WEBVTT 00:00:06.200 --> 00:00:13.380 position:50% align:middle - [Ginger] Thank you so much and thank you for bringing me out of the gross, humid, 00:00:13.380 --> 00:00:16.580 position:50% align:middle disgusting weather we have in Houston to here. 00:00:16.580 --> 00:00:20.450 position:50% align:middle And you may think it's humid here, but come to Houston once and you'll enjoy it. 00:00:20.450 --> 00:00:23.188 position:50% align:middle And the water's actually blue. Who knew? 00:00:23.980 --> 00:00:27.590 position:50% align:middle But I wanted to thank you today for inviting me here. 00:00:27.590 --> 00:00:32.618 position:50% align:middle There's at least one member of the audience who has seen me before at a previous talk. 00:00:32.618 --> 00:00:35.598 position:50% align:middle And I appreciated his recommendation as well. 00:00:35.598 --> 00:00:40.818 position:50% align:middle But my job here today, you know, after talking to the organizers, I was like, 00:00:40.818 --> 00:00:42.368 position:50% align:middle "What can I do for you? 00:00:42.368 --> 00:00:45.948 position:50% align:middle You know, what are folks going to want to hear about?" 00:00:45.948 --> 00:00:48.738 position:50% align:middle And, you know, you have a pretty exciting timeline. 00:00:48.738 --> 00:00:51.968 position:50% align:middle It sounds like you had a lot of great sessions already. 00:00:51.968 --> 00:00:56.988 position:50% align:middle You're going to meet one of my friends tomorrow, I think, Astronaut Don Thomas. 00:00:56.988 --> 00:00:59.408 position:50% align:middle He and I spent some time working together out in Russia. 00:00:59.408 --> 00:01:01.530 position:50% align:middle And so it'll be a joy to hear from him. 00:01:01.530 --> 00:01:08.130 position:50% align:middle And what I'd like to offer you, as he stated, is the perspective from mission control. 00:01:08.130 --> 00:01:15.310 position:50% align:middle And I take a different approach to talking to you about leadership and leadership lessons. 00:01:15.310 --> 00:01:19.150 position:50% align:middle I can come up here and I can lecture and we can talk about all of the elements of leadership, 00:01:19.150 --> 00:01:27.030 position:50% align:middle or I can tell you all of the fun stories that I have had the privilege of participating in and leading and 00:01:27.030 --> 00:01:29.100 position:50% align:middle tie those back to some leadership conference. 00:01:29.100 --> 00:01:34.487 position:50% align:middle Because ultimately, my goal here today is to, one, entertain you, but two, 00:01:34.487 --> 00:01:41.637 position:50% align:middle provide you tools and examples of how to use those tools so that you can use back in your industry. 00:01:41.637 --> 00:01:46.967 position:50% align:middle So, to start off with, I know that there were some objectives that I had 00:01:46.967 --> 00:01:50.237 position:50% align:middle to submit to make sure we're covering them so you can get credit for this class. 00:01:50.237 --> 00:01:54.029 position:50% align:middle So, class, these are my objectives. 00:01:54.029 --> 00:01:57.337 position:50% align:middle We're going to talk about these concepts, but we're going to talk about them in the 00:01:57.337 --> 00:01:59.447 position:50% align:middle context of storytelling. 00:01:59.447 --> 00:02:12.048 position:50% align:middle So I am a huge student of leadership and I am also very interested in the human psyche. 00:02:12.048 --> 00:02:18.738 position:50% align:middle I have learned as I have pursued my career, through NASA, and now in the private sector, 00:02:18.738 --> 00:02:25.038 position:50% align:middle that understanding people is probably the most important thing you can do as leaders. 00:02:25.038 --> 00:02:29.738 position:50% align:middle And those of us that grew up as med scientists, rocket scientists at NASA don't always put that 00:02:29.738 --> 00:02:31.517 position:50% align:middle in the forefront of their learning. 00:02:31.517 --> 00:02:36.917 position:50% align:middle But I have always studied these books and then tried to figure out how can I take the information that's 00:02:36.917 --> 00:02:41.587 position:50% align:middle in there and apply them to make me a better leader at NASA. 00:02:41.587 --> 00:02:43.187 position:50% align:middle So I'll be talking to you about those today. 00:02:43.187 --> 00:02:44.997 position:50% align:middle And we're going to start off with one. 00:02:44.997 --> 00:02:46.532 position:50% align:middle I don't know if you've heard about this before. 00:02:46.532 --> 00:02:50.147 position:50% align:middle Arbinger's Outward Mindset. 00:02:50.147 --> 00:02:52.817 position:50% align:middle If you haven't I'm going to simplify it for you. 00:02:52.817 --> 00:03:01.810 position:50% align:middle If you think about everything bad that is happening in the world today, wars, political divides, 00:03:01.810 --> 00:03:08.790 position:50% align:middle cancel culture, people being offended by other groups, people being prejudiced toward other groups, 00:03:08.790 --> 00:03:12.610 position:50% align:middle you can simplify that by understanding this concept. 00:03:12.610 --> 00:03:18.220 position:50% align:middle And it's basically, those are all reflections of people having an inward mindset. 00:03:18.220 --> 00:03:22.730 position:50% align:middle I'm focused on me, me, me, me, me, me, and I have goals to achieve. 00:03:22.730 --> 00:03:25.860 position:50% align:middle And you aren't like me, so I don't like you. 00:03:25.860 --> 00:03:27.740 position:50% align:middle And you're getting in the way. 00:03:27.740 --> 00:03:30.250 position:50% align:middle That is an inward mindset. 00:03:30.250 --> 00:03:34.905 position:50% align:middle Outward mindset is how can we work together to achieve our goals. 00:03:34.905 --> 00:03:36.355 position:50% align:middle How can we collaborate? 00:03:36.355 --> 00:03:41.525 position:50% align:middle How can we better understand all of the diverse opinions or seek out diverse opinions? 00:03:41.525 --> 00:03:43.065 position:50% align:middle That is an outward mindset. 00:03:43.065 --> 00:03:45.695 position:50% align:middle So my first story deals with this. 00:03:45.695 --> 00:03:53.965 position:50% align:middle So when I first started working at NASA, early on, I got assigned to be an instructor for the astronauts. 00:03:53.965 --> 00:04:00.218 position:50% align:middle And one of my first assignments was to get assigned to the first crew that was going to fly on board the 00:04:00.218 --> 00:04:02.028 position:50% align:middle International Space Station. 00:04:02.028 --> 00:04:04.489 position:50% align:middle Today, we are on crew number 68. 00:04:04.489 --> 00:04:08.269 position:50% align:middle So this was way back, early years, 1997. 00:04:08.269 --> 00:04:12.738 position:50% align:middle And when I got assigned to them, there was one American and two Russians. 00:04:12.738 --> 00:04:15.078 position:50% align:middle And the American is the gentleman in the middle. 00:04:15.078 --> 00:04:17.408 position:50% align:middle His name is Captain William Shepherd. 00:04:17.408 --> 00:04:19.798 position:50% align:middle Ex-Navy SEAL. 00:04:19.798 --> 00:04:22.848 position:50% align:middle Zero social skills. 00:04:22.848 --> 00:04:29.568 position:50% align:middle And oh my gosh, he was making everybody angry, in the U.S. and in Russia. 00:04:29.568 --> 00:04:30.578 position:50% align:middle "Why is it designed this way? 00:04:30.578 --> 00:04:31.659 position:50% align:middle Why are you teaching me like that? 00:04:31.659 --> 00:04:32.929 position:50% align:middle What kind of material is that? 00:04:32.929 --> 00:04:35.849 position:50% align:middle Why don't you use common sets of icons and graphics and colors?" 00:04:35.849 --> 00:04:39.629 position:50% align:middle And everybody was just like, Bah, I can't take it anymore. 00:04:39.629 --> 00:04:45.389 position:50% align:middle So meanwhile, our Russian counterparts, we had Yuri Gidzenko who was on the left, 00:04:45.389 --> 00:04:49.269 position:50% align:middle and Sergei Krikalev, hero of Russia. 00:04:49.269 --> 00:04:56.309 position:50% align:middle Sergei flew on the Mir space station and actually got stuck up there when the Soviet Union collapsed because 00:04:56.309 --> 00:04:57.699 position:50% align:middle there was no one left to bring him home. 00:04:57.699 --> 00:04:59.399 position:50% align:middle He's like, "Hello, anyone?" 00:04:59.399 --> 00:05:02.796 position:50% align:middle So he wound up being up there for like 13 months, bless him. 00:05:02.796 --> 00:05:04.936 position:50% align:middle But he was kind of like, Shep. 00:05:04.936 --> 00:05:11.276 position:50% align:middle Wasn't a Navy SEAL, but he was an engineer and he had a low tolerance for people that didn't think like him. 00:05:11.276 --> 00:05:13.816 position:50% align:middle So he was also making everybody angry. 00:05:13.816 --> 00:05:17.236 position:50% align:middle So my boss says, "Hey, I know what would be good. 00:05:17.236 --> 00:05:22.296 position:50% align:middle I'm going to assign you to these two and I'm going to send you to Russia and you got to fix those Russians 00:05:22.296 --> 00:05:24.266 position:50% align:middle because they don't know what they're doing." 00:05:24.266 --> 00:05:28.046 position:50% align:middle You know, the first people to actually send a man into space, but they don't know what they're doing. 00:05:28.046 --> 00:05:30.046 position:50% align:middle They don't know what they're doing. 00:05:30.046 --> 00:05:33.407 position:50% align:middle And they're making our crews angry and they're operating as if it's, you know, 00:05:33.407 --> 00:05:37.447 position:50% align:middle back in the '60s and '70s during the Apollo–Soyuz programs. 00:05:37.447 --> 00:05:43.177 position:50% align:middle And you just got to go fix them and make sure that they get on board because we're doing everything right." 00:05:43.177 --> 00:05:47.327 position:50% align:middle So totally program me with an outward mindset. 00:05:47.327 --> 00:05:50.397 position:50% align:middle I am not programmable, however. 00:05:50.397 --> 00:05:55.357 position:50% align:middle So I go out there and I make friends because I knew... 00:05:55.357 --> 00:05:59.587 position:50% align:middle I was 27 years old at the time. 00:05:59.587 --> 00:06:02.296 position:50% align:middle I'd been working at NASA for what, maybe four years. 