April 3, 2008 Vol. 1, Issue 3

More than 1200 civil servants, contractors, and members of the aerospace community attended PM Challenge 2008.

The fifth annual conference, which took place February 26-27, 2008, in Daytona Beach, Florida, featured over ninety workshop presentations as well as eight general session speakers. Several NASA senior leaders addressed the conference, including Associate Administrator Chris Scolese, Chief Engineer Mike Ryschkewitsch, Chief Safety and Mission Assurance Officer Bryan O’Connor, Associate Administrator of Space Operations William Gerstenmaier, and Kennedy Space Center Director William Parsons. Other keynote speakers included Jonathan Firth of Virgin Galactic and former Apollo 15 astronaut Al Worden.

Bryan O’Connor and Mike Ryschkewitsch also presented the George M. Low Awards, NASA’s highest honor for quality and technical performance in its contractor community, to four organizations:

• Lockheed Martin Mission Services of Houston, nominated by NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston, received the award for the large business service category.
• Sierra Lobo Inc. of Milan, Ohio, nominated by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., won the small business service category.
• Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Inc. of Canoga Park, Calif., also nominated by Marshall, won the award for large business product.
• ASRC Aerospace Corporation of Cape Canaveral, Fla., nominated by NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, won the small business product award.

NASA also recognized four Low Award finalists: Boeing Space Operations Company, Cape Canaveral; Oceaneering International Inc., Houston; Space Systems Division at Jacobs Engineering, Huntsville; and the National Institutes of Aerospace, Hampton, Va.

PM Challenge 2009 will be held February 24-25, 2009, at the same Daytona Beach location.