By 
July 1st, 2025
Image credit: GAO
NASA: Assessments of Major Projects is a just-released report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) – the 17th annual assessment of these projects.
In fiscal year 2025, NASA planned to invest about $74 billion in its major projects to continue exploring Earth, the Moon, and beyond. This is the GAO’s 17th annual assessment of these projects.
In the last year, four of 18 major projects had cost overruns—when costs incurred are more than NASA planned for. And three had schedule delays.
Orion cost growth
The four projects that experienced annual cost growth collectively reported over $500 million in overruns. NASA’s human spaceflight crew capsule — the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle — accounts for over $360 million of this total annual cost growth.
Artist rendering of Lockheed Martin-built Orion spacecraft in deep space.
Image credit: Lockheed Martin
Since 2009, most major projects that completed the development phase (e.g., building and testing designs) avoided significant cost overruns. But three of the 53 projects in our analysis accounted for almost half of the total overruns during this period.
NASA’s acquisition management remains on our High Risk List.
Go to this GAO highlights page at:
https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-25-107591-highlights.pdf
For the full report, go to:
Posted in Space News