00:06:02.296 --> 00:06:03.836 position:50% align:middle I didn't know anything. 00:06:03.836 --> 00:06:07.166 position:50% align:middle I go over here and I meet these people and I met... 00:06:07.166 --> 00:06:11.326 position:50% align:middle You know, have you ever heard of the dog Laika that the Russians flew? 00:06:11.326 --> 00:06:17.606 position:50% align:middle I met the man who owns Laika's, great, great, great, great, great, great grand dog. 00:06:17.606 --> 00:06:23.576 position:50% align:middle So I got to meet little tiny Laika, you know, junior of the fourth or fifth, sixth, seventh, 00:06:23.576 --> 00:06:25.046 position:50% align:middle or whatever she is. 00:06:25.046 --> 00:06:32.890 position:50% align:middle So these people, one of them knew Yuri Gagarin, the first cosmonaut that was in space. 00:06:32.890 --> 00:06:36.430 position:50% align:middle So what I realized when I went over there is inward mindset is not going to work. 00:06:36.430 --> 00:06:38.280 position:50% align:middle These guys know what they're doing. 00:06:38.280 --> 00:06:40.070 position:50% align:middle They're experienced. 00:06:40.070 --> 00:06:42.950 position:50% align:middle But my boss had also warned me, they're not going to want to deal with you because 00:06:42.950 --> 00:06:45.460 position:50% align:middle you're a woman and they hate Americans. 00:06:45.460 --> 00:06:48.140 position:50% align:middle So talk about setting me up for failure. 00:06:48.140 --> 00:06:51.360 position:50% align:middle Luckily, I don't listen to my bosses a lot. 00:06:51.360 --> 00:06:55.020 position:50% align:middle So I went over there and they loved me. 00:06:55.020 --> 00:06:57.700 position:50% align:middle I was an oddity because they were all male. 00:06:57.700 --> 00:07:04.559 position:50% align:middle And I asked lots of questions and I started learning stuff about things that I didn't know 00:07:04.559 --> 00:07:06.719 position:50% align:middle anything about, technically. 00:07:06.719 --> 00:07:09.879 position:50% align:middle And then I started learning about them as people. 00:07:12.770 --> 00:07:19.291 position:50% align:middle And in the Russian culture, when you start to learn about them as people and they 00:07:19.291 --> 00:07:26.829 position:50% align:middle start inviting you over to their house and you meet their families, that's when you make real progress 00:07:26.829 --> 00:07:30.531 position:50% align:middle in your collaborations, in your business dealings because they see you 00:07:30.531 --> 00:07:32.131 position:50% align:middle as one of them. 00:07:32.131 --> 00:07:39.501 position:50% align:middle And because I did that, it really, really, really enabled me to accomplish a lot of great 00:07:39.501 --> 00:07:40.261 position:50% align:middle things out there. 00:07:40.261 --> 00:07:44.931 position:50% align:middle So I set aside the inward mindset, totally embraced that outward, 00:07:44.931 --> 00:07:53.821 position:50% align:middle and we were able to work together to make Sergei and Shep reasonably happy and make changes 00:07:53.821 --> 00:07:56.507 position:50% align:middle to how we were doing things in the U.S. system 00:07:56.507 --> 00:07:58.781 position:50% align:middle and how we were doing things in the Russian system. 00:07:58.781 --> 00:08:00.901 position:50% align:middle And they finally launched. 00:08:00.901 --> 00:08:05.641 position:50% align:middle And that was on October 31st, 2000. 00:08:05.641 --> 00:08:15.731 position:50% align:middle So just yesterday, November 2nd, 2000 marked 22 years of continuous human presence 00:08:15.731 --> 00:08:17.211 position:50% align:middle on board the Space Station. 00:08:17.211 --> 00:08:21.451 position:50% align:middle We have never had a moment where there wasn't somebody in space. 00:08:21.451 --> 00:08:31.805 position:50% align:middle And I tell my stepdaughter this, who is just now 22, and I'm like, "Wow, the whole time you've been alive 00:08:31.805 --> 00:08:33.035 position:50% align:middle there's been somebody in space." 00:08:33.035 --> 00:08:36.295 position:50% align:middle And that's quite an accomplishment to say. 00:08:36.295 --> 00:08:37.675 position:50% align:middle So we got them launched. 00:08:37.675 --> 00:08:42.575 position:50% align:middle And they finally made it up into orbit and had a wonderful time. 00:08:42.575 --> 00:08:47.145 position:50% align:middle And we got them back home safely. 00:08:47.145 --> 00:08:54.465 position:50% align:middle So this was all because, just to revisit this, I was able to embrace the outward mindset. 00:08:54.465 --> 00:08:59.735 position:50% align:middle And it wasn't just about getting the work done. 00:08:59.735 --> 00:09:03.448 position:50% align:middle This was back in 1997, Space Station is still going. 00:09:03.448 --> 00:09:11.558 position:50% align:middle One of my goals back then was to make real life-long relationships because I knew that it wasn't just the 00:09:11.558 --> 00:09:13.208 position:50% align:middle launch of this first crew. 00:09:13.208 --> 00:09:18.218 position:50% align:middle I was going to need these relationships to launch the second, the third, and keep going. 00:09:18.218 --> 00:09:19.858 position:50% align:middle And it worked. 00:09:19.858 --> 00:09:26.108 position:50% align:middle So if you look in the middle picture, one of the challenges that I've had to face in my life 00:09:26.108 --> 00:09:30.158 position:50% align:middle was when I was 11 years old, I watched my dad die right in front of me. 00:09:30.158 --> 00:09:31.938 position:50% align:middle And my mom never remarried. 00:09:31.938 --> 00:09:36.628 position:50% align:middle So I always knew that if I ever did get married, I wasn't going to have anybody to walk me 00:09:36.628 --> 00:09:38.058 position:50% align:middle down the aisle. 00:09:38.058 --> 00:09:43.778 position:50% align:middle And the relationship that I built with Shep, this cantankerous old Navy SEAL, 00:09:43.778 --> 00:09:50.188 position:50% align:middle he told me way back then, you know, "I like you, and I know you don't have a dad." 00:09:50.188 --> 00:09:51.448 position:50% align:middle You know, they don't know how to... 00:09:51.448 --> 00:09:53.218 position:50% align:middle It's very awkward, this whole conversation. 00:09:53.218 --> 00:09:59.048 position:50% align:middle "Yeah, I know you don't have a dad, but you know, if one day you decide to, you know, punch your ticket, 00:09:59.048 --> 00:10:03.453 position:50% align:middle I would gladly walk you down the aisle." 00:10:03.453 --> 00:10:05.613 position:50% align:middle And that was in 1998 when he said that. 00:10:05.613 --> 00:10:10.603 position:50% align:middle And so I called him up once I got engaged and I'm like, "Dude, I'm calling it in." 00:10:10.603 --> 00:10:12.513 position:50% align:middle He's like, "Can I wear my New Balance tennis shoes?" 00:10:12.513 --> 00:10:15.373 position:50% align:middle "Oh my God, if you wear your New Balance, I'm going to smack you over the head with them. 00:10:15.373 --> 00:10:17.093 position:50% align:middle No, full tux." 00:10:17.093 --> 00:10:22.123 position:50% align:middle So he shows up and he walks me down the aisle and he did my father-daughter dance. 00:10:22.123 --> 00:10:25.623 position:50% align:middle Because it was during COVID, Sergei and Yuri couldn't come. 00:10:25.623 --> 00:10:31.360 position:50% align:middle So this was a picture of us from a previous celebration we'd had in 2018. 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:37.420 position:50% align:middle But I video-livestreamed it and they were able to watch it from their houses in Russia. 00:10:37.420 --> 00:10:43.300 position:50% align:middle So those are the types of things that make great leaders. 00:10:43.300 --> 00:10:45.910 position:50% align:middle You genuinely care about people. 00:10:45.910 --> 00:10:49.270 position:50% align:middle You nurture the relationships. 00:10:49.270 --> 00:10:52.240 position:50% align:middle And I have called Sergei repeatedly. 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:58.210 position:50% align:middle There was one time there was an explosion of a Russian rocket that was delivering supplies to the U.S., 00:10:58.210 --> 00:11:05.023 position:50% align:middle and the Russian leadership was not communicating with the NASA leadership team about what happened and if 00:11:05.023 --> 00:11:09.393 position:50% align:middle there was any commonality in that supply ship rocket and the cruise ship rocket. 00:11:09.393 --> 00:11:11.621 position:50% align:middle They could not get anything out of it. 00:11:11.621 --> 00:11:15.715 position:50% align:middle And I called Sergei, and I said it just like this. 00:11:15.715 --> 00:11:16.874 position:50% align:middle I was like, "Dude, what's the deal? 00:11:16.874 --> 00:11:18.457 position:50% align:middle How come you're not saying anything to us?" 00:11:18.457 --> 00:11:20.523 position:50% align:middle And he is like, "It is the Russian way." 00:11:20.523 --> 00:11:24.102 position:50% align:middle And I'm like, "No, no, that's not going to work with me. 00:11:24.102 --> 00:11:26.903 position:50% align:middle And I'm in charge of safety and I need to know what happened." 00:11:26.903 --> 00:11:28.769 position:50% align:middle "Okay, I will tell you." 00:11:28.769 --> 00:11:32.078 position:50% align:middle And so, you know, I got all the info and was able to relay it to everybody. 00:11:32.078 --> 00:11:33.588 position:50% align:middle But it's all because of relationships. 00:11:33.588 --> 00:11:40.218 position:50% align:middle So don't underestimate the power of having really good relationships with the people that you work with. 00:11:40.218 --> 00:11:45.308 position:50% align:middle So I did that job once I got them in the orbit, got them safely home. 00:11:45.308 --> 00:11:52.208 position:50% align:middle I had a very unique skill set because being assigned to that crew, I went everywhere with them. 00:11:52.208 --> 00:11:59.248 position:50% align:middle If they were in this company called Energia in Moscow, Russia, where they manufacture the hardware that was 00:11:59.248 --> 00:12:02.435 position:50% align:middle going to be built to fly up on the Space Station, I was there. 00:12:02.435 --> 00:12:10.395 position:50% align:middle If they were in Orlando as they were prepping the laboratory module and our node module to go into space, 00:12:10.395 --> 00:12:11.405 position:50% align:middle I was there. 