Evaluation of Human Space Missions and International Space Station Utilization

This report covers the findings of the evaluation of sub-program 1.2.3. Human Space Missions and Support and sub-sub-program 1.2.1.2. International Space Station Utilization (hereinafter called the "program"), implemented by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) for the period from April 1, 2013 to March 31, 2018.

In 1985, the Canadian Space Station Program began when Prime Minister Brian Mulroney accepted the invitation by President of the United States Ronald Reagan to participate in the multilateral program to develop and build the International Space Station (ISS). The initial partners were the United States (leader), Canada, Europe (represented by the European Space Agency (ESA)) and Japan. An intergovernmental agreement (IGA agreementFootnote 1) was signed in 1988, and updated to include Russia in 1998. Assembly in orbit began in 1998 and was completed in 2011. Canada contributed in the form of robotic infrastructure equipment, the Mobile Servicing System (MSS), for which Canada must support operation, provide training for team members to operate it, and pay its part of the common operating costs of the systems. From the beginning of the ISS to 2017, Canada has contributed approximately $2.2 billion in operating and development costs.

During the evaluation period, the following activities were conducted: •10 separate scientific research projects were in development or had been completed during the evaluation period; •10 separate scientific instruments were in development or had been completed during the evaluation period; •Astronaut Chris Hadfield's mission was carried out from December 19, 2012, to May 14, 2013; •The astronaut recruitment campaign that took place from June 2016 to August 2017 led to the hiring of two astronauts, Jennifer Sidey and Joshua Kutryk.

A variety of communication activities were carried out, such as videos produced by Chris Hadfield during his mission on board the ISS, presentations by astronauts and participation in school events in association with scientific projects, in particular those created by Let's Talk Science intended to raise awareness among young people about the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) in their lives.

During the period evaluated, program expenses reached $56 million, mainly in financial support for external entities (54%) and salaries (33%). The other expenses (13%) were dedicated to the ongoing management of the program, including operating and maintenance costs. The human resources assigned to the program were, on average, 35 full-time equivalents (FTE) per year; that number was up during the last two years of the period (2016–2017 and 2017–2018) owing to the reassignment of resources to Astronaut David Saint-Jacques's mission, the astronaut recruitment campaign and the updating of the program's capacity to support an increase in scientific activities on board the ISS beginning in 2019.

The evaluation covers the relevance, performance, efficiency and comparative gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) of Human space missions and ISS Utilization (sub-program 1.2.3 and sub-sub-program 1.2.1.2), and various data collection methods were used: a comparative study and review of the literature, document review, 52 interviews, four case studies and an internal data analysis. The limitations encountered during the evaluation were as follows: 1.some performance data were not available; 2.most interview respondents had a direct interest in the program; and 3.it was too early to quantify and evaluate the results of certain projects.

The evaluation reduced these limitations by using secondary data, adding qualitative information from case studies and asking respondents in interviews to provide examples to back up their opinions.