Minutes of Senior Staff and Center Directors’ Meeting 11 September 2000

The following documents the discussions addressed at the Senior Staff and
Center Directors’ Meeting on September 11, 2000. Mr. Goldin attended the
meeting. Action assignments have been placed in brackets [ ] for easy
identification.

1. AA Reports

M/Rothenberg: Mr. Rothenberg thanked everyone for the excellent support
for the launch and ongoing mission.

E/Hall: Ms. Hall reported that the Congressional Black Caucus is having
its 30th Legislative Conference this week, and Code E will be participating.

L/Heffernan: Mr. Heffernan reported that the NASA authorization bill was
signed, and it will be referred to the full House for floor action, perhaps
this week. (Note: The bill passed in the House and was sent to the Senate.)

W/Gross: Ms. Gross reported that on September 7, 2000, the owner of
Unforgettable Journeys travel agency in Bethesda, Maryland, a contractor
for GSFC, pled guilty in Maryland District Court to one count of
Theft-Scheme. In accepting the guilty plea, Maryland District Court Judge
Patricia L. Mitchell sentenced the individual to 18 months incarceration
with a suspended sentence, 2 years of supervised probation, and ordered the
individual to pay restitution of $7,300 to the affected parties. The
investigation found that the individual contracted with and was paid by the
Goddard Employee Welfare Association to fund and arrange a cruise to the
Bahamas. However, the individual never made the arrangements and only
refunded a portion to the Association. The individual defrauded other
clients of thousands of dollars. The investigation was conducted by
Special Agents of the NASA Inspector General’s Office of Criminal
Investigations.

Z/McCormick: Ms. McCormick reported that the Office of Policy and Plans is
involved with two important advisory committee meetings this week. The
Centennial of Flight Commission is meeting on September 12. The NASA
Advisory Council (NAC) is meeting at ARC on September 12 and 13.

Y/Asrar: Dr. Asrar reported on the following: 1) The Office of Earth
Science is preparing for the NOAA-L launch on September 20 at 3:22 a.m. PDT
from Vandenberg Air Force Base. 2) The NASA Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas
Experiment (SAGE III) on Meteor 3M spacecraft, launched by Russia’s
Zenith-II rocket, is being delayed from December 2000 to March 2001.

C/Christensen: Mr. Christensen reminded everyone that the Combined Federal
Campaign kickoff will be held in the auditorium on Sept. 27 from 10-11 a.m.
The awards from last year will be presented.

AE/Keegan: Mr. Keegan thanked all for their responses on the NASA
Integrated Action Team report.

2. AI/Dr. Mulville

Dr. Mulville reported on the following: 1) As a reminder, the Capital
Investment Council is scheduled to meet on Thursday, September 14 from 1 to
4:30 p.m., and Tuesday, September 26, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 2) The
Senior Management Council will meet at GSFC on Friday, September 15, from 9
a.m. to 4 p.m. The directions to GSFC and a map of the Center will be
provided to everyone later this week. 3) Dr. Mulville will be attending
the NAC meeting at ARC tomorrow and Wednesday. His duties have been
delegated to Gen. Armstrong.

3. Center Reports

DFRC/Petersen: Mr. Petersen reported that the Center hosted a 2-day Tribal
College Opportunities Workshop last week. Seventeen of the 32 Tribal
Colleges were represented, and excellent discussions were held and
generated several potential areas for collaboration.

