Leadership Moments from NASA: Achieving the Impossible by Dr. Dave Williams and Elizabeth Howell

Author:Dr. Dave Williams and Elizabeth Howell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ECW Press
Published: 2021-06-07T00:00:00+00:00

Leadership Insights

Include recommendations of internal or external expert advisory teams when necessary.

Incorporate redundant systems as a strategy to control risk.

Effective collaboration starts with mutual trust and respect.

Chapter 16

Permanent Presence

“I think the International Space Station is a great place to live for a year.”

— Sunita (Sunni) Williams, NASA Astronaut

The beginning of this millennium will forever be remembered as the dawn of a new era of human spaceflight. There had been many remarkable achievements by NASA and the Russian space agency in the preceding 40 years, but the launch of Bill Shepard, Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko November 2, 2000, was different. This was the threshold of an international collaborative effort to build and use one of the most complex technological projects in history. Since then, astronauts and cosmonauts from many nations have been living and working together in space, conducting research and demonstrating the international cooperation essential for sending humans on longer voyages, farther into space. It will be remembered by future generations as the point in history when humans became a spacefaring species.

The technological achievements alone were remarkable. The large modules and supporting equipment were delivered on 42 assembly flights, 37 on the space shuttle and five on the Russian Proton/Soyuz rockets. It is 357 feet wide, 167 feet long, has approximately 2.3 million lines of computer code with 1.5 million lines of flight software code running on 44 computers communicating via 100 data networks in the U.S. segment alone. The software uses 350,000 sensors to monitor the myriad onboard systems to ensure station as well as crew safety and health. The growing list of visitors includes more than 240 individuals from 19 countries as of this writing, with 15 nations working together supporting its operation and management. At a cost in excess of $100 billion, the ISS is the most expensive collaborative project in history, and is recognized by most as a unique laboratory orbiting the Earth. It was replanned one weekend in Reston, Virginia, one vote away from cancellation during its approval, and was built in roughly 13 years. It is as much a story of leadership and teamwork as it is a technological success. Once again, George Abbey was at the center of the story.

The Vest Committee’s recommendation was supported by President Bill Clinton and narrowly survived a congressional vote, gaining approval by a one-vote margin in June 1993. There were many other foundational elements necessary to build what was then known as Space Station Alpha. The NASA-Mir program was one of those. At the end of June, a delegation including Goldin, Abbey and the new head of the Space Council, Bryan O’Connor, went to Moscow to begin discussions that would ultimately lead to a $400-million agreement for 10 shuttle flights to the Mir Space Station. Later that year, the Clinton administration formally invited the Russians to participate in the International Space Station program.

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