Organization: HQ

By Kerry Ellis On the morning of September 8, 2004, in a desert in the middle of Utah, two helicopters waited to pluck Genesis gently from the air and return it safely to the ground.

By Ken Atkins In the wee hours of Sunday morning, January 15, 2006, a 105-lb. entry vehicle carrying samples of dust from comet Wild 2 and interstellar particles from outside our solar system whizzed into our atmosphere at 29,000 mph.

By Ed Hoffman The Wikipedia (a comprehensive, free, online, editable encyclopedia that would have been unthinkable even a few years ago but for me demonstrates the power of change) defines change as the quality of impermanence and flux.

By Richard Day and Ed Rogers “The Board concludes that NASA’s current organization does not provide effective checks and balances, does not have an independent safety program, and has not demonstrated the characteristics of a learning organization.” — Columbia Accident Investigation Board Report (2003)1

Kerry Ellis Orlando Figueroa began his NASA career twenty-seven years ago at Goddard Space Flight Center, not knowing he would eventually become the Center’s Director of Applied Engineering and Technology — and Federal Employee of the Year.

Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap By 2006, almost half of NASA’s workers will be eligible for retirement, many of them in science and engineering.

By Don Cohen Shortly after he took on the job of Chief Engineer, Chris Scolese talked with Don Cohen about leadership, learning, and NASA’s new mission.

Roger Forsgren When Congress established NASA under the Space Act of 1958, it realized that the new Agency created to answer the Cold War challenge of Sputnik needed to be a fertile ground for scientific and engineering ingenuity.

Michael Allen On a spring day at Edwards Air Force Base, someone pointed overhead to a flock of migrating white pelicans soaring gracefully in formation.