Note: I am posting this because I want people to see a realistic view of things at NASA, not a sugar-coated version. This is as real as it gets.

This week I volunteered for an upcoming layoff from my job as a space shuttle technician. I will be leaving after 8.5 years of service on October 1st, 2010. Since many people would give their right arm to work on the shuttle program, you might think I’m crazy to volunteer for this. Leaving the shuttle program is a tough decision for sure, but it really isn’t a matter of if, only when. I am not choosing to leave, I am just choosing the time it will happen. Ultimately, the vast majority of shuttle workers will be let go. So why go before I am forced? Here’s an explanation so you can see it from my perspective.

One of the biggest reasons I am taking this layoff is that it will allow me to plan for my future. It is nearly impossible to make plans or look for a new job when you have no idea when your end date at work will be or what the future holds. We hear a different story every week about what is happening with the program, or with our benefits/severance. The uncertainty is exhausting. I’m not blaming my management for this- I think they are in the same boat. By volunteering for this layoff, I now know what is going to happen to me and when. Crazy as it seems, that feels good. Now I can start figuring out a good strategy to move forward.

Along the same lines, morale was a big push for me to self-nominate for this layoff. You can’t imagine what it is like to be at work surrounded by constant doom and gloom, now with a dash of panic. It is not pretty. Once the people who are to be laid off involuntarily are notified- which will be at the end of July- I expect that it will be even worse. As far as the work goes, we are finishing up with Discovery’s right OMS Pod now, and will deliver it for reinstallation this week. After that I have a few thrusters to bench test for Atlantis, which is being processed for launch on need (in case of emergency). Once that is complete, the bulk of the work we will have left in my area is decontamination of our facility for shutdown, or Transition & Retirement as NASA likes to call it. I started working on the shuttle program because I wanted to contribute to something incredible, human space exploration. I don’t find decontamination and shutdown very inspirational. In fact, it is downright depressing. For many workers, it is just a job and they don’t care what goal they’re working towards as long as they are paid. To me, it makes a difference, and I would much rather try to find work I can feel good about again.

Other reasons for taking this layoff are more practical than emotional. Leaving early gives me a better chance of finding a new job or pursuing other options because the market won’t be flooded with thousands of others doing the same. Also, it makes sense for my particular situation, because my husband works on the shuttle program as well. He will have work to do up until the last launch because he works at the launch pad. We figure that it will be best for us to take a phased approach rather than both being laid off at the same time. This way, hopefully I can get something figured out and can carry him once his job is complete, sometime next year.

So, that’s basically it. This is the reality of the situation. It is sad to see it coming to an end, but it is also a new beginning in so many ways. I am hopeful for the future of NASA, it just isn’t quite ready for me yet, so I’ll make my exit now, gracefully. I’m not looking for sympathy; I’m not feeling sorry for myself and you shouldn’t feel sorry for me either! I am looking for my next great adventure, whatever it may be…

The new NASA budget is a fundamental challenge to the way we operate in the human spaceflight community.  It asks us to stop expecting Washington or another JFK to tell us what to do and demands that we determine what we can offer the nation and set out to break as many boundaries as we can, while respecting the fiscal realities this country faces.

We can either fight this “paradigm shift,” as some have called it, or we can embrace it and make it our own.  Human space exploration is not going to die because of the cancellation of the Constellation program.  The American human space program itself will only die if we fail to rise to this challenge.  The NASA community has core assets and capabilities, such as the premier ability of JSC’s Mission Operations Directorate to conduct launch, ascent, and reentry of human crews, that must be conserved and shared if we are to succeed.

No, the commercial space entrepreneurs are not ready to fly astronauts yet.  However, NASA is chartered by the Space Act to foster commercial enterprises in space.  Go look at it if you don’t believe me. The agency is obligated by law to help them grow, while still meeting its own needs.  The question before us is how we can bring the best of NASA and its people to create this new public-private partnership in LEO and determine a more innovative and sustainable path for exploring the rest of the solar system.

Yes, these are uncertain times.  I know I prefer certainty as an engineer. Given that the most common complaint I’ve heard about the new budget is the lack of an explicit destination or timeline, it would seem I’m not alone in that preference.  The adversity to risk that is endemic in our professional culture and, frankly, our society only compounds the anxiety.  I ask you, my friends and colleagues, to not despair, though.  We may never have an opportunity like this again.

