The National Aeronautics and Space Administration s (NASA s) history is built on a foundation of can-do strength, while pointing to the Saturn/Apollo Moon missions in the 1960s and 1970s as its apex a sentiment that often overshadows the potential that lies ahead. The chronicle of America s civil space agenda is scattered with programs that got off to good starts with adequate resources and vocal political support but that never made it past a certain milestone review, General Accountability Office report, or Congressional budget appropriation. Over the decades since the fielding of the Space Shuttle in the early 1980s, a start-stop-restart cycle has intervened due to many forces. Despite this impediment, the workforce has delivered engineering feats such as the International Space Station and numerous Shuttle and science missions, which reflect a trend in the early days of the Exploration Age that called for massive infrastructure and matching capital allocations. In the new millennium, the aerospace industry must respond to transforming economic climates, the public will, national agendas, and international possibilities relative to scientific exploration beyond Earth's orbit. Two pressing issues - workforce transition and mission success--are intertwined. As this paper will address, U.S. aerospace must confront related workforce development and industrial base issues head on to take space exploration to the next level. This paper also will formulate specific strategies to equip space engineers to move beyond the seemingly constant start-stop-restart mentality to plan and execute flight projects that actually fly.


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Getting to First Flight: Equipping Space Engineers to Break the Start-Stop-Restart Cycle


    Contributors:

    Publication date :

    2010


    Size :

    23 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English





    Getting to First Flight: Equipping Space Engineers to Break the Start-Stop-Restart Cycle

    Singer, C. / Dumbacher, D. / American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2010


    Getting to First Flight: Equipping Space Engineers to Break the Start-Stop-Restart Cycle

    Singer, Christopher E. / Dumbacher, Daniel L. | NTRS | 2010


    Breaking the Vicious Start-Stop-Restart Cycle

    Singer, Christopher E. | NTRS | 2011


    Equipping play space

    Hardwick, M. ;Rennie, S. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1991