00:12:11.405 --> 00:12:14.515 position:50% align:middle Huntsville, Alabama to look at the experiments. 00:12:14.515 --> 00:12:19.005 position:50% align:middle So for four years of my life, wherever that crew was, I was there. 00:12:19.005 --> 00:12:23.805 position:50% align:middle And I learned about the design of the Space Station, the operations of the Space Station. 00:12:23.805 --> 00:12:27.152 position:50% align:middle Not only what the crew would do, but what the ground would do. 00:12:27.152 --> 00:12:35.626 position:50% align:middle I worked in Russian mission control for a little while until they landed, came back home, and my boss says, 00:12:35.626 --> 00:12:39.026 position:50% align:middle "I have a job opportunity for you. 00:12:39.026 --> 00:12:41.136 position:50% align:middle Would you like to be a CapCom?" 00:12:41.136 --> 00:12:43.476 position:50% align:middle Which is short for capsule communicator. 00:12:43.476 --> 00:12:46.616 position:50% align:middle And it's the person in mission control that talks to the crew. 00:12:46.616 --> 00:12:53.126 position:50% align:middle So, you know, if you've ever seen the movie "Apollo 13," "Houston, we have a problem." 00:12:53.126 --> 00:12:55.716 position:50% align:middle The person on the ground that says, "Hey, what's your problem?" 00:12:55.716 --> 00:12:56.526 position:50% align:middle Something like that. 00:12:56.526 --> 00:13:01.781 position:50% align:middle The person on the ground that responds, that talks to the crew is called the CapCom. 00:13:01.781 --> 00:13:10.811 position:50% align:middle And so up until that point in NASA's history, that position had always been staffed by an astronaut. 00:13:10.811 --> 00:13:14.721 position:50% align:middle So when my boss told me this, I thought, "I can't do this." 00:13:14.721 --> 00:13:17.011 position:50% align:middle I thought that was only astronauts. 00:13:17.011 --> 00:13:21.831 position:50% align:middle And he said, "Well, do you know why it's always been astronauts?" 00:13:21.831 --> 00:13:22.901 position:50% align:middle I said no. 00:13:22.901 --> 00:13:28.821 position:50% align:middle And he explained to me that historically, the people in space wanted to talk to somebody on the 00:13:28.821 --> 00:13:32.397 position:50% align:middle ground that understood the vehicle design, that understood the operations of the vehicle, 00:13:32.397 --> 00:13:34.497 position:50% align:middle both the crew and mission control. 00:13:34.497 --> 00:13:37.137 position:50% align:middle And this was a brand-new space station. 00:13:37.137 --> 00:13:40.322 position:50% align:middle There were no other astronauts out there with us. 00:13:40.322 --> 00:13:42.237 position:50% align:middle It was me and this crew. 00:13:42.237 --> 00:13:46.327 position:50% align:middle And so he says, "You've got all the qualifications, you just need to get in there." 00:13:46.327 --> 00:13:48.236 position:50% align:middle So I thought, okay. 00:13:48.236 --> 00:13:49.558 position:50% align:middle So I did it. 00:13:49.558 --> 00:13:50.531 position:50% align:middle And I was scared. 00:13:50.531 --> 00:13:54.596 position:50% align:middle Oh my God, I was scared to be the first to do this, and I didn't want to screw this up, 00:13:54.596 --> 00:14:00.954 position:50% align:middle but I did it and I enjoyed it and I was good at it because I knew the technical subject matter and I 00:14:00.954 --> 00:14:01.914 position:50% align:middle knew these crews. 00:14:01.914 --> 00:14:05.654 position:50% align:middle When we were training the first crew, the first five crews were out there with us. 00:14:05.654 --> 00:14:06.854 position:50% align:middle So I knew these folks. 00:14:06.854 --> 00:14:10.104 position:50% align:middle I knew what they thought, I knew when they were feeling sad, 00:14:10.104 --> 00:14:12.534 position:50% align:middle I knew how to joke with them, I knew their families. 00:14:12.534 --> 00:14:13.964 position:50% align:middle So I loved it. 00:14:13.964 --> 00:14:22.654 position:50% align:middle So while I was doing this job, I wound up having to have an experience that I wish I 00:14:22.654 --> 00:14:24.444 position:50% align:middle didn't have to have. 00:14:24.444 --> 00:14:28.374 position:50% align:middle An exercise in critical communications. 00:14:28.374 --> 00:14:36.733 position:50% align:middle So most of you should be familiar with the Columbia tragedy that we had in 2003. 00:14:36.733 --> 00:14:41.943 position:50% align:middle In mission control, when there's a shuttle flying there are actually two mission controls. 00:14:41.943 --> 00:14:46.173 position:50% align:middle There's a shuttle mission control and there is a Space Station mission control. 00:14:46.173 --> 00:14:49.123 position:50% align:middle I was in Space Station mission control. 00:14:49.123 --> 00:14:53.763 position:50% align:middle The scene you see here at the bottom is shuttle mission control. 00:14:53.763 --> 00:14:59.353 position:50% align:middle But in this particular crew, historically, the shuttles had docked with the Space Station because 00:14:59.353 --> 00:15:02.051 position:50% align:middle we were constructing the Space Station around this time. 00:15:02.051 --> 00:15:03.721 position:50% align:middle This was a science mission. 00:15:03.721 --> 00:15:10.121 position:50% align:middle So this crew did not dock to the Space Station, but they had talked to my crew, 00:15:10.121 --> 00:15:15.011 position:50% align:middle the day before because we had arranged for a ship-to-ship communication because I just thought it 00:15:15.011 --> 00:15:19.741 position:50% align:middle was neat that we had one crew out in space and another crew out in a different part of space. 00:15:19.741 --> 00:15:22.251 position:50% align:middle Hey, let's have them talk over dinner. 00:15:22.251 --> 00:15:24.731 position:50% align:middle So we scheduled a com over dinner. 00:15:24.731 --> 00:15:27.401 position:50% align:middle And they loved that. 00:15:27.401 --> 00:15:31.849 position:50% align:middle So my Space Station crew knew the shuttle crew was supposed to be landing that day. 00:15:31.849 --> 00:15:33.119 position:50% align:middle But I'm in mission control. 00:15:33.119 --> 00:15:37.899 position:50% align:middle And this picture on "CNN" is how we found out what happened. 00:15:37.899 --> 00:15:42.779 position:50% align:middle All we knew in the shuttle room was that they were not answering our calls. 00:15:42.779 --> 00:15:44.839 position:50% align:middle Then we turn on the TV and there it is. 00:15:44.839 --> 00:15:48.989 position:50% align:middle As soon as I put that up on my screen and I'm looking at the flight director who's in charge 00:15:48.989 --> 00:15:53.119 position:50% align:middle of mission control, we're like, oh my God, our crew calls down, "Hey Ginger, 00:15:53.119 --> 00:15:57.159 position:50% align:middle according to my watch it shows the shuttle should have landed by now. 00:15:57.159 --> 00:15:58.719 position:50% align:middle How are things going?" 00:15:58.719 --> 00:16:03.686 position:50% align:middle And I looked at the flight director and she just shook her head. 00:16:03.686 --> 00:16:13.036 position:50% align:middle And so I just took a deep breath and I said, "Hey, SOCs. [SP] Yeah, it's been really busy down here today, 00:16:13.036 --> 00:16:17.576 position:50% align:middle gimme a quick sec and I'm going to go double-check." 00:16:17.576 --> 00:16:23.036 position:50% align:middle That afforded me an opportunity to privatize the communication link because normally, 00:16:23.036 --> 00:16:25.806 position:50% align:middle all of that communications is livestreame everywhere. 00:16:25.806 --> 00:16:28.796 position:50% align:middle You can tune in if you know how, and the whole world can hear it. 00:16:28.796 --> 00:16:34.557 position:50% align:middle And I did not want the world to hear his reaction to what I was about to tell him. 00:16:34.557 --> 00:16:39.367 position:50% align:middle So, you know, communication in a crisis is one of the things you're talking about here. 00:16:39.367 --> 00:16:45.217 position:50% align:middle So I privatized the com and then I called up and I explained to him that there was not going to be 00:16:45.217 --> 00:16:48.337 position:50% align:middle a landing today. That there'd been a horrible accident. 00:16:48.337 --> 00:16:56.687 position:50% align:middle And he was still lingering in the hope phase with, "No, but we have the parachutes and we have the beacons, 00:16:56.687 --> 00:16:58.897 position:50% align:middle and surely you're going to find someone." 00:16:58.897 --> 00:17:03.773 position:50% align:middle And I said, "Not at the mock speed that they were traveling. No." 00:17:03.773 --> 00:17:06.933 position:50% align:middle I said, "I'm looking at CNN right now. 00:17:06.933 --> 00:17:13.343 position:50% align:middle If you allow me to, I can pipe up this television feed to you so you can see what I'm seeing and 00:17:13.343 --> 00:17:14.353 position:50% align:middle understand for yourself. 00:17:14.353 --> 00:17:19.203 position:50% align:middle And he paused and he said, "Ginger, I'm not ready to see that right now. 00:17:19.203 --> 00:17:21.645 position:50% align:middle Can you please just tell me what you're seeing?" 00:17:21.645 --> 00:17:23.104 position:50% align:middle I said okay. 00:17:23.104 --> 00:17:28.823 position:50% align:middle So for the next, I don't know, 35, it felt like forever, 40 minutes, 00:17:28.823 --> 00:17:34.186 position:50% align:middle I relayed to him everything that I was seeing on that television screen and everything that I was hearing 00:17:34.186 --> 00:17:41.866 position:50% align:middle on the loops in mission control which did include so and so has found, so and so's helmet out in the field. 00:17:41.866 --> 00:17:48.426 position:50% align:middle So I relayed that up to him just very matter of factly, no emotion. 