We have a chance to break down the institutional barriers that have stymied further advancement into space time and time again.  We have a chance to escape the overbearing current of organizational inertia and find enabling processes, systems, and technologies that can take us further than we even imagined.  We have an open horizon and the Administrator has asked us to help him chart the course.

I think the choice is straightforward: Adapt and thrive or go find something else to do.  There are many problems to solve in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead.  There is no lack of work to be done.  We need serious, dedicated, and passionate people to  turn this very high-level view of NASA’s future into a cohesive, coherent reality.  There is no one right answer to be handed down from on high.  That’s why we need everyone’s ideas and inputs.

I got into this field because I believe our species’ future depends on exploring space and settling the solar system.  I know that many of you share this view.  The military doesn’t quit their core mission when one of their programs gets canceled.  They find a way to get the job done with the parameters they’ve been given.  So must we.

I don’t mean getting stodgy or conservative or saying things like, “because we have always done it that way” but I mean giving up some of the tactics that I honed at a young age to survive the wilds of Junior High that might not be so appropriate anymore.  You see in Junior High I was picked on mercilessly by some of the guys (who my teachers assured me were only doing it because they were threatened by me- fat lot of consolation that was when I would go home crying every day). My survival strategy became to be as cool as possible. Luckily I had an older sister who through osmosis I could learn from and start to take on the ways of the cool rebel kids. I shaved the sides and back of my hair, wore dark lipstick and high top skater shoes.

It has served me well over the years. Although I took all honors and AP classes in high school, I escaped nerdom, played sports, and once I hit 9th grade never got picked on again. In college, I had fun, did what I wanted and took on my career fearlessly. I was not usually intimidated by a room full of senior engineers once I got to NASA because, hey, they were not nearly as cool as me. Heck I even created a whole space holiday around being cool.

I forgot that I had made it all up. I started to think that I was just born cool.

But recently I have begun to see the toll having to be cooler than everyone is taking. I noticed that I have had little time for those who weren’t as cool as me and that ends up being exclusionary and hurtful. Ironically probably as hurtful as those boys were to me. I realized that I am cutting out whole groups of people I could learn from and work with. So maybe its time to stop playing that game, maybe I don’t need to be “shields-up” all the time against an attack that was called off 20 years ago. Maybe it’s ok to just be normal, just one among equals, to listen and to make time for everyone- just like my dad does. I mean that would be practicing what I preach. Didn’t I say in my TEDxNASA talk that when we grow up and become a galactic civilization we will get back that connection with everyone and everything that we had when we were kids? Maybe I can do my part for the galaxy by doing my own growing up first and be the change I want to see in the Universe.

I got over the disappointment of 2000, the 2000 I had been waiting for since I was about 8. No flying cars, no exclusively silver wardrobes, no weekend trips to space. But what I took away was a resolve to get everyone excited not just about The Future but about being part of the group of people who are building the future. That is who we are. Never forget that. We are the music makers and the dreamers of dreams. We are the architects of a future for our species that inspires us. We build because we can, because it is our favorite game. It is not a better game than the players of the sports games, or the money game or even the video game. It is merely the one that we find the most fun. (So let’s play!)

So it seems the way to win is not only to build the most outrageous, the most exciting, the most impactful, the most inspiring future, but also to make sure that we are having fun doing it. After all that is why we picked this game- it was more fun for us than race car driving, or organic farming, or brain surgery. So the next time you are discouraged by bureaucracy, or frustrated by people who ‘don’t get it’, or at your wits end with your own seeming lack of progress, remember, we picked this because it was fun and let the challenges and the struggles and the set backs be part of the game, just like you would in Super Mario Brothers, or Zelda, or Guitar Hero. After all if you just went back a level and got the magic sword, you probably could beat the dragon this time…and that would be fun wouldn’t it?

So this 1st week of the new shiny year, think of your life as a video game that you just took out of the package. Play it with vigor, play it with valor and with creativity, but most importantly make sure you are having fun.

One of the advantages of working in the ISS National Laboratory Office is that I get to support projects that actually fly in space.  This morning, I got to sit with my Department of Defense counterparts on-console while astronaut Mike Barratt operated the SPHERES experiment.

