For the first time in over three decades, NASA is designing, building, and testing systems to carry humans to the moon.. .and beyond. NASA has set stringent, quantified reliability and safety requirements for these systems, and designs must be verified to meet these and all functional requirements before human missions commence. Therefore, a robust test and evaluation strategy is key to safety and ensuring mission success. At the pinnacle of this strategy is flight testing. The Constellation Program's Operations and Test Integration Office has implemented an objectives-based approach to flight test planning. "Flight test objectives" are established which must be satisfied for major milestones , such as first human flight, and first docking to the ISS. These objectives are then mapped to flight test opportunities to progressively accomplish the objectives in support of the required capability and operational milestones. The resulting flight test strategy is regularly reviewed and updated as program schedules, budgets, designs, and flight manifest plans evolve. This paper discusses Constellation's flight test strategy in detail, including the methodology for establishing flight test objectives and the program's current flight test plans.
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