00:17:48.426 --> 00:17:53.636 position:50% align:middle And then eventually, we had a break in the communications link and I 00:17:53.636 --> 00:17:58.446 position:50% align:middle was able, after that, composed myself, came back and we uplinked the television feed. 00:17:58.446 --> 00:18:04.833 position:50% align:middle But the reason I talk about this is it has to deal with another concept from one of those books that I 00:18:04.833 --> 00:18:05.533 position:50% align:middle mentioned to you. 00:18:05.533 --> 00:18:14.943 position:50% align:middle And that is emotional intelligence and the ability to regulate your own emotions for the benefit of executing 00:18:14.943 --> 00:18:17.423 position:50% align:middle the mission, for the benefit of those around you. 00:18:17.423 --> 00:18:21.443 position:50% align:middle My natural response, because these people were my friends, 00:18:21.443 --> 00:18:25.513 position:50% align:middle was to start bawling uncontrollably and lose it and run out of the room. 00:18:25.513 --> 00:18:27.673 position:50% align:middle You are not allowed to do that in mission control. 00:18:27.673 --> 00:18:30.123 position:50% align:middle And I was not about to do that to him. 00:18:30.123 --> 00:18:38.942 position:50% align:middle So I was very aware of my emotional response and I chose to regulate that for his benefit and the benefit 00:18:38.942 --> 00:18:45.152 position:50% align:middle of everybody in the room because the leadership, your employees, or your customers will reflect 00:18:45.152 --> 00:18:47.172 position:50% align:middle your emotional state. 00:18:47.172 --> 00:18:50.402 position:50% align:middle And if you can remain calm, they will remain calm. 00:18:50.402 --> 00:18:52.912 position:50% align:middle So this is again, one of the key skills... 00:18:52.912 --> 00:18:57.002 position:50% align:middle And people, I put this word up here deliberately, power skills. 00:18:57.002 --> 00:18:59.832 position:50% align:middle I'm trying to remember the gentleman's name. 00:18:59.832 --> 00:19:07.593 position:50% align:middle I did a talk with the Project Management Institute, and Ashwini Bakshi, I think was his name, 00:19:07.593 --> 00:19:13.573 position:50% align:middle but he and I were chatting about it and he uses this in an article to describe what people call soft skills. 00:19:13.573 --> 00:19:22.223 position:50% align:middle And I hate the term soft skills because that implies that, you know, they're just the fluffy stuff and that 00:19:22.223 --> 00:19:23.133 position:50% align:middle doesn't really matter. 00:19:23.133 --> 00:19:26.353 position:50% align:middle The technical skills are the skills you need to go after. 00:19:26.353 --> 00:19:33.591 position:50% align:middle I use the term power skills because these skills are the hardest to master. 00:19:33.591 --> 00:19:34.551 position:50% align:middle They are not soft. 00:19:34.551 --> 00:19:40.291 position:50% align:middle And if you can master them, your ability to lead increases exponentially. 00:19:40.291 --> 00:19:42.861 position:50% align:middle And so I say they make you all-powerful. 00:19:42.861 --> 00:19:46.581 position:50% align:middle So these are powerful skills to have. 00:19:46.581 --> 00:19:48.041 position:50% align:middle So we walked through that. 00:19:48.041 --> 00:19:55.001 position:50% align:middle And I'm talking about this right now in the context of my emotional response in a very extreme scenario. 00:19:55.001 --> 00:20:00.851 position:50% align:middle But there are other applications to this emotional intelligence concept. 00:20:00.851 --> 00:20:09.891 position:50% align:middle So once we recovered emotionally from this experience, the next thing was what caused this? 00:20:09.891 --> 00:20:10.961 position:50% align:middle How can we fix it? 00:20:10.961 --> 00:20:12.761 position:50% align:middle We can't let this happen again. 00:20:12.761 --> 00:20:19.731 position:50% align:middle So we started looking, and all indicators showed led to foam falling 00:20:19.731 --> 00:20:23.501 position:50% align:middle off of the external tank and hitting the shuttle. 00:20:23.501 --> 00:20:27.591 position:50% align:middle So NASA, of course, decides, all right, all hands on deck, we're going to go take a look 00:20:27.591 --> 00:20:30.264 position:50% align:middle at this foam. 00:20:30.264 --> 00:20:32.364 position:50% align:middle What are we using? 00:20:32.364 --> 00:20:34.204 position:50% align:middle Is there a different material we can use? 00:20:34.204 --> 00:20:38.524 position:50% align:middle Is there a different way of adhering it so that we can get no foam at all coming off? 00:20:38.524 --> 00:20:43.424 position:50% align:middle So they made some changes to what the foam was made out of, how they applied the foam. 00:20:43.424 --> 00:20:45.424 position:50% align:middle And foam still fell off. 00:20:45.424 --> 00:20:51.254 position:50% align:middle So now we said, all right, if it's going to fall off the least we can do 00:20:51.254 --> 00:20:54.974 position:50% align:middle to minimize the risk, we got to have our eyes on it. 00:20:54.974 --> 00:20:58.424 position:50% align:middle We got to figure out where this foam is hitting the shuttle. 00:20:58.424 --> 00:21:04.223 position:50% align:middle We have to figure out whether or not it has caused damage and then be able to repair it. 00:21:04.223 --> 00:21:15.193 position:50% align:middle So, one of the first ideas that someone came up with, and I remember watching the manager's reaction to this, 00:21:15.193 --> 00:21:22.293 position:50% align:middle and it was, he comes in, he's like, I know, you know, the shuttle, when it's going to the Space Station, 00:21:22.293 --> 00:21:28.563 position:50% align:middle the Space Station has a window, and the crew members could look down and take pictures, 00:21:28.563 --> 00:21:39.967 position:50% align:middle but normally, the shuttle flies in just as I was showing you, I'll show it again, with the top part. 00:21:39.967 --> 00:21:44.337 position:50% align:middle So that's not the part we're interested in because the foam had hit the underside. 00:21:44.337 --> 00:21:47.487 position:50% align:middle But normally, when the shuttle flies in, it flies in like this. 00:21:47.487 --> 00:21:50.837 position:50% align:middle So some engineer says, "Oh, I know. 00:21:50.837 --> 00:21:56.717 position:50% align:middle Well, yeah, it'll still fly like that, but then we'll have it pause here and we'll have it do 00:21:56.717 --> 00:22:03.244 position:50% align:middle this backflip so that crew members can take pictures while they're looking out of the window." 00:22:03.244 --> 00:22:11.404 position:50% align:middle And if you are a physicist, you freeze the moment someone says that because the 00:22:11.404 --> 00:22:15.764 position:50% align:middle Space Station is traveling 17,500 miles an hour. 00:22:15.764 --> 00:22:18.594 position:50% align:middle This is coming in at 17,500 miles an hour. 00:22:18.594 --> 00:22:24.014 position:50% align:middle And now, the window is probably about, you know, yay big. 00:22:24.014 --> 00:22:32.563 position:50% align:middle To line up exactly where the shuttle should be, positionally, rotationally, and the velocity, 00:22:32.563 --> 00:22:38.743 position:50% align:middle park it there, and do a flip is about the most absurd thing I have ever heard in my life. 00:22:38.743 --> 00:22:42.913 position:50% align:middle But we didn't react that way. 00:22:42.913 --> 00:22:45.033 position:50% align:middle The leadership team did not react that way. 00:22:45.033 --> 00:22:51.593 position:50% align:middle They were like, "Okay, that would get us the photos. 00:22:51.593 --> 00:22:52.643 position:50% align:middle Tell me more. 00:22:52.643 --> 00:22:54.733 position:50% align:middle How might that work?" 00:22:54.733 --> 00:23:00.565 position:50% align:middle So part of emotional intelligence, and you know you've done this with your employees or 00:23:00.565 --> 00:23:04.645 position:50% align:middle your spouse, and they come up with this idea and you're like, that'll never work. 00:23:04.645 --> 00:23:06.715 position:50% align:middle Oh my gosh. You know, we've tried that before. 00:23:06.715 --> 00:23:07.575 position:50% align:middle Or we don't have money for that. 00:23:07.575 --> 00:23:09.645 position:50% align:middle You know, how long it's going to take to do that? 00:23:09.645 --> 00:23:17.745 position:50% align:middle As soon as you do that stop because you are not creating psychological safety for innovation. 00:23:17.745 --> 00:23:24.715 position:50% align:middle And it is emotional intelligence because it is a natural reaction, but it is not going to get the best 00:23:24.715 --> 00:23:26.445 position:50% align:middle out of your team. 00:23:26.445 --> 00:23:28.355 position:50% align:middle So do your best to regulate it. 00:23:28.355 --> 00:23:35.612 position:50% align:middle And I was so proud of the NASA leadership team, but at that point, we'd had such a horrible thing 00:23:35.612 --> 00:23:42.392 position:50% align:middle happen where we never thought foam could hit, and if foam could hit it we never thought foam 00:23:42.392 --> 00:23:43.272 position:50% align:middle could damage it. 00:23:43.272 --> 00:23:49.052 position:50% align:middle It's the equivalent of taking a styrofoam cup and having it hit a CorningWare dish and causing damage. 00:23:49.052 --> 00:23:51.202 position:50% align:middle It didn't make sense to us. 00:23:51.202 --> 00:23:52.722 position:50% align:middle So what else didn't make sense to us? 00:23:52.722 --> 00:24:00.343 position:50% align:middle So this suggestion didn't, but by all means, apparently, my makes-sense meter isn't working 00:24:00.343 --> 00:24:02.991 position:50% align:middle very well, so let me just listen to everything. 00:24:02.991 --> 00:24:05.501 position:50% align:middle So that was key. 00:24:05.501 --> 00:24:08.621 position:50% align:middle And when we did that, then all the ideas started flowing. 00:24:08.621 --> 00:24:13.001 position:50% align:middle So, one of the other ideas, the particular shuttle that I was talking about, 00:24:13.001 --> 00:24:15.801 position:50% align:middle Columbia, didn't go to the space station. 00:24:15.801 --> 00:24:19.882 position:50% align:middle So there would be no one there to take pictures if they did this backflip. 00:24:19.882 --> 00:24:22.512 position:50% align:middle So how else are we going to know, for those shuttles that don't go, 00:24:22.512 --> 00:24:24.300 position:50% align:middle how would we do it? 00:24:24.391 --> 00:24:28.281 position:50% align:middle And then another engineer comes up, "Oh, I know. 00:24:28.281 --> 00:24:31.695 position:50% align:middle You know, the shuttle robotic arm that we have, we can use that." 00:24:31.695 --> 00:24:37.205 position:50% align:middle Well, no you can't because it's too short and you wouldn't be able to see your underbelly. 