We’re using the SPHERES free-flying satellites inside the Space Station to develop and test new algorithms for flying satellites in formation and autonomous rendezvous & docking procedures.  As space gets more crowded and we endeavor to fly more commercial and government operations, this kind of knowledge will be increasingly important.

Watching on the live feed from the ISS as the SPHERES tumble and re-orient reminded me, yet again, why I got into this field and how important the work we do is.  With every experiment, we are working to build a better future and advance humanity as a spacefaring species.

As the National Lab activities of the Station ramp up and we bring more and more commercial and government partners on-board, I am increasingly excited to see what the future will hold. From new propulsion systems to optical communications to space-based solar power to NIH research grants, we’re doing new and exciting things that can only be done in space.

When it comes to the Space Station, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

So an hour ago, I showed up at the ISS Mission Evaluation Room to watch the shuttle launch. Last night, a friend of mine was asking me if I was going to get up at 6 AM to watch the launch. I wasn’t that enthusiastic about doing it, but realized that I had to option to go into my console in the MER and not only watch it on a nice big flat screen but I could also hear the other voice loops beyond PAO and CAPCOM if I watched it in the MER and used my headset.

This morning rolls around, my alarm clock goes off, and shortly thereafter I stumble into the MER, hoping that I didn’t miss the launch.

2 minutes later wondering why there weren’t more people in the room and I come to find out that the mission has been scrubbed. So here I am, 6AM on Saturday morning finding myself with some time to post my thoughts about the space program in an environment nurturing to such thoughts.

First off, watching NASA TV and having them talk about the mission was really exciting. They are going to accomplish a whole heck of a lot during this mission. With all the battery changeover, installations, robotics, hardware transfers, the fix for that truss element that got stuck, and all the other stuff that is to small to make the highlight reel, the 13 astronauts on board are really going to do a lot of highly technical tasks.

On the ground, when we change the configuration of hardware, there is paperwork to process, signatures to have signed, inspection after inspection and test to perform, and schedules to coordinate. To put RTV on the screws for some Orbital Replaceable Units (ORUs) on the ground, there are half a dozen pieces of paper that need to be signed, multiple schedules that need to be coordinated, and other things also necessary but to boring to mention. So when I watch the highlight reel and consider the hugs impact to the station that this mission is for perhaps the first time I don’t take for granted the comparative massive amount of work that the 13 astronauts are going to perform.

And even though they are the first to admit that they couldn’t do any of what they are doing without the thousands of people on the ground that are doing all of the prep work, which is true, it is also true that they are not just warm bodies implementing an inevitable laundry list of planned to death tasks. These people know their stuff and have the stamina to implement a huge change while coordinating with themselves and the ground. No “SPAM in an can” here.

Ok. So on to the second thought.

Another friend and co worker who was over last night was sharing with me what he had done at work yesterday. Our mutual co worker is out of town so when an issue with a piece of hardware came up that is slated to launch for the 17A/STS-128 mission he was the backup to handle the issue. It turns out that this hardware need to be changed from something it is into something that it isn’t right now and delivered, packed, and stowed to go into this flight that is scheduled for 8/6.

NASA has a very necessary procedure in place to make sure that we don’t launch the wrong stuff, and that procedure involves somethings called quality, configuration management, engineering, contracting, shipping, um… the people who do the physical change… and a bunch of other groups. So my buddy from work is telling me how this morning he gets this email about how this thing that is supposed to fly isn’t actually what it needs to be… and that we need to send it to a company to modify it, but before that can happen, there is a mountain of paperwork that needs to be competed to include all the groups that I mentioned above. And after it is done there is another mountain of paperwork that needs to be completed. And my buddy has spoken to just about everybody who is going to touch this thing and they are all pretty much on board to implement a schedule that will actually make this thing be delivered and inside the space shuttle in time for the August 8th launch.

