion crew capsule—to support larger variants of the SLS beginning with the Artemis IV mission. ML-2’s cost and schedule are not sustainable...

Artemis IV will be the first flight of NASA’s more powerful heavy-lift rocket—the Space Launch System Block 1B. However, Block 1B development efforts have encountered multiple issues including Boeing’s ineffective quality management and inexperienced workforce, continued cost increases and schedule...