00:24:37.205 --> 00:24:39.865 position:50% align:middle It has like T-Rex arms, you wouldn't be able to go and see 00:24:39.865 --> 00:24:41.145 position:50% align:middle anything underneath there. 00:24:41.145 --> 00:24:48.405 position:50% align:middle And they go, "Oh no, we'll build an extension boom, and then we'll put a really sensitive instrumentation 00:24:48.405 --> 00:24:52.875 position:50% align:middle at the end with lasers and infrared and high-definition camera. 00:24:52.875 --> 00:24:55.365 position:50% align:middle And this thing will be a100 feet long. Whee. 00:24:55.365 --> 00:25:02.288 position:50% align:middle And so, you know, the structural engineer, you know, in me goes, no, but we didn't know what he said that. 00:25:02.288 --> 00:25:04.248 position:50% align:middle And we're like, "Okay, what do you need?" 00:25:04.248 --> 00:25:07.468 position:50% align:middle And they came up with this wonderful way of scanning the belly. 00:25:07.468 --> 00:25:12.548 position:50% align:middle And we used that as an additional way of ensuring that we could see everything, 00:25:12.548 --> 00:25:15.288 position:50% align:middle even for those that went to the Space Station. 00:25:15.288 --> 00:25:20.968 position:50% align:middle And then we're like, all right, but say you find something, then what? 00:25:20.968 --> 00:25:27.928 position:50% align:middle It's not like we can go to the Home Depot and get some caulk and try to repair it. 00:25:27.928 --> 00:25:29.948 position:50% align:middle Oh, I shouldn't have said that. So yeah. 00:25:29.948 --> 00:25:31.701 position:50% align:middle So somebody was like, "Oh yeah, yeah, we could do that." 00:25:31.701 --> 00:25:34.311 position:50% align:middle And I'm like, "How can you do that?" 00:25:34.311 --> 00:25:35.091 position:50% align:middle Well, we figured it out. 00:25:35.091 --> 00:25:37.981 position:50% align:middle We need a special gun, a special type of caulk that will work in the 00:25:37.981 --> 00:25:39.551 position:50% align:middle vacuum of space. 00:25:39.551 --> 00:25:41.831 position:50% align:middle You're like, all right, fine. Okay. 00:25:41.831 --> 00:25:43.381 position:50% align:middle But they figured this out. 00:25:43.381 --> 00:25:51.161 position:50% align:middle And it was all because we created an environment where it was safe to come up with these crazy ideas. 00:25:51.161 --> 00:25:55.811 position:50% align:middle And these crazy ideas led to some brilliant engineering solutions. 00:25:55.811 --> 00:26:01.436 position:50% align:middle So don't eliminate the idea just because you think it's crazy because truth be told, what do you know? 00:26:01.436 --> 00:26:03.706 position:50% align:middle Things change all the time. 00:26:03.706 --> 00:26:05.406 position:50% align:middle I know I didn't know everything. 00:26:05.406 --> 00:26:12.606 position:50% align:middle And so it's good to enable those things, ideas, and come up with these great solutions. 00:26:12.606 --> 00:26:19.556 position:50% align:middle I was at a talk in France for the International Space University, and this person who owns these websites 00:26:19.556 --> 00:26:22.046 position:50% align:middle came in with these little coasters. 00:26:22.046 --> 00:26:24.825 position:50% align:middle And I think I have one. 00:26:26.636 --> 00:26:36.578 position:50% align:middle Yeah, they came in with these little coasters, and I ordered 400 of them because I'd be in a meeting 00:26:36.578 --> 00:26:42.488 position:50% align:middle and somebody or somebody would come up with this idea and one of my employees would shoot it down. 00:26:42.488 --> 00:26:48.868 position:50% align:middle And I would take this card and I would call a red card and I throw it out in the table, red card, 00:26:48.868 --> 00:26:51.988 position:50% align:middle and they're like, oh man. 00:26:51.988 --> 00:26:54.198 position:50% align:middle I said, "Flip it over." 00:26:54.198 --> 00:26:55.038 position:50% align:middle So they flip it over. 00:26:55.038 --> 00:27:00.148 position:50% align:middle And I said, "What did you mean to say instead of, yes, but, or instead of that will never work." 00:27:00.148 --> 00:27:04.489 position:50% align:middle "All right, I meant to say, tell me more. 00:27:04.489 --> 00:27:06.039 position:50% align:middle Let's test it." 00:27:06.039 --> 00:27:12.989 position:50% align:middle And so this is a fun way of getting your employees to embrace this kind of idea. 00:27:12.989 --> 00:27:13.929 position:50% align:middle I just thought it was great. 00:27:13.929 --> 00:27:16.569 position:50% align:middle So I thought I would share that with you guys. 00:27:16.569 --> 00:27:24.439 position:50% align:middle So eventually, we got all these engineering solutions in place and we were able to ref-fly the shuttle 00:27:24.439 --> 00:27:26.439 position:50% align:middle about two years later. 00:27:26.439 --> 00:27:28.869 position:50% align:middle And it was a success. 00:27:28.869 --> 00:27:31.043 position:50% align:middle And we continued to fly them for the next two years. 00:27:31.043 --> 00:27:39.663 position:50% align:middle But shortly after that return-to-flight mission is when I applied for and became a flight director. 00:27:39.663 --> 00:27:43.713 position:50% align:middle At that point in time, I was NASA's 60th flight director. 00:27:43.713 --> 00:27:46.713 position:50% align:middle And I was so happy. 00:27:46.713 --> 00:27:50.913 position:50% align:middle The concept of the flight director, the person in charge of mission control, 00:27:50.913 --> 00:27:56.513 position:50% align:middle if you've ever seen the movie "Apollo 13," the dude with the buzz cut and the vest that was in charge 00:27:56.513 --> 00:27:57.863 position:50% align:middle of mission control. 00:27:57.863 --> 00:28:01.419 position:50% align:middle So I added a little fashion to it. 00:28:01.419 --> 00:28:03.639 position:50% align:middle Yeah, no. 00:28:03.639 --> 00:28:06.789 position:50% align:middle So I became a flight director and I loved it. 00:28:06.789 --> 00:28:09.299 position:50% align:middle I worked there eight years. 00:28:09.299 --> 00:28:10.849 position:50% align:middle I had a lot of experiences. 00:28:10.849 --> 00:28:12.989 position:50% align:middle I'm going to tell you one of those stories next. 00:28:12.989 --> 00:28:16.569 position:50% align:middle I was the last flight director to certify on the shuttle. 00:28:16.569 --> 00:28:21.029 position:50% align:middle So I got to fly not only the Space Station, but I got to fly three shuttle missions, 00:28:21.029 --> 00:28:22.079 position:50% align:middle which I thought was awesome. 00:28:22.079 --> 00:28:24.849 position:50% align:middle And I love this job. 00:28:24.849 --> 00:28:30.239 position:50% align:middle You have the responsibility for the lives of the crew in your hands. 00:28:30.239 --> 00:28:37.038 position:50% align:middle Any decision you make on-console in mission control or off-console could impact the lives of the crew. 00:28:37.038 --> 00:28:38.908 position:50% align:middle And I embrace that. 00:28:38.908 --> 00:28:41.018 position:50% align:middle That job is not for everyone. 00:28:41.018 --> 00:28:45.978 position:50% align:middle And you have all-consuming authority in mission control. 00:28:45.978 --> 00:28:47.838 position:50% align:middle And I give this example. 00:28:47.838 --> 00:28:52.288 position:50% align:middle The president of the United States could walk into your mission control room, 00:28:52.288 --> 00:28:58.268 position:50% align:middle walk over to your console in the flight director console, provide you direction to do something, 00:28:58.268 --> 00:29:03.710 position:50% align:middle and you have the authority to override them and throw them out of your room. 00:29:03.710 --> 00:29:05.150 position:50% align:middle That is power. 00:29:05.150 --> 00:29:13.350 position:50% align:middle And it's designed that way because the lives of the crew are in our hands and there is no manager or 00:29:13.350 --> 00:29:18.160 position:50% align:middle outside entity that knows better than the flight director on console that day. 00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:20.720 position:50% align:middle And we have rules. 00:29:20.720 --> 00:29:27.300 position:50% align:middle And just like with your boards, we have rules and authority and you have to certify 00:29:27.300 --> 00:29:28.230 position:50% align:middle to be a flight director. 00:29:28.230 --> 00:29:31.895 position:50% align:middle And there's very specific criteria and exams that you need to take. 00:29:31.895 --> 00:29:39.915 position:50% align:middle So there are some similarities to what we do in mission control and your industry as well. 00:29:39.915 --> 00:29:42.025 position:50% align:middle But I want to tell you a story. 00:29:42.025 --> 00:29:48.845 position:50% align:middle So when the shuttle just started to, actually, right after Columbia, 00:29:48.845 --> 00:29:51.525 position:50% align:middle the picture on the left is what the Space Station looked like. 00:29:51.525 --> 00:29:56.055 position:50% align:middle And if you've seen pictures of our Space Station today, it looks absolutely nothing like that. 00:29:56.055 --> 00:29:58.305 position:50% align:middle And it wasn't intended to look like that. 00:29:58.305 --> 00:30:02.157 position:50% align:middle It was just a way that we were staging the construction. 00:30:02.157 --> 00:30:09.447 position:50% align:middle What we wanted to do was create this truss structure and build it out so that we could have two sets 00:30:09.447 --> 00:30:10.847 position:50% align:middle of solar arrays at the very end. 00:30:10.847 --> 00:30:16.987 position:50% align:middle So if you see the picture on the right, that is the progress we made between 2005 and 2007. 00:30:16.987 --> 00:30:23.037 position:50% align:middle We'd built out this truss structure and we were now going to place these solar arrays at the edges. 00:30:23.037 --> 00:30:25.777 position:50% align:middle But the one that is on the left, the one that was on top, 00:30:25.777 --> 00:30:29.447 position:50% align:middle right before the mission I'm about to tell you about, we folded it up. 00:30:29.447 --> 00:30:31.196 position:50% align:middle It's pretty cool how they design these. 