I think that that is pretty awesome. I mean, people rag on NASA for being all inefficient, and granted, sometime is can be inefficient compared to other private operations like Google or McDonalds that don’t involve explosives and multi-billion dollar machines in space and international partnerships and risk to human life, but hey, a bit of inefficiency to enable things to happen safely and correctly can be allowed for in such a case, right? The point is that for this particular piece of hardware that my friend is dealing with, when program management says “jump,” a whole bunch of people say “how high” and we are getting the job done lightning fast. Maybe the whole NASA system isn’t so ineffective after all. (Lets know the difference between efficiency and effectiveness)

Lets say that you were getting a college degree and you wanted to get straight As. You would have to work pretty hard. The marginal effort to get each question correct on your tests would be a lot lower than the marginal effort for the C student to get their questions right on their tests. You might consider your effort to get that last question on the test right not very “efficient.” Well, what if I told you that you might die if you got the question wrong and that you might destroy a billion dollars worth of equipment if you didn’t get every question on every test of your college career right? If you had the money and the inclination, you wold probably do some pretty inefficient things to get those grades, but if you spent the time and had the staff, you could probably accomplish that takes (Assuming that your teachers weren’t whacked.) So NASA is kind of like that. Going into space is digital. You either reach orbit or you don’t. You either install the module on the space station or you don’t. Things either blow up, rattle apart, pop, or they don’t. And you have to get pretty much every question right on the test to achieve success. And there is a ridiculously large number of questions. NASA spends the time and staff to make sure that things work. And sometimes, when they need to, they expedite to get the right answer on the test in a pinch, like what is happening with my buddy. And when they don’t need to, things can be rather “inefficient.”

Call it Kool-Aid if you will, but I think that what’s happening with my coworker is pretty cool.

And on to my final thought. Twitter and the Mission Operations Directorate (MOD). Hmm. MOD, the people who are tasked with “operating” that station in real time, makes a policy that MOD people can not release of non-public information via Twitter and Facebook. That makes sense, I guess, I mean, we wouldn’t want whoever is on the MERLIN console in the MER to tweet “Well, my day is over because the O2 Pressure is dropping on telemetry feed ISSOGAV02″ which makes people thing that the station is depressurizing when it means that the electrolysis machine in powering down.

But I hope that the recent efforts by many at NASA, including many in management, to expand the openness and “stickiness” of NASA’s programs can go forward with the accelerating pace that they are with efforts such as www.nasa.gov/collaborate, because putting humans and science in space really is the best bang for the governments dollar to inspire, enhance, and develop our nations technical and intellectual abilities.

So in conclusion, to my friend who gave me a hard time for not wanting to get up at 6 to watch the shuttle launch, I am a space nerd. I do think that NASA rocks (never mind the Kool-Aid), and I do wax philosophical from 6-8AM on Saturday mornings.

Well my wife just called me and asked what the heck I was doing seeing as how the launch was scrubbed. She wasn’t to satisfied when I told her that I was making a blog post, because she thinks that 5 days a week plus saturday taking care of two kids is a bit much, so I’m heading home now.

Sometime during fall of last year, I was perusing the AIAA library and I came upon a paper that some Boeing guys had published in conjunction with the NASA Altair Broad Area Announcement (BAA) regarding the trade space for the physical configuration of the Altair vehicle. There were half a dozen Boeing authors, and one of them happened to be in Houston.

He also happened to be Boeing’s overall project manager for Altair, so it was a fortuitous chance that I saw his name on the paper. I looked him up and headed upstairs to where his office was.

Before this time, I had approached the functional manager for Systems Engineering at Boeing Houston and asked him what types of things I should do to be qualified for the Lunar Lander project. He answered some of my questions about the USC graduate programs, and also highly recommended that I do the Space Systems Engineering Masters Certificate from Stevens Institute of technology. Boeing pays for that sort of thing, so I jumped on it and started in the beginning of October.

All this meant that when I went to the Altair Project Manager’s office in October, I have a little bit of confidence and a broad topic to write a paper on some human space system from end to end from a systems prospective. I had read his paper (I had enough time to go over it thoroughly waiting in the chair outside of his office while I waited for him on several occasions.)

At last, I had my chance to pitch myself to him; our paths had crossed (thanks to his friendly OA.) He was pleasant and trusted me enough to show me some proprietary stuff that Boeing was cooking up in conjunction with the BAA. I told him that I wanted to be involved, that I had CAD and writing experience, and that I wanted to form my space systems engineering paper to support his business goals and objectives. I don’t know how much he really expected of me, but he politely accepted to give me some guidance for my topic. He also gave me access to Boeing BAA Share Point

I was off to the races. The Share Point was chock full of sometime up to the minute data as Boeing was preparing its final BAA report outs. The Master Equipment list, Q&As between NASA and the engineers, CAD models… I was in hog heaven. I printed off a 2 inch thick binder and marked it up thoroughly. This was all research for the first part of my paper.

