Helping Quintuplets Leave the Nest

Frank Snow, Goddard Space Flight Center

As project manager for Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS), Frank Snow encountered many challenges developing, testing, and operating the multisatellite mission. This presentation discusses the necessity of a risk management process and detailed resource-loaded scheduling to quickly identify and resolve multiple issues.

44 minutes running time

NASA’s Culture and Change: Lessons from History

Stephen B. Johnson, Marshall Space Flight Center/University of Colorado
Howard E. McCurdy, American University

Stephen B. Johnson and Howard E. McCurdy describe the motives and issues leading to the managerial innovations developed at the start of the space program by the U.S. Air Force, by the U.S. Army’s (later NASA’s) Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Army Ballistic Missile Agency (later Marshall Space Flight Center), and in the human space flight program through Apollo.

1 hour running time

Hitchhike to Titan: The Cassini-Huygens Project

Shaun Standley, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

In 2001, three European Space Agency (ESA) engineers were sent to join the Cassini team at JPL to help implement changes needed when unexpected data loss between Cassini and the Huygens probe was discovered during testing. Shaun Standley shares his story as one of those ESA engineers.

1 hour running time

The Astronaut Glove Challenge and Other Projects

Big Innovation from Small Teams

Peter K. Homer, NASA Astronaut Glove Centennial Challenge Winner
Peter W. Lord, Island Astronomy Institute

In many projects, seemingly impossible technical goals were exceeded, and insurmountable problems solved, by small teams working with limited resources. Peter Homer and Peter Lord—two "hands-on" engineers—share their personal stories as they expose and elaborate upon the common themes that emerge as enablers to highly innovative and successful development teams.

1 hour running time