00:30:31.196 --> 00:30:36.466 position:50% align:middle They fold up like an accordion style and fit into a box this big, but when you unfold them, 00:30:36.466 --> 00:30:37.716 position:50% align:middle it's a football field long. 00:30:37.716 --> 00:30:44.226 position:50% align:middle So we had just folded this so we could move it to the other side. 00:30:44.226 --> 00:30:49.906 position:50% align:middle So here's a picture of how it was supposed to accordion-style fold and go out. 00:30:49.906 --> 00:30:55.106 position:50% align:middle So I was a flight director on this mission, but not your typical flight director. 00:30:55.106 --> 00:30:58.966 position:50% align:middle So in mission control, you normally have three shifts. 00:30:58.966 --> 00:31:02.420 position:50% align:middle Three nine-hour shifts that each hand over to one another. 00:31:02.420 --> 00:31:07.650 position:50% align:middle And then you have a fourth flight director that leads what's called team four. 00:31:07.650 --> 00:31:15.400 position:50% align:middle And basically, the premise is you hang out in mission control, wait around eating all the good snacks and 00:31:15.400 --> 00:31:18.140 position:50% align:middle wait for something to go wrong. 00:31:18.140 --> 00:31:23.980 position:50% align:middle So I was the team four flight director on this one, and we're probably day four, 00:31:23.980 --> 00:31:28.500 position:50% align:middle and I'm looking at what I'm going to go get for lunch for the team. 00:31:28.500 --> 00:31:34.733 position:50% align:middle And they had just moved the solar array out to the side and they start to unfold it. 00:31:40.383 --> 00:31:42.673 position:50% align:middle Everything happened in slow motion. 00:31:42.673 --> 00:31:50.633 position:50% align:middle So we're watching it unfold and you see two of the solar cells stick together and it starts to rip. 00:31:50.633 --> 00:31:57.153 position:50% align:middle And there's a slight delay between what happens in here and hitting the big red stop button and then having 00:31:57.153 --> 00:31:59.903 position:50% align:middle that signal go up to the space station to do it. 00:31:59.903 --> 00:32:04.755 position:50% align:middle And by the time we did that, we had this tear and a couple of other areas too. 00:32:04.755 --> 00:32:11.135 position:50% align:middle And we just froze because we weren't done extending it all the way. 00:32:11.135 --> 00:32:19.405 position:50% align:middle And what we did know is we had extended it quite a bit, but if we weren't fully retracted or fully extended, 00:32:19.405 --> 00:32:20.555 position:50% align:middle you can't undock the shuttle. 00:32:20.555 --> 00:32:22.555 position:50% align:middle You're stuck. 00:32:22.555 --> 00:32:27.055 position:50% align:middle And so structurally, the solar array would break. 00:32:27.055 --> 00:32:34.159 position:50% align:middle So we knew we had to do one of these two things but we weren't sure how to fix it. 00:32:34.159 --> 00:32:38.759 position:50% align:middle So my team four, as soon as I saw that, I'm like, and we're all getting together. 00:32:38.759 --> 00:32:42.269 position:50% align:middle So I called a meeting and I said, "I need your ideas. 00:32:42.269 --> 00:32:44.919 position:50% align:middle You know, who's got ideas of how we could fix this?" 00:32:44.919 --> 00:32:48.739 position:50% align:middle So I'm going to pull something else out of my magic bag. 00:32:48.739 --> 00:32:59.399 position:50% align:middle But I had one individual, a young man, 26 years old, run into my meeting and say, "I know what we can do. 00:32:59.399 --> 00:33:00.981 position:50% align:middle I know what we can do. 00:33:00.981 --> 00:33:05.101 position:50% align:middle The crew can make this and we can fix the solar array." 00:33:05.101 --> 00:33:09.221 position:50% align:middle So if you've ever seen the movie "Apollo 13" where they dump stuff on the table, 00:33:09.221 --> 00:33:14.131 position:50% align:middle that was my "Apollo 13" moment, except I am looking at him like he's nuts. 00:33:14.131 --> 00:33:20.891 position:50% align:middle So I channel my inner emotional intelligence and I say, "Well, what is that?" 00:33:20.891 --> 00:33:23.211 position:50% align:middle "Oh, it's a cuff link." 00:33:23.211 --> 00:33:25.631 position:50% align:middle "Okay, a cuff link. 00:33:25.631 --> 00:33:27.241 position:50% align:middle And how might that work?" 00:33:27.241 --> 00:33:32.817 position:50% align:middle And he shows me this diagram and he's like, "Well, I've talked to the structural engineers and we would 00:33:32.817 --> 00:33:38.997 position:50% align:middle have to take a series of these, but if we install these links at these specific locations, 00:33:38.997 --> 00:33:45.677 position:50% align:middle they can assure us that the solar array will be structurally sound and then we continue expanding it so 00:33:45.677 --> 00:33:48.817 position:50% align:middle that the shuttle can undock." 00:33:48.817 --> 00:33:56.697 position:50% align:middle "Okay. Only the tear is really, really high up. 00:33:56.697 --> 00:34:02.278 position:50% align:middle How do you propose that we'll get the astronauts there to install these cufflinks?" 00:34:02.278 --> 00:34:03.768 position:50% align:middle "Oh, don't worry about that. 00:34:03.768 --> 00:34:06.458 position:50% align:middle I've already talked to the robotics guys." 00:34:06.458 --> 00:34:13.948 position:50% align:middle And so then they showed me this picture and they said, "Oh yeah, remember when we had Columbia and those guys 00:34:13.948 --> 00:34:17.038 position:50% align:middle design that 100-foot boom, we're just going to use that, 00:34:17.038 --> 00:34:24.288 position:50% align:middle and instead we'll take the sensor package off that we use to scan the belly and we'll put this foot holder 00:34:24.288 --> 00:34:28.988 position:50% align:middle in it, and then we'll stick our tallest crew member at the edge of this thing." 00:34:28.988 --> 00:34:33.561 position:50% align:middle And by now I am breaking out in a profuse sweat. 00:34:33.561 --> 00:34:37.091 position:50% align:middle And I thought, "Okay, is that structurally sound?" 00:34:37.091 --> 00:34:38.701 position:50% align:middle "Oh, now that I don't know. 00:34:38.701 --> 00:34:41.451 position:50% align:middle We're going to have to go analyze that." 00:34:41.451 --> 00:34:44.781 position:50% align:middle "And does it have to be our tallest crew member?" 00:34:44.781 --> 00:34:47.100 position:50% align:middle "Yeah, we have to put Scott Parazynski in there." 00:34:47.100 --> 00:34:49.991 position:50% align:middle And he was like 6'4 or something. 00:34:49.991 --> 00:34:54.051 position:50% align:middle He got disqualified for fitting into the Soyuz, the Russian vehicle because he was too tall. 00:34:54.051 --> 00:34:58.201 position:50% align:middle And actually, they named him Too Tall when he got disqualified. 00:34:58.201 --> 00:35:00.422 position:50% align:middle And I'm like, "All right, we'll put Too Tall at the end of the big stick. 00:35:00.422 --> 00:35:04.362 position:50% align:middle Okay, that sounds like a wonderful idea." 00:35:04.362 --> 00:35:13.042 position:50% align:middle So we did like 24 hours a day for almost 3 days, all this analysis, and lo and behold, there he is, 00:35:13.042 --> 00:35:15.632 position:50% align:middle Too Tall at the edge of the thing. 00:35:15.632 --> 00:35:20.252 position:50% align:middle And they installed all these cufflinks and it worked. 00:35:20.252 --> 00:35:25.842 position:50% align:middle And we were able to continue to expand that solar array out where it was supposed to be. 00:35:25.842 --> 00:35:32.519 position:50% align:middle But I would never have believed any of this to be possible, nor would it have been possible had I 00:35:32.519 --> 00:35:37.650 position:50% align:middle shut down, you know, crazy idea number 47. 00:35:37.650 --> 00:35:40.949 position:50% align:middle And so it was a great feeling. 00:35:40.949 --> 00:35:42.379 position:50% align:middle We got everything set up. 00:35:42.379 --> 00:35:48.769 position:50% align:middle And the other thing that was key about doing this, it wasn't just to let the shuttle undock. 00:35:48.769 --> 00:35:55.539 position:50% align:middle This is an international space station, and we had plans to grow out, 00:35:55.539 --> 00:36:02.792 position:50% align:middle the Space Station to include a Japanese module and a European module and we needed the power from the solar 00:36:02.792 --> 00:36:03.682 position:50% align:middle array to do that. 00:36:03.682 --> 00:36:08.632 position:50% align:middle So we would not have met our international commitment had this not happened. 00:36:08.632 --> 00:36:11.772 position:50% align:middle But it was a huge success story. 00:36:11.772 --> 00:36:13.452 position:50% align:middle I'm glad to have been a part of it. 00:36:13.452 --> 00:36:15.992 position:50% align:middle And I still keep this. 00:36:15.992 --> 00:36:20.602 position:50% align:middle And the young man that did this eventually became a flight director. 00:36:20.602 --> 00:36:22.692 position:50% align:middle And he's still a flight director today. 00:36:22.692 --> 00:36:25.352 position:50% align:middle So I thought that was good. 00:36:25.352 --> 00:36:30.322 position:50% align:middle So we were able to finally complete construction of the Space Station. 00:36:30.322 --> 00:36:35.688 position:50% align:middle And then we were directed by our president to end the shuttle program. 00:36:35.688 --> 00:36:43.728 position:50% align:middle And this became a problem because we have a commitment to the Space Station for a number of years. 00:36:43.728 --> 00:36:49.768 position:50% align:middle We were using the shuttle and the Russian Soyuz vehicle to get crews up and down but when we grounded 00:36:49.768 --> 00:36:54.878 position:50% align:middle the shuttle, we were like, "All right, what are we going to use to launch our 00:36:54.878 --> 00:36:56.438 position:50% align:middle crews from U.S. Soil? 00:36:56.438 --> 00:37:00.008 position:50% align:middle Oh, nothing. Okay." 00:37:00.008 --> 00:37:02.210 position:50% align:middle "But we're going to start a new program. 00:37:02.210 --> 00:37:03.760 position:50% align:middle We'll start asking around." 00:37:03.760 --> 00:37:09.200 position:50% align:middle As if you can, you know, snap your fingers and catch an Uber and have it ready. 