A month went by, and I was ready. I had really put a lot of research and analysis into the paper, and even slaved away on butchering the NASA Design Analysis Cycle 2 CAD model to illustrate the concept that I explored in the second part of my paper. I proudly presented it to the project manager and the Systems Engineering Manager when I was finished. The project manager was excited to have it. He said he would read it.

I returned a week later and he had sent it on to some of his guys who were more closely working with the topic that I had focused on; he said that they liked it and I had done some good analysis that his guys were glad to have. Later I would actually meet these people and work with them on the ACDC proposal. The project manager said that I was a good writer, demonstrated a firm understanding of NASA’s Altair procurement philosophy, and said “we will use you.” He told me he would send my paper and instructions to the proposal manager at Boeing that I should be included on the proposal team. I was so totally stoked. I called my wife and everyone in my family. It was really what I had wanted for years and years. The proposal was the first step toward working on the design of the Lander.

By this time the draft RFP was coming really soon, and the team was assembling.

After a week went by and I hadn’t heard from the project manager or the proposal producer, I got the feeling that I was dealing with busy people who weren’t particularly motivated to give me a spot on the team. I was going to have to be a little pushier. I sauntering by the project manager’s office a couple of times a day until I finally met up with him (He wasn’t in his office very often.) When I finally met up with him, he acted surprised that the proposal producer hadn’t contacted me. That really made me worried that the impetuous had seemed to fall flat, and I figured that I would take matters into my own hands as much as I could to get the ball rolling.

(To be continued…)

]]> http://www.opennasa.com/2009/02/11/acdc-rock/feed/ 3 http://www.opennasa.com/2008/11/26/the-other-side-of-the-inclusion-issue/ http://www.opennasa.com/2008/11/26/the-other-side-of-the-inclusion-issue/#comments Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:54:18 +0000 iMensah http://www.opennasa.com/2008/11/26/the-other-side-of-the-inclusion-issue/ Over the past few weeks here at OpenNASA (and a few at NASAWatch), there have been a few debates about “Gen Y/Net Gen/Next Gen/Gen Next” wanting to be included more in how individual NASA centers (and NASA as a whole) are run.  At the very least, they (really “we” since I’m included in Gen Y, if only by age) would like a seat at the table, as it were, and a voice to speak with.  Whether or not mid – high level NASA managers actually listen to said voice  is something else to be discussed at another time, but for the time being it looks like they are at least paying attention.

I bring this issue up for a few reasons:

1. I think a few people who’ve posted comments here are trying to get across to my Gen Y peers how this initiative is being perceived by those who are in the mid – high level management.
2. I happen to know of a similar effort (but not quite as organized) at Lockheed – Martin from a mid-level manager. Their point of view is the same point of view that has been expressed both here and on NASAWatch by Gen X’ers and older people.

The crux of the matter, as I understand it, is how Gen Y’ers, who are relatively young, unexperienced, and know relatively ltttle about the nuances of how such organizations are run, are almost demanding that their (our) voice be heard and headed to some extent.  Many, including some detracting commenters here at OpenNASA, complain that many of the presentations generated by the Gen Y effort are mere eye candy that offer no new technical suggestions or solutions to current problems facing the Agency.  To that, I would have to say “I agree”.

In speaking with the L/M manager about the people they manage and their experiences with them, I got the impression that many of the issues brought forth by the Gen Y effort at NASA (and more specifically JSC) are also being expressed at L/M.  The reaction the manager had to this really opened my eyes to how the “other side” thinks about this and can be summed up in two simple words: “slow down”.

Note, this doesn’t mean “stop” or “quit” or “give up” or any other synonym one can come up with for ceasing current activities.

