Minutes of Senior Staff and Center Directors’ Meeting 07-05-2000

The following documents the discussions addressed at the Senior Staff and
Center Directors’ Meeting on July 5, 2000. Mr. Goldin attended the
meeting. Action assignments have been placed in brackets [ ] for easy
identification.

1. AA Reports

B/Holz: Mr. Holz reported on the following items: 1) He reminded
attendees that budget submissions are due in Code B by the close of
business today. 2) He also expressed his thanks to Bill Berry and Lewis
Braxton at ARC, Kevin Petersen and Gwen Young at DFRC, and Fred McNutt
and his senior staff at JPL, for their hospitality during his visits last
week.

J/Sutton: Mr. Sutton thanked George Abbey and Bill Parsons for hosting a
NASA Exchange Operations conference. These Exchanges rely on
nonappropriated funds and also on mostly volunteer labor from a select
group of NASA employees. The Exchanges conduct a myriad of activities
for the welfare and benefit of all NASA employees. The conference was
well supported by JSC, and attendees from all Centers found it very
helpful. He also thanked Dave Cushing for addressing the conference.
With the added scrutiny that Exchange Operations are getting today, this
was a timely contribution.

P/Thames: Ms. Thames reported on the following items: 1) Twenty-five
stations reported on the successful launch of the Tracking and Data Relay
Satellite-H (TDRS-H). The launch was the top story for the weekend. 2)
The Office of Public Affairs will tape the Administrator’s message to the
Expedition I crew today at 2:30 p.m. 3) The U.S. Postal Service is
sponsoring the World Stamp Expo 2000 in Anaheim, California, from July
7-16. The theme of the exhibition is space exploration. Five sets of
stamps featuring achievements of the space program will be issued.
Stamps will feature the following subjects: Escaping the Gravity of
Earth, Landing on the Moon, Exploring the Solar System, and Achievement
and Exploration. The exhibit will feature the first circular stamp,
first hologram stamp, and first pentagonal stamp ever issued. The U.S.
Postal Service will also issue a set of four space-related stamps
designed by children.

Z/Garver: Ms. Garver reported that several Codes have not concurred on
NASA’s Strategic Plan. Ms. Garver requested these concurrences as soon
as possible.

C/Christensen: Mr. Christensen reminded all that telecon participants
must dial in on time because calls are not accepted after the 11 a.m.
telecon start time.

U/Nicogossian: Dr. Nicogossian reported that Advanced Imaging, a leading
publication in the imaging field, has selected a GRC research team as the
contributor to the Imaging Solution of the year in the area of Scientific
Analysis and Bioscience for its work in automatic image interpretation
derived for fluid physics research.

2. AI/Dr. Mulville

Dr. Mulville reported on the following items: 1) On July 11, an
independent assessment of the X-38/Crew Return Vehicle Maturity Gate will
be discussed at the Program Management Council meeting. 2) Update on
the HQ Softball Tournament: Results from last week: June 27-Code C
defeated Codes WJL (20-8); June 29 -Code M defeated Codes PZK (14-3);
Code YI defeated Code F (10-4). Upcoming games: July 11-Code F vs. Code
C and Codes PZK vs. Codes ABG.

3. Center Reports

ARC/McDonald: Dr. McDonald thanked Mr. Goldin, Mr. Reese, Mr. Venneri,
Mr. Heffernan, Ms. Wilhide, Dr. Nicogossian, and Dr. Creedon for their
insights and help while visiting ARC.

GRC/Barna: Mr. Barna reported that on June 29, there was a successful
completion of a thruster test that surpassed 500 hours of operation.

GSFC/Kicza: Ms. Kicza reported that the TDRS-H launch was successful.

JSC/Parsons: Mr. Parsons reported on the successful modified proton
launch. The International Space Station Service Module launch is
scheduled for July 12.