00:37:09.200 --> 00:37:15.140 position:50% align:middle So we were all worried at NASA because you don't end a program before you have a new program in place. 00:37:15.140 --> 00:37:21.320 position:50% align:middle So while all these companies expressed an interest in 2011, that was awesome sauce, 00:37:21.320 --> 00:37:27.100 position:50% align:middle but it left us at a point where we were completely reliant on our Russian counterparts for getting our 00:37:27.100 --> 00:37:28.450 position:50% align:middle crews up and down. 00:37:28.450 --> 00:37:31.393 position:50% align:middle And they are great business people. 00:37:31.393 --> 00:37:35.553 position:50% align:middle So, initially, you know, the price was 20 million and then, 00:37:35.553 --> 00:37:36.913 position:50% align:middle I don't even know what it is now. 00:37:36.913 --> 00:37:38.933 position:50% align:middle Eighty million? 00:37:38.933 --> 00:37:40.733 position:50% align:middle They eventually got lots of money. 00:37:40.733 --> 00:37:46.103 position:50% align:middle So as the years went on where these commercial folks weren't ready yet, we're having to pay lots of money 00:37:46.103 --> 00:37:47.963 position:50% align:middle to get these seats on these rockets. 00:37:47.963 --> 00:37:53.813 position:50% align:middle 2014, NASA down-selects from those original seven to these two. 00:37:53.813 --> 00:37:56.573 position:50% align:middle It's going to be Boeing or SpaceX. 00:37:56.573 --> 00:37:58.103 position:50% align:middle So we thought, all right, we're getting closer. 00:37:58.103 --> 00:37:59.673 position:50% align:middle Three years in. 00:37:59.673 --> 00:38:02.882 position:50% align:middle And they promised to have their vehicles done in 2016. 00:38:02.882 --> 00:38:06.952 position:50% align:middle Well, 2016 rolls around, they didn't have their stuff done. 00:38:06.952 --> 00:38:08.822 position:50% align:middle But I get a new job. 00:38:08.822 --> 00:38:15.632 position:50% align:middle And in my job, now the leadership approach I want to talk to you about is influence leadership because while 00:38:15.632 --> 00:38:20.772 position:50% align:middle I can tell my NASA people what to do all day long, this was a new paradigm. 00:38:20.772 --> 00:38:23.382 position:50% align:middle These were our commercial industry partners. 00:38:23.382 --> 00:38:29.532 position:50% align:middle We're supposed to give them requirements and they go be innovative and figure out how they want to do it. 00:38:29.532 --> 00:38:36.295 position:50% align:middle So I had to figure out if I'm responsible from the NASA side for launch, landing, recovery, 00:38:36.295 --> 00:38:41.965 position:50% align:middle how do I go and influence these two companies to do what I want them to do, 00:38:41.965 --> 00:38:44.605 position:50% align:middle to share my experience with them? 00:38:44.605 --> 00:38:49.735 position:50% align:middle They are brand new to human space flight and they may be really innovative in other areas, 00:38:49.735 --> 00:38:54.965 position:50% align:middle but you've got to balance innovation with protecting our astronauts' lives. 00:38:54.965 --> 00:39:00.477 position:50% align:middle So I did that job and did my best to try to get Boeing and SpaceX ready to go. 00:39:00.477 --> 00:39:01.887 position:50% align:middle SpaceX was the first out of the shoot. 00:39:01.887 --> 00:39:06.537 position:50% align:middle 2019, they fly their first uncrewed test flight. 00:39:06.537 --> 00:39:09.977 position:50% align:middle So the way it works at NASA, you don't just, ooh, here's a brand-new vehicle, 00:39:09.977 --> 00:39:11.757 position:50% align:middle let's put a crew member in there. Whee. 00:39:11.757 --> 00:39:16.607 position:50% align:middle You build the brand-new vehicle, you do an uncrewed test flight, 00:39:16.607 --> 00:39:20.407 position:50% align:middle you analyze all that data and you're like, okay, I think this is okay. 00:39:20.407 --> 00:39:24.527 position:50% align:middle I'm going to put a crew member in there and we're going to do a test flight of that crew member. 00:39:24.527 --> 00:39:25.917 position:50% align:middle We're going to check out some more things. 00:39:25.917 --> 00:39:32.805 position:50% align:middle And then after that, I'll say, all right, yay, verily, you are ready to go and provide this service. 00:39:32.805 --> 00:39:35.985 position:50% align:middle So SpaceX, first step, successful, uncrewed. 00:39:35.985 --> 00:39:38.675 position:50% align:middle Let's check on Boeing, shall we? 00:39:38.675 --> 00:39:49.215 position:50% align:middle Oh, so Boeing launched, and then due to a software issue that missed match what 00:39:49.215 --> 00:39:55.995 position:50% align:middle time the thrusters should fire to get it into an orbit that would intercept the Space Station, 00:39:55.995 --> 00:40:03.514 position:50% align:middle it had a thruster firing that put it into a different orbit that would now crash and burn into the ocean. 00:40:03.514 --> 00:40:09.754 position:50% align:middle So our folks helped them out by putting up some manual commands and we were able to successfully get that 00:40:09.754 --> 00:40:12.704 position:50% align:middle vehicle back because they were going to reuse this later. 00:40:12.704 --> 00:40:17.774 position:50% align:middle So we helped them and we were like, all right, you guys go stand over there and go figure out why that 00:40:17.774 --> 00:40:19.384 position:50% align:middle software glitch happened. 00:40:19.384 --> 00:40:24.104 position:50% align:middle We're going to focus on SpaceX because they had the successful uncrewed mission. 00:40:24.104 --> 00:40:27.254 position:50% align:middle We're going to get them ready for the first crewed mission. 00:40:27.254 --> 00:40:29.136 position:50% align:middle Only... 00:40:31.280 --> 00:40:37.324 position:50% align:middle So then COVID hits and we're like two months away from the launch of this mission. 00:40:37.324 --> 00:40:43.804 position:50% align:middle So I called my SpaceX counterparts and I'm like, "All right, we got to figure out what to do." 00:40:43.804 --> 00:40:46.434 position:50% align:middle And my crew members don't want to travel. 00:40:46.434 --> 00:40:50.404 position:50% align:middle I can get you a dedicated plane, I can put them on a NASA plane, I can get them to you. 00:40:50.404 --> 00:40:51.644 position:50% align:middle Now, what can you do from there? 00:40:51.644 --> 00:40:56.054 position:50% align:middle All right, well, we're going to have dedicated cars and we'll get these cars and we'll drive them 00:40:56.054 --> 00:40:57.044 position:50% align:middle up to the facility. 00:40:57.044 --> 00:41:01.514 position:50% align:middle And we've reorganized things so you can get the six-foot spatial distancing and we'll have everybody 00:41:01.514 --> 00:41:03.684 position:50% align:middle masked and we'll do this and we'll do that. 00:41:03.684 --> 00:41:09.264 position:50% align:middle So we figured out how to do the last two months of training, which is normally the most complex phase 00:41:09.264 --> 00:41:12.944 position:50% align:middle of training, worked with SpaceX to figure out how to do this. 00:41:12.944 --> 00:41:18.044 position:50% align:middle And lo and behold, we launched them during the pandemic. 00:41:18.044 --> 00:41:22.754 position:50% align:middle And we got them docked to the Space Station and they had a grand old time and stayed up there 00:41:22.754 --> 00:41:23.524 position:50% align:middle for a few months. 00:41:23.524 --> 00:41:28.324 position:50% align:middle And then one of my biggest worry was making sure we got them back safely. 00:41:28.324 --> 00:41:30.490 position:50% align:middle And that worked too. 00:41:30.490 --> 00:41:36.480 position:50% align:middle So all of these things happened, but it took a lot of collaboration and 00:41:36.480 --> 00:41:42.170 position:50% align:middle building coalitions, and influence leadership on my part and the part of a 00:41:42.170 --> 00:41:45.650 position:50% align:middle lot of the NASA managers to make this happen. 00:41:45.650 --> 00:41:49.240 position:50% align:middle So they were able to have their successful flight. 00:41:49.240 --> 00:41:54.090 position:50% align:middle And right around that time, I get another new job, like it happens every four years or so. 00:41:54.090 --> 00:42:01.163 position:50% align:middle So, there was an opportunity for me, I had been focusing on low-earth orbit and the 00:42:01.163 --> 00:42:03.303 position:50% align:middle International Space Station, and all these commercial providers, 00:42:03.303 --> 00:42:05.553 position:50% align:middle and now someone's like, "Hey, you want to go to the moon?" 00:42:05.553 --> 00:42:07.733 position:50% align:middle "Yeah, I want to go to the moon." 00:42:07.733 --> 00:42:11.333 position:50% align:middle So I start working with this program and I get to work with the Artemis program, 00:42:11.333 --> 00:42:16.713 position:50% align:middle NASA's return to the moon that is going to enable a pathway one day for us to go to Mars. 00:42:16.713 --> 00:42:20.683 position:50% align:middle If anybody tells you we can go to Mars right now, no, no, no, no. 00:42:20.683 --> 00:42:22.593 position:50% align:middle Not and keep the crew alive. 00:42:22.593 --> 00:42:25.133 position:50% align:middle So we got to go practice on the moon first. 00:42:25.133 --> 00:42:26.853 position:50% align:middle So that's what the Artemis program is. 00:42:26.853 --> 00:42:34.830 position:50% align:middle And I was able to be in a huge position of influence here up the NASA leadership chain to build new 00:42:34.830 --> 00:42:41.580 position:50% align:middle partnerships with industry and try to get different people across NASA and across all of our commercial 00:42:41.580 --> 00:42:44.390 position:50% align:middle companies to collaborate with one another in a different way. 00:42:44.390 --> 00:42:46.480 position:50% align:middle So we're coming up on the uncrewed test flight. 00:42:46.480 --> 00:42:47.480 position:50% align:middle I am flying down there. 00:42:47.480 --> 00:42:49.510 position:50% align:middle I've already flown down there twice and it didn't go. 00:42:49.510 --> 00:42:53.980 position:50% align:middle I am flying back there on the 14th of November. 00:42:53.980 --> 00:42:58.018 position:50% align:middle I mean, and hopefully, it'll launch some wee hours in the morning, 00:42:58.018 --> 00:43:00.465 position:50% align:middle like 12:30 in the morning or something, on November. 