In the explanation the manager gave me for their feelings, they mentioned that the 20-somethings working under them were very bright, but had rather unrealistic expectations that what they (the 20-somethings) had to say would somehow influence the direction of the engineering juggernaut that is L/M and that they would be VP of some division in the next two – three years.  While I haven’t quite identified any large delusions of grandeur in any Gen Y presentation to date, I can see where some have stated that their “knowledge” can, and should, be used to influence the future direction of NASA.

Don’t get me wrong here; I totally agree that if NASA wishes to reach a new generation of young people, then seeking the advice of people in that age group is the right thing to do.  However, when it comes to technical and managerial issues, I say our place is to watch and learn.  Look at what works and what doesn’t work.  Personally, I would be lost here if it were not for the guidance of my mentor and manager who have been here for almost 20 combined years.  I admire the passion and dedication that my peers take to wanting to change the world beyond their fingertips and encourage them to keep up the drive.  But be willing to learn from those people who have tread the path before you; they know the pit-falls and nuances of the road before us.  Leaders, even natural born ones, are also amazing learners.

.::. iMensah

This is the first page you reach when you visit the nasa.gov website and look for information about working at NASA. If you go to nasa.gov and click “About NASA”, and then click “Careers@NASA” it will take you to what I’m talking about. The text here talks about how NASA is more than astronauts – and gives a list of folks who work within NASA including: scientists, engineers, computer programmers, personnel specialists, accountants, writers, maintenance workers. This is absolutely true and the actual list is much longer. There are people from all walks of life and backgrounds at NASA. So to address your question Brian, we absolutey need folks like you to give us a new and fresh persepective. Your background at NOAA and education as a geoscientist is invaluable. This is evidenced by none other than Justin, who was a former intel officer, and is now very active in the NASA community making huge contributions to what we do.

The next question, that both Brian and Ash brought up, is how does one actually go about getting their foot in the door at NASA – especially in today’s economy? Ash, you’ll be happy to know that although my school had a COOP program, we did not have any relationship at the time with NASA. I was in the same place you are. I might as well not have even asked my career center for help because getting in the door at NASA was completely up to me. I knew I wanted to work here so I started doing research (I wish this site existed back then so I could have talked to people who worked at NASA about what to do). Fortunately, I came across the JSC COOP website which was a big help in my application process. It not only provided me the contact information for the JSC COOP office but it also provided me student written biographies that shared in first person, their experiences as NASA employees. It was such a gold mine. As Justin pointed out, NASA can be a very difficult place to get a job – even when the economy is great, and even if you already have experience. From personal experience, the COOP program is a very effective way for someone kick off a career at NASA. NASA view’s it’s COOP program as a very effective pipeline for its workforce and therefore converts many COOPs to fulltime employees after graduation.

In the “participatory exploration” presentation, I also highlighted a link to the NASA student education programs page at nasa.gov. This is an invaluable and comprehensive list of the education programs at NASA and I really encourage you to check it out (link: http://education.nasa.gov/edprograms/stdprograms/). I’m sure there are other websites/resources/contacts that people who read this can share, but this list gives you a good idea of all the entry points. I know many people at NASA who have started their careers in one of these other education programs.

Full time employment, which Justin and Brian were discussing, is always an interesting subject. Even if you want to apply to be an Astronaut, or if you are a current civil servant (CS) and want to apply for a new job, you have to use the website http:///www.usajobs.gov. It has its pro’s and con’s; a major con being that, just like many “job application websites,” submitting your resume is sometimes like submitting it into a black box. There is a good book you can get at Barnes and Nobles about how to write a resume for the government, which for some reason, is very different than writing it for another job. Justin also mentioned “knowing” a CS in terms of helping you get a job. My thought on that is, “maybe.” See, NASA, being the government, is very scrutinized in how it manages its human resources. Hiring is done, at least from my personal experience, as fairly as possible.

In addition to the COOP program, I’ve also seen a number of contractors who are converted over to NASA civil service after working for the corporate world a few years. The COOP program and contractor conversions make up a huge amount of the new hires at NASA – not to say that there are not others.