GRC/Campbell: Mr. Campbell reported on the following: 1) A new ceramic
powder processing capability, called spray drying, has been built in the
Materials Division with Ultra-Efficient Engine Technology (UEET) funding to
prepare flowable ceramic power mixtures for plasma spraying. This
capability is needed because advanced ceramic Thermal Barrier Coatings
(TBC) with low thermal conductivity are being developed in the UEET program
to increase the temperature capability of turbine airfoil systems. 2)
Environmental Barrier Coatings (EBC) are required to protect Ceramic Matrix
Composites (CMC) from combustion gases in turbine engines. The Enabling
Propulsion Materials (EPM) project in the High-Speed Research program had
developed an environmental barrier coating called Barium Strontium Aluminum
Silicate (BSAS) for a CMC combustor liner. The BSAS EBC, developed to meet
the 18,000-hour life requirements of the High-Speed Civil Transport
supersonic engine at liner surface temperatures in the range of 2300-2400
degrees Fahrenheit, has the potential to be used at higher temperatures for
commercial subsonic and military applications. Based on studies conducted
in the UEET program, the upper temperature limit for EPM-developed EBC has
been determined to be approximately 2600 degrees Fahrenheit. Reaction of
coatings with the CMC substrate, and resulting lowering of coating
viscosity, was identified to be the primary degradation mode at higher
temperatures.

GSFC/Diaz: Mr. Diaz reported on the passing of John O’Keefe, who was on
the original Vanguard I team that discovered that the Earth was actually
pear-shaped. Mr. O’Keefe had continued to work with the Center until
recently, including the discovery of Martian meteorites.

JSC/Abbey: Mr. Abbey reported on the following: 1) The crew had a very
flawless EVA last night, working simultaneously with the control centers in
Houston and Russia. The mission is going well; tonight, they will ingress
into the Zvezda service module. 2) The pad is being readied for the STS-92
launch on October 5; the vehicle will move to the pad later this week.

LaRC/Freeman: Mr. Freeman reported that Dr. Arlene Levine won the Women in
Aerospace 2000 Outstanding Achievement Award for her exceptional
development of training curricula for the Girl Scouts of America in
stimulating the next generation of women in aerospace, specifically in the
traditionally underrepresented field of Earth science.

MSFC/Stephenson: Mr. Stephenson reported that the Center is looking
forward to the arrival of the Super Guppy and the subsequent shipment of
the Airlock to KSC.

SSC/Estess: Mr. Estess reported on the following: 1) They completed the
5th test firing of the TRW pintle engine last week of a 5-second duration.
(Mr. Goldin asked if kerosene was to be used as propellant, and Mr. Estess
advised that we are currently using hydrogen, but there are ongoing
discussions on the use of kerosene.) [Mr. Goldin tasked Code R to review
the matter and advise.] 2) The ISO 9000 audit will be conducted this week.

4. Mr. Goldin:

Mr. Goldin congratulated everyone on STS-106. Even though NASA had not
flown for a number of months, it was a flawless launch and a fabulous job.

Mr. Goldin discussed the NASA dress code. [Code F/Vicki Novak is to work
with each Center Human Resources organization to recommend codifying a more
informal dress code, get feedback, and discuss at the October Senior
Management Council meeting.]

Mr. Goldin addressed the issue in the OIG report of not integrating safety
provisions into contracts. All contracts are to address safety. It is an
obligation. [H/Mr. Luedtke is to take this as an action.]

Mr. Goldin wants Senior Management to work with their contacts at
universities to get the next group of its best students for NASA. Meet
with the deans of engineering schools to get the best students into NASA.
Gen. Armstrong is to work with the Centers and the minority serving and top
universities to make NASA’s presence known. We are not being aggressive
enough. Each Associate Administrator is to work toward this end, and there
will be more discussions on hiring.

NOTE: ACTION ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE TRANSMITTED UNDER SEPARATE COVER AND
TRACKED BY THE HEADQUARTERS CORRESPONDENCE MANAGEMENT OFFICE. SPECIFIC
QUESTIONS MAY BE ADDRESSED TO JILL HOOVER AT (202) 358-0905.

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. Olsen (Acting)

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. Stewart

AB/Ms. Saldana

AC/Ms. Landrus

AE/Ms. Moore

AI/Ms. Shaeffer

Ms. Soper

AJ/Ms. Bloxon

AO/Ms. Wissinger

AM/Ms. Barnes

AS/Ms. Simms

CIC/Ms. Grimes

CIC/Ms. Hoover

CIC/Ms. Coates

CIC/Ms. Fenner

CIC/Ms. Maynor