Right Around the Corner
A Publication for the Baltimore/Washington Area
from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
June 2003

Goddard Excellence Awards Presented

The Goddard Space Flight Center recently held its 2003 Fourteenth Annual Quality Symposium with a theme of Quality Improvement Processes for the New Millenium. The Symposium featured annual awards to its top five contractors and presentations by Goddard's two winners of the 2002 NASA George M. Low Award.

Goddard Director A. V. Diaz served as the Master of Ceremonies and Harold S. Stinger, CEO and President of SGT, Inc., Greenbelt, gave the keynote address.

The Goddard Excellence Award was presented to ITT Aerospace/Communications of Fort Wayne, Indiana; Marotta Scientific Controls Inc., of Montville, New Jersey; Titan Corporation of Fairmont, West Virginia; QSS Group, Inc. of Lanham, Maryland, and Global Science and Technology, Inc. of Greenbelt.

The prestigious 2003 Goddard Trophy is awarded to Goddard contractors in various categories who make a substantial contribution to the mission of the Center and are dedicated to a philosophy of Continuous Quality Improvement. Diaz said, "The five winning contractors all achieved demonstrable and measurable accomplishments in Continuous Improvement Programs."

NASA Names New Chief of Staff

NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe recently announced John Schumacher would be appointed the agency Chief of Staff. Schumacher had served as NASA's Assistant Administrator for External Relations since June 1995. He replaces Courtney Stadd, who is returning to the private sector in July.

"John brings invaluable experience and perspective to the job. He is well versed in NASA programs, familiar with our many national and international commitments, and a proven resource manager. His ability to simultaneously direct or manage numerous initiatives will benefit all of us at NASA Headquarters," Administrator O'Keefe said.

As Chief of Staff, Schumacher will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of NASA Headquarters. He will work with the Administrator O'Keefe and senior NASA staff to shape the strategic direction of the agency, while managing and articulating various policies and programs.
Goddard Scientist Receives Prestigious Award

Dr. Charles L. Bennett, senior Goddard scientist, is the latest recipient of the prestigious John C. Lindsay Memorial Award for Space Science. The award is bestowed upon space scientists who have made significant contributions in their field.

"I am both delighted and humbled by being chosen to receive the John C. Lindsay Memorial Award. It is wonderful to be honored," said Bennett. "Even more importantly, this award recognizes the efforts of the many wonderful people I am privileged to work with."

In 2002, Bennett was assigned the position of Senior Scientist for Experimental Cosmology at Goddard. He is also the Principal Investigator for the wildly successful Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). WMAP recently specified the age, content, history and other key properties of the universe with unprecedented accuracy and precision. In this position, he led the proposal efforts and mission design and development.

NASA Astronaut Leads Professional Development Training

Astronaut Ronald Parise recently led the first NASA sponsored, professional development training for the principal investigators of the Proyecto Access program at Goddard Space Flight Center.

Proyecto Access, an agency program administered by the University of Texas-San Antonio, works to broaden outreach to Hispanic students and organizations from across the country by involving them in NASA's educational programs. Proyecto Access consortium schools engage Hispanic middle and high school students in various activities to inspire them to pursue academic study and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

During the professional development training in May, Parise, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Education Angela Phillips Diaz, and other agency staff worked closely with principal investigators to introduce the goals of NASA's Education Enterprise. For information about NASA Education programs on the Internet, visit: http://education.nasa.gov

NASA Night at Bowie Baysox! Play Ball!

Mark your calendars for Friday, August 1 and bring your family and friends to Bowie Baysox Ballpark to Celebrate the Centennial of Flight, brought to you by NASA, the College Park Airport and the NASA Federal Credit Union.

See Director A.V. Diaz throw out the first pitch, inspire the next generation of explorers (your kids!) with cool NASA stuff to take home. Game begins at 7:05pm.

Webb Spacecraft Science and Operations Center Contract Awarded

NASA awarded the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) the contract to manage the James Webb Space Telescope Science and Operations Control Center. AURA is a non-profit consortium of educational institutions formed to operate astronomical observatories.

The contract is for products and services required to prepare the science program; develop ground systems; provide science and engineering support; provide integration and test support; perform educational and public outreach; perform flight and science operations during the launch and commissioning of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

AURA will manage the Science & Operations Control Center at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. The total estimated contract value is $162.2 million. This procurement will result in a cost-plus-fixed-fee type contract. The period of the contract is from now through launch, plus one year. The JWST is scheduled for launch in 2011 aboard an expendable launch vehicle. Goddard manages the JWST for the Office of Space Science, NASA Headquarters, Washington. The program has industry, academic and governmental partners, including the European and Canadian Space Agencies. For information about the JWST on the Internet, visit:
http://ngst.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Goddard Celebrates 40 Years of Achievement in Atmospheric Sciences

Distinguished Earth scientists from around the world including Nobel Prize winner Paul Crutzen assembled in Greenbelt in early May to celebrate the 40 Anniversary of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Laboratory for Atmospheres. The Laboratory pioneered the use of satellite remote sensors to advance scientific understanding of Earth's atmosphere and, for four decades, spearheaded the evolution of increasingly sophisticated space-based measurement capabilities.

"The first weather satellite TIROS 1 (launched in April 1960) was monumental in bringing in the satellite era," states William Bandeen, former director of Goddard's Atmospheric and Hydrospheric Division and among the first meteorological scientists recruited from the U.S. Army in the earliest days of NASA's formation.
The list of technical achievements and standards set by the Goddard atmosphere community through the 1960s and 1970s made modern day weather forecasting and climate modeling possible. Among some of the Laboratory's most notable contributions are the first infrared image of the Earth, the first geostationary weather satellite, the first remote sounding of atmospheric temperature, and the first measurement of the Earth's radiation budget.

NASA Scientist Paints with Ice and Light

NASA invites you to explore the frozen vision, or "Frizion," of Dr. Peter Wasilewski, a Goddard astrophysicist. His striking, often hauntingly beautiful photographs of polarized light through ice crystals will be on display at the Goddard Visitor Center beginning May 17. The free exhibit will be open through July. Wasilewski uses "only ice, the laws of physics, and attitude" to create his colorful images. "Many are purely fortuitous. The couple dozen on display at the Goddard Visitor Center came from about a thousand photos, which I guess is almost the same ratio for a professional photographer," adds Wasilewski with a grin. To see a sample of Frizion photography, refer to:
http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/2003/0508ice_photo.html

Education Theme For Visitor Center To Inspire The Next Generation

The Visitor Center at Goddard has fully embraced NASA's newest enterprise, Education. The Visitor Center is home to a NASA Educator Resource Center (ERC) responsible to support the northeast corridor of the United States. NASA materials are available to all K-12 educators, colleges, museums and planetariums to aid in the development of new educational programs or as a supplement to existing programs. A series of summer lectures are planned for Goddard's internal and external community through the Visitor Center. The web site for the Visitor Center, which includes the ERC, is http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/vc/. For more information you can call the Visitor Center at 301-286-9041 or 301-286-7031.