I recently had a conversation with a friend about blogging. She said, “I would never blog—I’m worried enough about my words coming back to haunt me through email, let alone captured for the world to see through a blog.”

I told her how I was trying to learn the ropes of blogging (though I’m terribly infrequent about it, I know) and that I try to put at least some conscious thought into the words I use in any communication, including emails and even my post-it notes, which are carefully edited, often crumpled up and re-written to cram all the details I’m trying to convey on that tiny neon green sheet of paper before being applied to a coworker’s monitor in an attention-grabbing location. But, at the end of the day, I’m ok with my words running free, even through the abyss of the Internet.  Read the rest of this entry »

I’m continually inspired by River’s posts about his career and experience at Goddard. I’ve been meaning to post for quite some time about the experience I’ve had within the Space Life Sciences Directorate at Johnson Space Center. We have some amazing leaders within the directorate who are definitely innovative, outside-of-the-box thinkers. I’d like to share with you a recent example of how NASA, particularly Space Life Sciences at Johnson Space Center in Texas, is using partnerships with academia to help with research and development related to spaceflight.

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The ideas outlined below are especially designed to make NASA competitive so that the goals that are currently set today are not only met but exceeded.  The ideas outline strategic methods that will make it possible for NASA to stretch the capital it has and stimulate the economy while doing it.  Some of the ideas listed might seem simple and latter ones radical but a case is made for all of them.

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Keith mentioned in a previous comment that HQ reads these posts. If it is true I think that is great, that they care so much as to try to listen to us. But I do ask that they stop reading our postings like anthropologists and start reading it like empathetic leaders. Like any good leader they should not be moved at every whim of those they lead, but they should also not ignore those that follow.

I think that those of us in Gen Y (at least I am) are upset because NASA is supposed to represent high-tech, but the industry that is supposed to be ahead of everyone else is sadly about 8-10 years behind industry. Sure there are projects that are amazing in and of themselves, but the resources going into them don’t compare with the results obtained.

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As Rivers pointed out in his previous post, on April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin, became the first man to orbit the Earth. The United States launched the first space shuttle on April 12, 1981. This year actually marks the 50th anniversary of NASA! This Saturday marks the 47th anniversary of Gagarin’s 108-minute flight and his one orbit mission that ended as he parachuted from the Vostok 1 capsule onto the plains of Central Asia. I see this as a reason to celebrate and I’m not the only one! With the recent confirmation of a Yuri’s Night party planned for Antarctica’s South Pole Station there are now 176 celebrations in 49 countries in 7 continents on 2 worlds!

For the second straight year, the crew on the International Space Station has released a video greeting to all Yuri’s Night parties. Commander Peggy Whitson, Garrett Reisman and Yuri Malenchenko of Expedition 16 say hello “to everyone down on Planet Earth celebrating Yuri’s Night”, and talk about the beauty of Earth and the importance of April 12th in astronomical history. If you haven’t had a chance to see the greeting yet, check it out here.

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There is no shortage of research studies and publications describing the “wage gap” between men and women. There is no question that the gap exists - the question is, what can we do to close the gap?

At JSC, there seems to be equality in the “top” jobs that women and men hold. Take a look at MCC - you are just as likely to find a female flight director as a male.

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NASA has been working toward increasing public understanding of what it does and why it is relevant to the public. NASA has created a message which intends to bring this understanding home and succinctly encapsulate everything that it does. While I am a large advocate for creating a guiding coalition, creating vision, communicating the vision, encourage action and celebrating short-term wins for internal change (see Kotter’s Harvard Business Review Article, “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail“), externally, I believe NASA should focus on output.

I recall seeing historic television clips of Apollo astronauts in parades rolling through the streets in convertibles. These were heroes accomplishing extraordinary tasks. While I was not involved in this program, it seems to have been a celebration of feats performed and needed no script. The voice of the Apollo program was not the NASA spokesperson, it was Walter Cronkite. NASA focused on achieving its mandate and let everyone else do the talking.

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Interesting item pointed out to me today is Project Virgle.  Though in many cases, this appears to be an April Fools joke, there are some items that spur much debate.

I have taken the liberty of posting to that group the fact that we, here at Open Nasa,  do truly believe in the importance of engagement.  The benefits associated with working across many generational, educational, and industrial lines are astounding and I hope that those who read through Project Virgle’s group discussion will visit this site and provide the feedback/opinions/dreams that we hope to integrate into NASA’s Mission.

On April 12th, 1961, some Russian dude named Yuri became the first man in the history of the world to go into space.