JSC Shuttle History Event Today
NASA JSC Storytelling – Early SSP Programmatic Decisions
“Come join us today for the November Session of our Storytelling program. A panel of 5 will chronicle the Early Space Shuttle Programmatic Decisions. The program will focus on the Phase A and B concepts that were studied and how NASA arrived at the conceptual baseline that was developed during the subsequent design and development phases, and the management/organizational approach used during the development phase, and the effectiveness of that management approach. This program is being distributed throughout the agency and JSC using cable TV channel 2 plus IPTV channel 202, and additionally using the NASA-JSC USTREAM channel. The NASA-JSC USTREAM is here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-jsc”
This was an excellent event and I appreciate their streaming it-hopefully they will place the recording someplace accessible together with the slides.
I hope that there is an appendix provided to the Wings in Orbit Shuttle book. That book was written from the perspective of the mission operators and not from the perspective of those who developed Shuttle or for that matter those who based the design of ISS on Shuttle.
I had several questions though not pertaining specifically to the early Shuttle development:
-I thought the inputs of Bob Thompson on Constellation and Orion were very telling and I wonder what the other panel members thought about how that program was established and about its goals and affordability.
-I wonder how the panel feels about how ISS has been managed and its affordability and costs. For those who missed it Bob Thompson, Owen Morris and Dick Kohrs all went to great lengths to talk about the matrix management in which technical support was provided by center technical staff to experienced functional area managers within the program. That is not how ISS operates. In ISS all technical management is done within the program office whether or not they have the technical expertise. Do they think that is why Shuttle cost $5-6 billion and 9 years to fly, while ISS cost $100 billion and 30 years? By comparison how is Orion set up today and how was Apollo set up?
Maybe there is another program planned that can look at these questions?
I wonder if they are going to talk about the real design driver of the early Shuttle era: politics.