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NASA Staff Meeting Minutes 7 August 1995

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
August 7, 1995
Filed under ,

Minutes of Senior Staff and Center Directors’ Meeting August 7, 1995
The following documents the discussions addressed at the Senior Staff and Center Directors’ Meeting on August 7, 1995. Action assignments are bolded. Mr. Goldin was not in attendance.

1. AA Reports
R/Whitehead: Congratulations were offered to ARC, LeRC, Western Michigan University, and Pratt and Whitney for their cooperative efforts in solving the high- pressure turbine vibration problem in F-22’s basic F119 turbofan. Tools isolated reflected shocks coming off the turbine blades; engineers suggested solution of deepening blade curvature. This demonstrates an excellent cooperative venture among NASA, academia, and industry in the use of R&T base technology in industry.
Q/Greenfield: Plans are being made at NASA Headquarters and the Field Centers to recognize “Safety Awareness Day,” which will occur the week of August 21, 1995. Mr. Goldin has prepared a kickoff video, along with Dr. Holloway and Mr. Gregory. The videotape will be provided to the Field Centers the week of August 14. Safety Awareness Day is to reinforce mission safety and safety in the workplace. Cherie Zieschang will be a point of contact for the Headquarters Safety Awareness Day.
X/Mansfield: A commercial delta launch vehicle malperformed over the weekend which may impact the XTE (X-ray Timing Explorer) launch. The commercial METEOR (Multiple Experiments Transporter to Earth Orbit and Return) launch has been delayed until 6 p.m. on August 12. Lockheed Launch Vehicle #1 is to be launched on August 15, 1995.
K/Brett: Mr. Brett, serving a 1-year Professional Development Program from LeRC, represented Mr. Thomas at staff meeting. Mr. Thomas is attending the annual New England Business and Technology Conference in Providence, Rhode Island. Representative Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) is providing the Welcoming Remarks, Mr. Goldin is the luncheon keynote speaker, and Commerce Secretary Ron Brown is the keynote speaker for the General Plenary Session.
O/Lundy: The TDRS F-7 payload checkout is progressing well.
J/Cooper: John Donnelly, Director, Defense Investigative Service, announced the recipients of the Department of Defense’s 1995 James S. Cogswell Outstanding Industrial Security Achievement Awards during the National Classification Management Society’s National Training Seminar. Fifty-three facilities (out of 11,000) were selected for the 29th annual award, which is presented to contractors who demonstrate a commitment to industrial security excellence through the maintenance of exemplary security programs. Congratulations to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as one of the award recipients.
C/Christensen: Paulette Lovingood is returning to MSFC this week, and Lorie Pesonen will be the Acting Chief of the Administrator’s Correspondence Office for the next 120 days. The Pawn Shop Deli has closed and is in bankruptcy court.
M/Littles: There will be an announcement in the Commerce Business Daily on an industrywide conference on Shuttle restructuring that is scheduled for August 21 at 1 p.m. at JSC. Legal is preparing a letter that will be issued this week that will detail and describe criteria that will allow interested parties to participate in the Shuttle restructuring initiative.
2. AD/Dailey
There has been a slip in the overdue correspondence. The August 14 Staff Meeting is cancelled due to budget reviews that will be occurring that day.
Headquarters Softball Tourney status–Code U beat Code C 21 to 14, and Code S beat Code Q 16 to 10. Codes A/Z play Code W August 8, and Code F plays Code X on August 10. Games are played at Jefferson Field, 7th and G, SW, at 5:30 p.m. Thanks to LaRC for hosting his visit on August 4. Paulette’s last day at NASA Headquarters is August 9–she is returning to MSFC.
3. Center Director Reports
ARC/Munechika: Mr. Force is visiting ARC. Dr. Munechika thanked Dr. Whitehead for his compliment regarding the F119 turbine vibration solution. Representative Robert Walker (R-PA) will be visiting ARC on August 11.
JPL/Stone: Representative Walker will be at JPL on August 8 at 9:30 a.m.
JSC/Abbey: Representative Walker is visiting JSC today (August 7) at 12 noon.
LaRC/Holloway: He expressed his appreciation for Gen. Dailey’s visit to LaRC on August 4. On August 2, the Boeing/NASA GPS Landing System Flight Test Team completed flight tests at Wallops Flight Facility. The Test Team included participants from Boeing, NASA, Honeywell, Interstate Electronics, Litton, Wilcox Electric, Rockwell-Collins, and Daimler-Benz Aerospace–partnered with Rockwell Collins. The purpose of the flight tests were to collect data on the overall system performance of differential GPS avionics appropriately interfaced to Boeing’s production autoland system. Two hundred and twenty-six approaches to both Wallops runways were accomplished, with over 200 successful autolands in just 7 days of flying. Boeing was extremely pleased with the LaRC/Wallops participation in these tests. A Boeing press release on this activity is expected. A major Level I milestone for the AST Composites program has been accomplished. A composite wing-stub box, developed jointly by McDonnell Douglas Aerospace and LaRC, was successfully tested at the LaRC on July 26. The stub box represents a full-size transport wing structure from the side-of-fuselage outboard for a span of 12-foot (8-foot maximum chord). A series of design limit load conditions were imposed; the upper cover was purposely impacted and repaired. The box was then loaded to design ultimate load failure. Based on knowledge from tests of elements of the wing box between the time that the tooling design was frozen and today’s tests, it is believed that minor design changes will yield the required strength without weight or cost penalties.
LeRC/Campbell: In regard to the Pratt & Whitney endeavor that Dr. Whitehead addressed earlier, Mr. Campbell will be meeting with the Air Force on August 11 for follow-on discussions. The Mir Cooperative Solar Array Readiness Review was held on August 1. It was agreed that the solar array was ready to proceed to launch on STS-74. In response to the NASA Research Announcement in Microgravity Combustion Science, over 120 letters of intent were received–more than previously received–and demonstrates a growing interest in the use of microgravity. The Ohio State Fair opened on August 4 for a 17-day run. The theme for this year’s Fair is “Ohio Proud,” as announced by Governor George V. Voinovich, which also included a tribute to the “All-Ohio” crew from STS-70. Marty Kress has reported today (August 7) as the LeRC Deputy Center Director.
MSFC/Griner: Mr. Bridwell is attending a signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for Technology Transfer at Raleigh, North Carolina. We have now exceeded 100,000 seconds of successful operation with the Pratt & Whitney HPOTP silicon-nitride bearings in the Block I Space Shuttle Main Engine.
SSC/Estess: Governor Fordice is visiting the Mississippi Technology Transfer Center at SSC today (August 7). SSC will be hosting the 1995 Astronaut Class on August 8, including a planned static test firing. Ambassador Gennadi Gerasimov, a distinguished Russian Journalist, is giving a seminar at the Center for Higher Learning at SSC today (August 7) on domestic Russian, international, and social issues.
NOTE: ACTION ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE TRANSMITTED UNDER SEPARATE COVER AND TRACKED BY THE ADMINISTRATOR’S CORRESPONDENCE OFFICE. SPECIFIC ENCLOSURES MAY BE OBTAINED BY CONTACTING PAULETTE LOVINGOOD AT 358-0901.

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