Keith mentioned the discussion a number of younger employees had this past year with the NASA Strategic Management Council (SMC). The SMC is a meeting held by the NASA Administrator, Mike Griffin, with his senior management. It’s a closed meeting meaning that not everyone is invited to it and generally the discussion never leaves the room. At that meeting, a really good discussion about the future of our workforce took place and the presentation mentioned is posted here on the nasa.gov website. The group went forward to ask NASA “to create an environment where all NASA employees can leverage their strengths to push the limits of science and space exploration by:

• Providing the current NASA workforce with infusion of fresh ideas, methodologies and technologies.
• Providing the Next Gen NASA workforce the programs and experience today that it needs to be the leaders in the future.
• Enabling enhanced communication and collaboration between NASA centers.
• Getting more young people in the door.

Here is a link to the key talking points. The response was very positive and a detailed discussion was held about the importance of these four bullet points in particular. From what I’ve seen, NASA senior management is very aware of this problem, and is doing what they can, as fast as they can, to address it.

IMHO, NASA has a pretty effective pipeline into its workforce. The issue isn’t necessary that the pipeline doesn’t work, because it does - the NASA education programs are top notch. The pipeline just has to be widened to allow more young people in the door, providing our workforce with a new infusion of ideas.So in conclusion, Ash and Brian, I offer the following advice on getting a job in the NASA community:

• Never give up. Seriously, if something doesn’t work, don’t quit. Try another avenue.
• Don’t discount working for a contractor. Some will argue that contractors do the “real work anyway” and there is truth to this. Being a contractor for NASA is a highly rewarding career and many contractors make their way into the NASA civil service system anyway.
• Explore opportunities at multiple centers. I write and present about Johnson Space Center because that’s what I know best, but all the centers are equally exciting to work for and each may offer unique entry points.
• Pursue an advanced degree. Sometimes, in times of economic downturns and an apparent lack of job opportunities, many people choose to further their education. Advanced (technical) degrees are highly valued at NASA and this may be a perfect opportunity for you to work with NASA in a whole other way. For example, the Human Research Program has hundreds of interesting topics they are interested in solving with respect to returning humans to the Moon. These are all excellent research and thesis topics. If you are interested in one, don’t be afraid to contact the NASA civil servant in charge and see how you can contribute.
• “Participatory Exploration.” This is the second half of “participatory exploration” presentation. Just because you can’t work for NASA, doesn’t mean you can’t work with NASA. More and more leaders at NASA are really trying to find ways for people to participate in the NASA mission. Sometimes, you can be even more effective from the outside.

I’m personally always willing to help you in anyway I can. Feel free to email me, friend me on Facebook, or DM me on at http://twitter.com/skytland if you would like more information.

These are the slides from my talk at SEDS SpaceVision this weekend in College Station.  I don’t have talking points yet, but when/if I do, I’ll post them here as well – I just wanted to get the slides up as soon as possible. SEDS SpaceVision is the annual event for chapters of SEDS (Students for Exploration and Development of Space) in the US to come together to meet, talk, listen to speakers from the space industry, and network.  I’ve never had the chance to attend spacevision before, but since it was essentially in our back yard here in Texas, it was the perfect opportunity.  Thanks to Texas A&M for hosting!  This was about “participatory exploration” in context of both working at NASA and working with NASA.  The audience was the interested college students attending the conference (I have another version of the “participatory exploration” I give to NASA program/project managers about how we actually go about opening our programs/projects and making them “participatory”).  The goal of my talk was to let the students know a) how exciting working for NASA can be, b) how exciting the Constellation Program is, and c) that even if they didn’t literally work for NASA or for one of its subcontractors, there are still many ways to participate.  Each day, we are creating more and more avenues for people to participate in the NASA mission.  I’d love for readers of opennasa.com to share any other “participatory” efforts you know about.  I’m also interested in hearing about what you do for NASA, if you work in the industry.  If you have an awesome job, take a moment to tell us what you do!  It was really good to see a number of good friends at the event, including Will Pomerantz (twitter.com/pomerantz) of the X PRIZE and Ken Davidian (twitter.com/kdavidian) of the FAA.  Other notable speakers included Peter Diamandis, Bob Richards, and Loretta Hidalgo!  Check out Will’s blog post(s) about the conference at The Launch Pad and check out Ken’s commercial space wiki.   Note: This presentation was the ‘Feature Slideshow of the Day’ on slideshare.net on Sunday Nov 16: http://www.slideshare.net/ssod.  Special thanks to Karen Lau (http://twitter.com/k_lau) for the awesome CoLab logo.