What is DD Form 1721-1? It is a Department of Defense form titled DD Form 1721-1, Space Test Program Flight Request Executive Summary, September 2006, and its job is straightforward: Space Test Program Flight Request Executive Summary. That single line covers most of what people want to know before they download it.
Will you need a different form because of where you serve? No. DD forms are Department-wide instruments, and that scope is what separates them from service publications. One edition, all branches, defense agencies included.
Who decides this form exists? not stated owns it; not stated directs its use. If someone told you to file this, the authority traces back to those.
Which edition should you have? not stated, listed as not stated. A copy dated otherwise is a copy worth replacing.
What the form asks for
- Date (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day, no dividers).
- Part 1 - Request for Spaceflight. 1. Experiment title.
- 2. Short title/acronym.
- 3. Experiment number.
- 4. Objective.
- 5. Description (include web site if applicable).
- 6 Relevance to specific DoD requirements (include list of key relevant source documents).
- 7. Requirements summary. a. Experiment. Press space bar to mark X if instrument.
- Mark X if complete spacecraft.
- 7.b. Requested STP services. Mark X if launch services/integration.
- Mark X if spacecraft acquisition.
- Mark X if piggyback flight.
- Mark X if operations/data distribution.
- Mark X if other (sounding rocket, balloon, micro-G flight, etc.)
- Specify other service requested.
- 7.c. Repetitive or incremental flights: Mark X in first box if yes, second box if no. Use right arrow key to move between boxes.
- If yes, number of flights.
- 7.d. Flight duration required (months).
- Shuttle. Enter 1 if preferred, 2 if acceptable, or UA if unacceptable.
- ISS. Enter 1 if preferred, 2 if acceptable, or UA if unacceptable.
- Other. Enter 1 if preferred, 2 if acceptable, or UA if unacceptable.
- Freeflyer (complete section 3B). Enter 1 if preferred, 2 if acceptable, or UA if unacceptable.
- f. Power (W). Stand-by.
- Nominal.
Download the form
What formats exist for this form? PDF. What is the scale of it? 1 pages and approximately 106 fields.
Fillable or printable — which do you have? Click inside a box. If it accepts a cursor and typed text, the file is fillable and your entries save with it. If nothing happens, the pdf is flat, and the only way forward is printing it and writing on paper.
Does typing matter? It does. Your completed form will probably be scanned, forwarded and filed, and typed text comes through each of those steps unchanged while handwriting degrades. If pen is your only option, block capitals give the receiving clerk a fighting chance.
Why will not the xfdl file open? Because it is not a pdf. Xfdl belongs to IBM Lotus Forms, long the Department's electronic form format, and it needs IBM Lotus Forms Viewer or an equivalent reader installed first.
Is there a charge? No — free, all formats. Where should you open the file? In a full pdf application on your own machine. Browser-embedded viewers handle field properties unpredictably.
Where do you start? At the top. Identification first, the substance of the entry second, certification last. Why that order? Because fields lower on the page often depend on data you established in the header, and filling out of sequence produces contradictions.
What is the first thing to check? The edition date on the face of the form. Does it read not stated? If not, the copy is superseded, and a superseded DD form is a real problem: Department-level revisions replace the blank for every service at once, so an old file on a shared drive is stale everywhere, not just in your office.
What about a box that does not apply to you? Enter N/A rather than leaving it empty. An empty field reads as an oversight and sends the form back; N/A reads as an answer. What about dates? Use the format printed beside the field, not the one you write by habit.
What does the Privacy Act notice cover? Four things: the legal authority behind the collection, the purpose, the routine uses, and whether disclosure is required. When should you read it? Before entering personal information, while the choice is still open.
What counts as a signature? Ink on a printed copy, or a credentialed digital signature — CAC-based, applied in software that supports it. What does not count? Your name typed into the signature box. That is a name. Then date the block, because an undated certification is a returned form.
What sends forms back most often? An obsolete edition, blank required boxes, handwriting illegible after scanning, dates in a format the form did not ask for, and certification without a signature or without a date.
What if a specific field still puzzles you? Read the instructions printed on the form, then not stated. Which wins if they differ? The directive.
What happens after you finish? It routes to the office specified in not stated or in local guidance. And your own record? Save a duplicate first; nobody regrets having one.
How do you find a form referenced inside this one? By its number alone. The DD sequence runs across the entire Department, so a number identifies exactly one document regardless of which service cited it.
Do DA and DD numbers ever correspond? Never. DA numbering is Army-specific, administered by an Army proponent, while DD numbering is Department-wide under not stated or an equivalent Department office. Identical digits in the two systems mean two unrelated documents, which is why the prefix matters more than the number.
How often does a form like this change? Unpredictably — revision follows directive changes, altered collection requirements and updated notice language. What is the practical defence? Verifying not stated every time you download rather than trusting a saved copy.
Is any of this advice? No. This page distributes a published Defense form and explains its contents, which is a different thing from telling you whether your circumstances qualify or whether a reviewer will accept your copy. Direct questions of eligibility, applicability and procedure to not stated, to your servicing personnel office, or to the office designated in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 1721-1?
- DD Form 1721-1, Space Test Program Flight Request Executive Summary, September 2006
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?