Does NASA purchase insurance on its space missions against failure, or
does it self-insure?

Hello.

No, NASA does not insure its missions.

See:

"Financial cost of lost shuttle falls on NASA
By Tami Luhby / Newsday
WASHINGTON -- While it is too early to put a price tag on the
shuttle's financial loss, it is clear that the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration will bear the brunt, and as a government
agency it cannot recover those costs because its property is not
insured. "
source: DetroitNews.com 2/5/03
http://www.detnews.com/2003/specialreport/0302/05/a06-77631.htm

"NASA's scientific satellites, it was noted, were not insured."
source:  Directorate of Scientific Programmes, European Space Agency
http://esapub.esrin.esa.it/bulletin/bullet87/cavall87.htm

Note, though, that COMMERCIAL payload on NASA missions is insured.

See:
"Insurance Details: The Columbia shuttle was not insured and NASA will
foot most of the bill, which is likely to run into billions of
dollars. Marine cargo insurers in London face losses of USD17.67
million through coverage of SPACEHAB Inc. The lead underwriter for
SPACEHAB Inc is Lloyd?s syndicate 102, managed by Goshawk Insurance
Holdings PLC. Goshawk is said to have written USD10 million of
coverage. Additionally, Ascot (USD3.7 million), Kiln (USD2.2 million)
and Euclidian (USD1.8 million) share in the exposure. However, reports
say that the insurers could subrogate against NASA after an
investigation found its management was at fault for the loss. The
shuttle did not have any third-party liability insurance. Yet, there
is a requirement for commercial parties using the NASA launch vehicle
equipment to buy third-party liability insurance for up to USD500
million. The carrier of this insurance is not known."
source:
GUY CARPENTER 2003 RISK-i Review
http://www.guycarp.com/portal/extranet/pdf/final%20review%202003.pdf
(This document is in PDF format, so the Adobe Acrobat Reader is
required. If you don't have that, visit:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html )

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search strategy:
nasa shuttle insured
nasa shuttle "not insured"

I hope this helps.

Thank you, this is exactly what I was looking for.

Many aerospace operations are insured.  Most of the NASA missions use
companies such as GE, Lockheed Martin ect. to build satellites or
other components. These are all insured by the company (which is
contracted by NASA).  Also NASA is not limited to space shuttle
missions, remember they are also very heavy into aviation.

From my personal correspondance with NASA employees and after hearing
a few informal lectures from the current NASA administrator the answer
to your question is - yes.

In fact there are large buisnesses dedicated or partly dedicated to
Aerospace insurance (space and atmospheric) see for example:

http://www.usau.com/USAU.nsf/Doc/AerospaceCoverage
http://www.aon.com/industries/aviation.jsp

saem_aero:
The question was whether NASA insures its MISSIONS.  The answer is no.
The links that you cited have to do with commercial space activity.

dynastar:
Thank you for the tip.
-juggler