News & Events

APPEL Hosts Masters Forum 14

Innovation and international collaboration were the themes of APPEL’s fourteenth Masters Forum, which took place in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in mid-April.

Representatives of three space agencies—NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)—traded perspectives on the inherent challenges of international projects. Panelists included Dr.Toshifumi Mukai, Senior Chief Engineer of JAXA; Dr. Steve Beckwith, Space Telescope Science Institute; Frank Cepollina, Hubble Space Telescope; and Frederic Nordlund, head of ESA’s Washington office.

NASA veterans shared their experiences about innovative approaches to project management and engineering.

• Lee Graham (JSC) related lessons from a detail assignment at the Naval Research Laboratory’s “skunk works.”
• Mike Menzel (GSFC), Mission Systems Engineer for the James Webb Space Telescope, emphasized the importance of minimizing stovepipes within the project team.
• Johnny Kwok (JPL) talked about leadership in the face of crisis during the Spitzer Space Telescope project.
• Nick Chrissotimos (GSFC), project manager for the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) mission, told the story of his project’s turnaround, focusing on how the project management team committed to addressing differences in culture, vision, and values across several organizations.

Matt Lemke and Dave Lee of JSC participated in a case study discussion of the Space-to-Space Communications System, a radio system that facilitates communication among the Shuttle, the Space Station, and astronauts on spacewalks. Their experience managing this in-house technology development project served as the basis for an APPEL case study.

James Harford, Executive Director Emeritus for AIAA, offered a historical perspective on a time when the international space arena was characterized solely by Cold War competition. He related the story of Soviet aerospace pioneer Sergei Korolev, which he detailed in his biography Korolev: How One Man Masterminded the Soviet Drive to Beat America to the Moon.

NASA Chief Engineer Chris Scolese closed out the forum with a discussion of the concept of technical excellence and the recently released NPR 7120.5D.

The Masters Forum is a biennial invitational conference held over three days for a small group of practitioners to learn from past masters of project management. Attendees build cross-center relationships, develop leadership expertise, and participate in a community of practice focusing on lessons learned and unique practices. The next Masters Forum will take place in the fall of 2007.