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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Yesterday, I had a very interesting and thought-provoking discussion about the future of JSC and how we’re going to get there.  (I’m trying to be careful about name-dropping, so as to keep the focus here on the ideas more so than personalities.)  One of the subjects we broached was how JSC is famous for its mission operations work, but that a lot of the good engineering work we’re doing here is going unnoticed by the public-at-large.  I’ll actually be meeting with someone tomorrow who is heading up the Engineering Directorate’s efforts to share their innovations both internally and externally.  However, that effort is inexorably tied to the larger question of what our focus should be as an organization.  That central question that has preoccupied my thoughts lately.

Successful organizations tend to be those that focus on a particular area and do that extremely well, as I was reminded yesterday.  In our case here at JSC, that would clearly be mission operations and support.  If that is going to be our focus, then we might need to be prepared to offload projects in the same vein as the now-defunct X-38 to other NASA centers and stay centered on our area of excellence.  When asked where I see JSC being in 20 years, I said that I would like to see JSC essentially serving as the staging area for lunar outpost and Mars sortie missions and support.  That doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for “the other stuff,” especially in an era where we must be prepared to expect static budgets.  However, I also believe that we must remember that operations are not an end unto themselves.  As the Global Exploration Architecture clearly shows, we must have achievable, relevant scientific goals to be working towards.  Our operations must be the means to accomplishing specific ends in science and exploration.

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I woke up at 3:00 am this morning and couldn’t sleep.  So I caught up on a couple of online videos I’d been meaning to watch instead.

The first was Sunday’s 60 Minutes segment entitled “The Next Giant Leap for Mankind.”  I heard several months ago that they were at Goddard filming because they were doing a segment on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).  Naturally, I was pretty excited, as I thought it would be cool to see “my” mission on display for the world.

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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.