Subject: Minutes of Senior Staff and Date: Friday, July 12, 1996 8:57AM
Minutes of Senior Staff and Center Director’s Meeting July 8, 1996
The following documents the discussions addressed at the Senior Staff and Center Director’s Meeting on July 8, 1996. Mr. Goldin was not in attendance. Action assignments have been placed in brackets [ ] for easy identification.
1. AA Reports
W/Gross: Last week, Code W issued a memorandum requesting input to support the development of the IG’s Annual Audit Plan. Ms. Gross requested information that would include suggestions and information to assist the IG’s office in determining the best way to serve the Agency.
E/Mateu: From July 8 to 10, 1996, Mr. Reese will attend the National Conference for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education.
P/Vincent: The landing of STS-78 on July 7, 1996, was a success and received a great deal of press coverage. Footage obtained through the use of the new small pilots-view camera during the landing was used extensively by the networks. Mr. Goldin attended the landing and participated in the July 7, 1996, Olympic torch ceremony conducted at KSC. On July 8, 1996, the latest photograph obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) will be released. This photo depicts a unique oval shaped star. There will be a Space Science briefing on Galileo’s recent encounter with Ganymede on July 10, 1996. Dr. Shannon Lucid will be interviewed by NBC’s Today Show anchors on July 11, 1996, at 7:00 a.m.. A video file will be released on July 12, 1996, to announce the first test on July 13 of new cockpit weather display on the DC-10. Additionally, Code P will monitor the progress concerning the launch date for STS-79 and issue press releases, as required.
M/Parker: As a result of the Agency’s June 25, 1996, letter to the Honorable Paul G. Kaminski, Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition and Technology), concerning stockpiling aerospace grade rayon, a preliminary meeting will be conducted on July 12, 1996. Efforts continue to fully understand the phenomena that occurred in the SRB’s during the launch of STS-78.
S/Huntress: This week will be an exciting week for Space Science with the release of the HST’s latest photo and the briefing on the Ganymede encounter. Over the weekend, the Mir was brought back on line after it lost contact with the station control center due to a cockpit error in the command module.
Y/Mann: The National Research Council issued its second review on Mission To Planet Earth (MTPE). The program and the Agency’s efforts received very positive reviews in the report; however, several other Federal Agencies were identified as needing to get more involved. A response to query is being prepared. LANDSAT officially entered into the integration test phase 3 weeks early. GSFC has been doing a great job managing this program.
L/Lawrence: The Senate appropriations bill mark-up should occur on July 12, 1996. The initial readings received by Code L are positive. It is anticipated that the results of the mark-up will be available on the Code L Homepage as soon as the mark-up has been completed.
I/Schumacher: Mr. Goldin will depart on July 13 for the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission meeting on July 15-16, 1996, in Moscow. Mr. Goldin will return on July 17. Last week, a memo was released discussing the preparations for the August 17, 1996, launch of the Advanced Earth Observing System (ADEOS) from Tanegashima, Japan. This is to ensure proper coordination for the NASA delegation attending the launch. During the week of July 8, 1996, the Israeli Space Agency (ISA) will host a NASA delegation to conduct the preliminary discussions concerning an Umbrella Agreement between the two space agencies and MTPE- related opportunities. The delegation will visit several universities and a desert research site in the Negev.
AB/Heffernan: Mr. Heffernan thanked everyone who supported the Vice President’s recent visit to JPL to announce the X-33 contract. Specifically recognized for their efforts were Mr. Lawrence, Mr. Ladwig, and their staffs for their successful coordination with the Vice President’s staff, and Mr. Stone, Ms. Lee, Mr. Vincent, and Mr. Payton for their efforts associated with the actual selection and its announcement. Code P did an outstanding job of working with the media in support of the announcement. Larry Dumas, Mack Reed, and the JPL team went out of their way to make it a first-class event. The Vice President’s staff was impressed not only with how smoothly and professionally the event occurred, but they were also very impressed that JPL’s employees, representing all of the NASA employees, could stand out in temperatures close to 110-degrees and remain so enthusiastic.
X/Reck: Mr. Reck thanked everyone at JPL and MSFC for their support of the X-33 selection and announcement ceremony.
U/Nicogossian: Dr. Nicogossian thanked MSFC and JSC for the outstanding success on STS-78. All of the data was received from the experiments and the principal investigator’s are very pleased with the preliminary results. It is anticipated that the early results of the experiments can be released in 2 to 3 weeks.
AS/Cordova: The final draft copy of the NASA science policy has been distributed for comment. This draft incorporates those recommendations received via the Internet earlier in the year. It is hoped that the document can be published by the end of this month.
2. AD/Dailey
General Dailey introduced Lori Garver. She will be a Special Assistant to the Administrator for issues concerning communications and other special activities. General Dailey requested that Ms. Garver’s requests receive immediate attention to ensure timely responses to the Administrator’s requests. Ms. Garver has taken a 1-year leave of absence from her position as the Executive Director of the National Space Society.
A meeting with Mr. Goldin and all of the AA’s is scheduled for Friday, July 12, 1996, at 2 to 3 p.m. The meeting will address the final recommendations for HQ staffing.
