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Photographed by an STS-131 crew member on Space Shuttle Discovery, the International Space Station is featured with Earth's horizon and the blackness of space as a backdrop.
MIDAS: Keys to Software Success

By Jeff Cline   A 1995 Standish Group survey of 365 respondents spanning 8,380 software applications showed that only 16 percent of software development projects finished on time and on budget; 31 percent were canceled; and the remaining 53 percent overran costs by an average of 189 percent.

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Joe Engle during the X-15 program.
X-15: Pushing the Envelope

By Kerry Ellis   Breaking the sound barrier took guts, curiosity, optimism, and some serious risk taking.

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A Hornet launches at sunset aboard USS John C. Stennis
A Carrier Team One Risk Management Success Story

By Dan Fontaine   An aircraft carrier is a floating city with power plants, satellite telecommunications, convenience stores, and medical, dental, and hotel facilities.

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The Space Shuttle prototype Enterprise rides smoothly atop NASA's first shuttle carrier aircraft, NASA 905, during the first of the shuttle program's approach and landing tests at Dryden Flight Research Center in 1977.
From Sketch Pad to Launchpad

By Haley Stephenson   For Tom Moser, getting the first shuttle off the ground took more than technical know-how.

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Case Study: Making Compliance Comprehensible

By Joseph A. Horvath   A pharmaceutical company finds ways to turn required documentation into tools for improving how work gets done. Because of their potential to affect human health, biopharmaceutical companies are highly regulated. Among the regulations with which they must comply are those that set standards for conducting laboratory studies, clinical trials, manufacturing, […]

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The Impact of Energy on Projects

By Christie Dowling, Alexandra Gerbasi, and Vic Gulas   The energy of outstanding performers can be measured. It’s no surprise that success in project-based organizations is driven by how well project teams perform. The quality of performance depends not only on the demands of the project but on the team makeup and dynamics.

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NASA Knowledge Forum 2: Knowledge in Projects

By Haley Stephenson

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A 5.5-foot-long wind-tunnel model of the Space Shuttle orbiter is tested inside Langley Research Center’s 16-foot Transonic Wind Tunnel.
Shaping the Shuttle

By Jim Hodges   On April 12, 1981, they sat in the Reid Conference Center at Langley Research Center and watched the first Space Shuttle launch on television, just like everybody else.

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freedom to learn
The Freedom to Learn

In 1944, I went to Virginia Tech to get my bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering. In those days, we finished college in three years because the war was on, which was nice because you got in and out pretty fast.

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