Aug 30 2000
From The Space Library
NASA's JPL named Thomas C. Duxbury Project Manager for JPL's Stardust Mission, launched in February 1999 to collect a sample from Comet Wild-2 and return it to Earth. Duxbury, who had served as the Mission's Acting Project Manager for the past year, replaced Kenneth Atkins, who had been heading a program to develop leadership for JPL's projects. Duxbury had joined the Stardust project in 1996 as Mission Manager, responsible for navigation, mission design, the ground-data system, science-data management, and mission operations. Before working on the Stardust project, Duxbury had served on planetary mission teams, including several Mariner missions, the Mars Viking mission, Pioneer 10 and 11 to Jupiter and Saturn, Voyager 1 and 2 to the outer planets, the Soviet Phobos Mission to Mars, the Mars Observer Mission, and the Clementine Mission to study the Moon. Concurrent with his position as Stardust Project Manager, Duxbury planned to continue to serve as a member of the science teams for Mars Global Surveyor's laser altimeter and for the ESA's Mars Express orbiter and lander, as well as continuing as lead scientist for geodesy and cartography in the Mars Exploration Office.
The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) released a report discussing workforce and safety issues of NASA's Space Shuttle Program. The report assessed the impact of workforce reductions on the Shuttle program; the challenges that NASA would face as it addressed its workforce issues; and the status of planned safety and supportability upgrades to the Space Shuttle. GAO identified 26 technical skills needed at JSC in Houston, Texas, as well as at other facilities in Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. In addition, GAO found that the decrease from 3,000 to 1,800 federal employees in the Shuttle program workforce since 1995 had placed NASA at a "critical juncture." The Shuttle launch rate had dropped from eight launches in 1997 to three in 1999, a trend on the cusp of reversing itself in the aftermath of the July 1999 launch of Russia's Zvezda module. Moreover, GAO reported signs of overwork and stress among NASA staff. Worker demographics-twice as many workers over age 60 as under age 30-had compounded the problem of a declining workforce. NASA officials welcomed the report, although the results reflected "a much harsher assessment of shuttle safety issues [than the assessment] prepared by NASA itself in response to an electrical short that accompanied the July 1999 launching of the shuttle Columbia." GAO also reported that NASA had terminated downsizing plans in December 1999 and had initiated efforts to begin hiring new staff. Although it was developing safety and supportability upgrades, which it would implement over the next five years, NASA still faced programmatic and technical challenges, such as a demanding schedule and undefined design and workforce requirements.
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