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This case study was developed in the interest of continuously improving program and project management at NASA. To augment a traditional case method approach, a theoretical framework adopted was from the sociotechnical systems tradition. These exercises prompt participants to understand AGATE success from the perspective of the NASA Project Life Cycle. Project Life Cycle variances […]

Wayne Hale’s Ten Rules for Engineering for Space is the focus of Remembrance Day 2014. As former NASA Flight Director and Space Shuttle Program Manager, Hale has compiled a list of lessons learned based on the Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia disasters.

A collection of articles and publications, case studies, and videos on the Apollo program to assist researchers, facilitators, and the technical workforce.

The opportunity to build a new launch vehicle that can loft humans into space does not come along often. The Ares family of launch vehicles, conceived in response to the 2004 Vision for Space Exploration, presented the first chance for NASA engineers to get hands-on experience designing and building a human-rated system since the development […]

In an extraordinary display of international cooperation during the height of the Cold War between the United States and former Soviet Union, television viewers around the globe tuned in July 17, 1975 to witness Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) astronauts and cosmonauts shaking hands between their docked, orbiting spacecraft. The Soyuz crew undocked their spacecraft and landed in Russia on July 21. The Apollo crew continued on-board experiments until their July 24 re-entry. During descent, the crew did not activate the Apollo’s Earth Landing System (ELS) at the correct altitude. As a result, toxic propellant fumes entered the Command Module (CM) through open cabin pressurization valves before splashdown, threatening the lives of America’s first orbital ambassadors.

The Space Shuttle Columbia thundered skyward at 10:39 AM on January 16, 2003 from Kennedy Space Center. Little more than a minute later, a chunk of insulating foam tore away from the external fuel tank and splintered against Columbia’s left wing. The incident did not disrupt Columbia’s planned path to orbit; indeed, nobody on the […]

The Flight Projects Directorate Quarterly Newsletter.

On June 6, 1971, three cosmonauts rose to orbit aboard Soyuz-11 to dock with Salyut, the world’s first space station. Acclaim awaited the crew as they began re-entry on June 30. Teams deployed to the descent site in Kazakhstan, arriving in time to observe an apparent flawless landing. Upon opening the Soyuz’ hatch, rescuers found all three crewmembers still in their seats, lifeless. The national outpouring of grief reportedly matched U.S. sorrow following President Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.

As with any exploratory expedition, whether it be Columbus’s journey to find the New World, Ernest Shackleton’s polar expedition, or NASA preparing for humans to return to the moon to stay, providing the crew light-weight, compact, nutritious and tasty food is a challenge.