So what is DD Form 1721-2? The short answer: a Defense Department document, officially DD Form 1721-2, Space Test Program After Action Report, September 2006, used to Space Test Program After Action Report. Anything else you need follows from that.
Is there a version specific to your service? No. A DD number is issued at Department level, which is the whole point of the prefix — every military department and defense agency works from one identical document. Looking for a branch variant wastes time you do not have.
Where does the requirement come from? From not stated, with not stated responsible for the document itself. Those are the names to cite if anyone asks under what authority you filed.
Is this the right edition? The current one is dated not stated, and the publisher carries it as not stated. Check that against whatever copy you already have before going further.
What the form asks for
- 5. Objective.
- 6. Flight data. a. Launch Date (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day, no dividers).
- b. Mission duration (mission/experiment).
- c. Launch vehicle.
- d. Launch site.
- e. Host vehicle/platform.
- f. Inclination.
- g. Orbit (km). Apogee.
- Plus.
- Minus.
- Perigee.
- Plus.
- Minus.
- h. Special characteristics.
- i. Experiment cost (millions of dollars).
- j. Experiment weight (kg).
- k. Experiment volume (cc).
- l. Nominal/peak power (w).
- m. Picture of experiment (insert file or cut and paste).
- 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. Sponsor organization.
Download the form
Which files are here? These: PDF. How much work is involved? 4 pages, about 52 entry fields.
What is the difference between fillable and printable? A fillable pdf has real field boxes that accept typed text and hold it inside the file. A printable pdf is a flat blank with no fields at all, intended for a printer and a pen. Which one you have determines how you complete the form, so it is worth checking first.
Should you type or write? Type, whenever the choice is yours. The reason is what happens after submission: the record gets copied and scanned, and every pass costs handwriting legibility that typed entries never lose.
What does any of this cost? Nothing. Every format listed is a free download. One practical note: save the file and open it in a desktop pdf reader, because browser previews often ignore interactive fields and lose what you typed.
In what order do you complete it? The printed order, top to bottom. Header data comes before the body, and the body before the signature block. The sequence is not decorative — later entries are keyed to earlier ones.
Why does the edition matter so much here? Because DD forms are revised centrally. When the Department reissues one, it reissues it for all branches simultaneously, and the field layout can shift. Compare the printed date against not stated before you type anything.
Is the form its own instruction manual? Partly. The rest sits in not stated, which is also the authority where the two texts conflict.
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.
What if DD Form 1721-2 points to another form? Search the series and number. Because the DD sequence is common to every military department, no branch qualifier is needed to land on the right file.
Why do some instructions cite both a DA and a DD form? Because the procedure touches both systems, not because the forms are related. Service forms answer to a service proponent; DD forms answer to not stated or another Department office. The sequences were never aligned.
Why do editions change at all? Three reasons, mostly: the prescribing directive gets reissued, the information collected changes, or the required notice language is amended. Are you notified when it happens? No. Which is why confirming not stated at the moment you download is worth the few seconds.
Will your completed form be accepted? That is not a question this page can answer. What you have here is a published Department of Defense document, a description of it and instructions for filling it out. Nothing on the page is legal advice, and nothing here determines what any office does with a submission. Where do the remaining questions go? To not stated, to your servicing personnel office, or to the office named in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 1721-2?
- DD Form 1721-2, Space Test Program After Action Report, 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?