KSC/Bridges: Mr. Bridges reported that TDRS-H was successfully launched
into orbit on Friday, June 30, at 8:56 a.m. Also, the U.S. Lab
International Space Station element successfully completed a vacuum leak
check over the weekend with a leak rate approximately 18 times better
than specification (actual leak rate of 0.006 lbm air/day, allowable
specification for a leak rate of .109 lbm air/day).

SSC/Estess: Mr. Estess reported that the first test of the Pintle engine
is scheduled for this week.

4. A/Goldin

Mr. Goldin began by discussing his trip to the West Coast where he
visited ARC. During 2 days of meetings, Mr. Goldin noted that the
presentation on “Design for Safety” indicated that powerful tools would
be developed to allow safety to be “designed in” as part of the design
process itself and not as an “add on.” The ability to perform end-to-end
simulation of vehicles and to make comparisons, based on risk as well as
performance, appeared very promising. Mr. Goldin requested that Mr.
Rothenberg and Dr. Asrar take note of these developments for future use
in their programs. Mr. Goldin also discussed the advances now being made
in high-performance computing using the 512 node Silicon Graphics machine
acquired late last year. Relative to current machines (Cray C90/16), the
new 512 machine was showing performance/cost ratio benefits of 33 times.
Mr. Goldin requested that the Associate Administrators and Center
Directors become more familiar with the 512 machine. Mr. Goldin also
discussed his informative lunch meeting with a number of Silicon Valley
executives. As a result of the meeting, Mr. Goldin placed an action on
[Mr. Venneri and Dr. McDonald to come up with three test-bed activities
which could be performed collaboratively with Silicon Valley companies on
a mutually beneficial basis. These test beds would be proposed to the
Chief Executive Officers in a letter that Mr. Goldin requested that Mr.
Venneri and Dr. McDonald draft within the next 3 weeks for Mr. Goldin’s
signature]. Mr. Goldin concluded by stating that he attended the July 4
fireworks celebration on the Mall and that the event had been
inspirational.

NOTE: ACTION ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE TRANSMITTED UNDER SEPARATE COVER AND
TRACKED BY THE HEADQUARTERS CORRESPONDENCE MANAGEMENT OFFICE. SPECIFIC
QUESTIONS MAY BE ADDRESSED TO BRIDGET FENNER AT (202) 358-0909.

Officials-in-Charge of NASA Headquarters Offices:

AA/Mr. Heffernan

AI/Dr. Mulville

AB/Ms. Tagg

AC/Gen. Armstrong

AE/Mr. Keegan

AJ/Mr. Tam

AM/Dr. Nicogossian

AO/Mr. Holcomb

AS/Dr. Olsen

B/Mr. Holz

C/Mr. Christensen

E/Mr. Reese

F/Ms. Novak

G/Mr. Frankle

H/Mr. Luedtke

I/Mr. Schumacher

J/Mr. Sutton

K/Mr. Thomas

L/Mr. Heffernan

M/Mr. Rothenberg

P/Ms. Wilhide

Q/Mr. Gregory

R/Mr. Venneri

S/Dr. Weiler

U/Dr. Nicogossian

W/Ms. Gross

Y/Dr. Asrar

Z/Ms. Garver

Directors, NASA Centers:

ARC/Dr. McDonald

DFRC/Mr. Petersen

GRC/Mr. Campbell

GSFC/Mr. Diaz

JSC/Mr. Abbey

KSC/Mr. Bridges

LaRC/Dr. Creedon

MSFC/Mr. Stephenson

SSC/Mr. Estess

Director, Jet Propulsion Laboratory:

Dr. Stone

cc:

A/Ms. Roberts

AB/Ms. Saldana

AC/Ms. Landrus

AE/Ms. Moore

AI/Ms. Shaeffer

AI/Ms. Soper

AJ/Ms. Bloxon

AO/Ms. Wissinger

AS/Ms. Simms

CIC/Ms. Grimes

CIC/Ms. Hoover

CIC/Ms. Coates

CIC/Ms. Fenner

CIC/Ms. Maynor