The Strategic Management Meeting will be held on July 16 and a half day on July 17, 1996. On July 24 and 25, 1996, the NASA Advisory Council will meet. The Program Management Council meeting, originally scheduled for July 9, 1996, has been rescheduled to July 15, 1996.
3. Center Director Reports
ARC/McDonald: Dr. McDonald expressed his best wishes to Paul Holloway on his recent announcement to retire and thanked him for all of his hard work and support. This weekend CNN aired a segment on a new software that can be used to safely land damaged aircraft. Last week, Dr. McDonald and ARC representatives visited the NASA Software Independent Verification and Validation facility in West Virginia.
DFRC/Peters: Theseus, a remotely piloted aircraft, whose mission is to collect atmospheric conditions and to verify information collected by space-based platforms, conducted its second flight last week, successfully achieving an altitude of approximately 7,500 feet. The autopilot and basic aircraft performance were evaluated during this 1 hour and 17 minute flight.
GSFC/Rothenberg: The Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) was successfully launched on July 2, 1996, aboard a Pegasus XL. The Pegasus XL performed nominally and the TOMS’s signal has been successfully acquired by the TDRSS satellite. The craft appears to be in good condition.
JSC/Abbey: The NASA Advisory Committee on the International Space Station (ISS), chaired by Tom Young, is visiting JSC today to meet with Mr. Trafton and representatives from the ISS program office. The STS-78 crew returned to JSC on July 7, 1996, for their post-flight medical examinations. JSC is still monitoring the progress of the STS-78 SRB analysis.
KSC/Thomas: The July 7, 1996, landing of STS-78 went very well. The Olympic torch ceremony held that afternoon was a success and STS-78 Mission Commander Tom Henricks and Pilot Kevin Kregel returned the torch they had flown aboard Columbia to the Olympic committee.
LaRC/Holloway: Mr. Holloway stated that LaRC was very pleased to share the NASA 1996 Software of the Year Award with JPL. This NASA-sponsored award is granted to individuals that develop software to enhance NASA’s mission and assist the U.S. aerospace industry in maintaining world-class technology. This year’s recipients are the Linked Windows Interactive Data System (LinkWinds) software developed by Dr. Allen Jacobson, and the Tetrahedral Unstructured Software System (TetrUSS) developed by Dr. Neil Frink’s team at LeRC. Dr. Robert Fox was notified that he will be awarded the IR 100 award for Thunder.
LeRC/Kress: The Deputy Undersecretary for Defense (Space), the Honorable Robert Davis, will visit the Center on July 10, 1996, to discuss the Center’s space power propulsion activities as they relate to defense. On July 19, 1996, the dedication ceremony for the Great Lakes Science Center will take place. The initial phase of a gas turbine combustor test program has been completed. This gas turbine combustor is being proposed for use in a Department of Energy/Ford Motor Company hybrid electric vehicle. The Center’s interest in this program is the combustor’s potential usage for general aviation applications.
MSFC/Littles: Dr. Littles provided an update on the current status of the Modified High Pressure Fuel Turbine pump for the Shuttle main engine that has been built by Pratt Whitney. During testing last week, the pump experienced a second stage turbine blade failure. The problem will continue to be investigated. Additionally, the Aluminum Light Weight Tank Test Article is proceeding well in the qualification test process, having completed its limit load tests and continuing with the Unit load test.
NOTE: ACTION ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE TRANSMITTED UNDER SEPARATE COVER AND TRACKED BY THE HEADQUARTERS CORRESPONDENCE OFFICE. SPECIFIC QUESTIONS MAY BE ADDRESSED TO LORIE PESONEN AT 358-4525.
Distribution
Officials-in-Charge of Headquarters Offices:
B/Mr. Holz
C/Mr. Christensen
E/Mr. Reese (Acting)
F/Gen. Armstrong
G/Mr. Frankle
H/Ms. Lee
I/Mr. Schumacher
J/Ms. Cooper
K/Mr. Thomas
L/Mr. Lawrence
M/Mr. Trafton
O/Dr. Lundy (Acting)
P/Ms. Boeder
Q/Mr. Gregory
R/Dr. Whitehead
S/Dr. Huntress
U/Dr. Nicogossian (Acting)
W/Ms. Gross
X/Dr. Mansfield
Y/Mr. Townsend (Acting)
Z/Mr. Ladwig
Directors, NASA Field Installations:
ARC/Dr. McDonald
DFRC/Mr. Szalai
GSFC/Mr. Rothenberg
JSC/Mr. Abbey
KSC/Mr. Honeycutt
LaRC/Mr. Holloway
LeRC/Mr. Campbell
MSFC/Dr. Littles
SSC/Mr. Estess
Director, Jet Propulsion Laboratory:
Dr. Stone
cc:
A/Ms. Wilcoxen
AB/Ms. Saldana
AD/Ms. Shaeffer
AE/Ms. Moore
AI/Ms. McClung
AO/Ms. Wissinger
AS/Ms. Magnotto
AT/Ms. Doss
CMC/Analysts
C-3/Ms. Soper