00:43:00.465 --> 00:43:02.785 position:50% align:middle And it's going to be our uncrewed test flight. 00:43:02.785 --> 00:43:07.495 position:50% align:middle So Snoopy is going to be hanging from the rearview mirror like a pair of dice, 00:43:07.495 --> 00:43:11.595 position:50% align:middle and we use him as our zero-gravity indicator. 00:43:11.595 --> 00:43:15.355 position:50% align:middle Which basically means when you see Snoopy floating, you're in space. 00:43:15.355 --> 00:43:18.025 position:50% align:middle And then we'll have three crew members. 00:43:18.025 --> 00:43:21.685 position:50% align:middle We're going to have Commander Moonikin Campos. 00:43:21.685 --> 00:43:29.515 position:50% align:middle So NASA had a competition to name this highly-instrumented smart dummy. 00:43:29.515 --> 00:43:32.155 position:50% align:middle And Moonikin Campos won. 00:43:32.155 --> 00:43:38.575 position:50% align:middle So Mr. Campos was actually, an individual that played a very critical role in the 00:43:38.575 --> 00:43:40.685 position:50% align:middle famous Apollo 13 mission. 00:43:40.685 --> 00:43:44.695 position:50% align:middle He was an electrical engineer that helped figure out how to get our crews home safely. 00:43:44.695 --> 00:43:46.325 position:50% align:middle So they named after him. 00:43:46.325 --> 00:43:58.775 position:50% align:middle And then you're going to have two sidekicks named Helga and Zohar, again, winners from somewhere. 00:43:58.775 --> 00:44:07.901 position:50% align:middle Little 95-centimeter half-female people, because we want to understand the radiation. 00:44:07.901 --> 00:44:10.841 position:50% align:middle So those are going to be instrumented highly with radiation. 00:44:10.841 --> 00:44:17.221 position:50% align:middle Mr. Campos will have radiation, but also vibration and pressure sensors so we can 00:44:17.221 --> 00:44:20.871 position:50% align:middle understand what happens to the human body in these seats. 00:44:20.871 --> 00:44:22.611 position:50% align:middle So we're going to learn a lot from that. 00:44:22.611 --> 00:44:26.611 position:50% align:middle And then ESA, our European Space agency was like, "Don't forget about us." 00:44:26.611 --> 00:44:32.826 position:50% align:middle And they are throwing Shaun the Sheep in there because they were one of the contributors to what's called the 00:44:32.826 --> 00:44:35.916 position:50% align:middle service module that's part of the Orion vehicle. 00:44:35.916 --> 00:44:40.026 position:50% align:middle So I can't wait to see all these kids launch. 00:44:40.026 --> 00:44:42.046 position:50% align:middle We're not going to have physics 101 right now. 00:44:42.046 --> 00:44:44.886 position:50% align:middle This is basically to show you the trajectory. 00:44:44.886 --> 00:44:45.666 position:50% align:middle We're going to launch. 00:44:45.666 --> 00:44:51.386 position:50% align:middle We're going to do a loop de loop around the moon, get as close to 60 miles above the surface, 00:44:51.386 --> 00:44:52.716 position:50% align:middle do a loop de loop, come back. 00:44:52.716 --> 00:44:54.326 position:50% align:middle And it'll take about three weeks. 00:44:54.326 --> 00:44:59.716 position:50% align:middle And then we'll be ready for Artemis 2, in which we will put two people in there. 00:44:59.716 --> 00:45:02.661 position:50% align:middle They, too, will do loop de loops and wish they could go down. 00:45:02.661 --> 00:45:05.161 position:50% align:middle And then we'll bring them back home. 00:45:05.161 --> 00:45:07.721 position:50% align:middle And one of these people will be on that mission. 00:45:07.721 --> 00:45:13.841 position:50% align:middle And one of these people will be on Artemis 3 when we finally get back to the surface of the moon. 00:45:13.841 --> 00:45:16.781 position:50% align:middle Artemis 3 is projected to occur sometime in 2025. 00:45:16.781 --> 00:45:21.391 position:50% align:middle It'll probably be 2026, given the delays that we've had with the 00:45:21.391 --> 00:45:23.421 position:50% align:middle Artemis 1 mission. 00:45:23.421 --> 00:45:27.621 position:50% align:middle But this is the vehicle that they will use when they go to Artemis 3. 00:45:27.621 --> 00:45:31.225 position:50% align:middle Look at the teeny tiny people at the bottom. 00:45:31.225 --> 00:45:36.305 position:50% align:middle So SpaceX won a competition with this rocket, which you may think is a little bit overkill 00:45:36.305 --> 00:45:42.385 position:50% align:middle for the moon, compared to previous ones, but this is the vehicle that they are hoping will take 00:45:42.385 --> 00:45:47.705 position:50% align:middle us to Mars, and since we're using moon as a test bed, they wanted to see if we could land on the moon 00:45:47.705 --> 00:45:48.945 position:50% align:middle with this rocket. 00:45:48.945 --> 00:45:51.355 position:50% align:middle So best of luck to that. 00:45:51.355 --> 00:45:54.285 position:50% align:middle And it has an elevator too. 00:45:54.285 --> 00:45:54.675 position:50% align:middle Anyway. 00:45:54.675 --> 00:45:57.875 position:50% align:middle And then eventually, we're going to have an orbiting laboratory around the 00:45:57.875 --> 00:46:04.370 position:50% align:middle moon that our crew members can go to as a safe haven if something were to happen on the surface. 00:46:04.370 --> 00:46:08.330 position:50% align:middle We're going to have all these lunar terrain vehicles that are going to be built by commercial companies, 00:46:08.330 --> 00:46:13.860 position:50% align:middle pressurized rovers that'll be built by commercial companies, and eventually, an Artemis base camp. 00:46:13.860 --> 00:46:16.590 position:50% align:middle And the reason I'm going through this, I just kind of want to give you a feel. 00:46:16.590 --> 00:46:22.750 position:50% align:middle I want to leave some time for questions, but this is part of NASA's leadership now is evolving 00:46:22.750 --> 00:46:30.941 position:50% align:middle to be the leader in human space flight to helping enable human space flight across all of these 00:46:30.941 --> 00:46:32.341 position:50% align:middle different commercial industries. 00:46:32.341 --> 00:46:34.891 position:50% align:middle And it is a mindset change at NASA. 00:46:34.891 --> 00:46:40.841 position:50% align:middle Now that I am on the commercial side with Barrios Technology and I understand both the NASA side and the 00:46:40.841 --> 00:46:43.671 position:50% align:middle commercial side, I can help bridge that gap. 00:46:43.671 --> 00:46:48.921 position:50% align:middle What processes need to change at NASA to make it easier to do business with commercial, what can commercial do? 00:46:48.921 --> 00:46:51.571 position:50% align:middle What assets can they use of NASA to help move them on? 00:46:51.571 --> 00:46:54.891 position:50% align:middle So I'm really excited about what I'm doing now. 00:46:54.891 --> 00:46:58.901 position:50% align:middle So, I hope that you have found my stories entertaining. 00:46:58.901 --> 00:47:05.914 position:50% align:middle I hope that you are able to take some of these leadership lessons that were on here and using 00:47:05.914 --> 00:47:11.064 position:50% align:middle my stories, relate them to scenarios that you could use in your industry. 00:47:11.064 --> 00:47:15.184 position:50% align:middle And I want to thank you for your time and just open it up to any questions that you might have. 00:47:23.457 --> 00:47:26.704 position:50% align:middle Come on, everybody has a question. Oh, there we go. 00:47:26.704 --> 00:47:30.910 position:50% align:middle - [Man] I really enjoyed the presentation. 00:47:30.910 --> 00:47:38.910 position:50% align:middle In your example, going to Russia and understanding the kind of Russian psyche as part 00:47:38.910 --> 00:47:43.090 position:50% align:middle of that, certainly, in my own experiences of negotiating with the Chinese, 00:47:43.090 --> 00:47:45.800 position:50% align:middle understanding that psyche is really important. 00:47:45.800 --> 00:47:55.040 position:50% align:middle In your new endeavors, the difference between the business sector and the 00:47:55.040 --> 00:47:59.594 position:50% align:middle federal government sector, what are some of the cultural learnings that come 00:47:59.594 --> 00:48:00.668 position:50% align:middle out of that? 00:48:00.668 --> 00:48:03.988 position:50% align:middle - So, oh gosh, that's an excellent question. 00:48:03.988 --> 00:48:10.238 position:50% align:middle So historically, NASA has dealt with large procurement contracts. 00:48:10.238 --> 00:48:17.698 position:50% align:middle And they will put out an RFP and there'll be page upon page upon page of things you need to fill out. 00:48:17.698 --> 00:48:21.788 position:50% align:middle And then they have this competition, and then maybe two years later, 00:48:21.788 --> 00:48:23.668 position:50% align:middle they'll select somebody. 00:48:23.668 --> 00:48:28.058 position:50% align:middle In today's industry, if you don't make a move on a piece 00:48:28.058 --> 00:48:33.755 position:50% align:middle of technology today, two years from now, that's going to be obsolete. 00:48:33.755 --> 00:48:40.225 position:50% align:middle And so what NASA is trying to do is take a look at these processes that have served them well historically 00:48:40.225 --> 00:48:47.445 position:50% align:middle for the mission they were given at that time, and figure out how to keep with the pace of technology 00:48:47.445 --> 00:48:49.755 position:50% align:middle advancement in the commercial industry. 00:48:49.755 --> 00:48:54.235 position:50% align:middle How do we make it easier to do business with NASA for these customers? 00:48:54.235 --> 00:49:01.657 position:50% align:middle And I'm seeing little snippets of goodness and change in there for the major contracts. 00:49:01.657 --> 00:49:06.497 position:50% align:middle That's still the way to do it, but there's got to be some innovation in that area too. 00:49:06.497 --> 00:49:13.977 position:50% align:middle But like right now, they'll do small competitions or they'll do what's called a BAA, 00:49:13.977 --> 00:49:19.367 position:50% align:middle or a Space Act agreement, which is a lot quicker to get through. 00:49:19.367 --> 00:49:25.007 position:50% align:middle So I'm seeing progress, but there's a lot more to be made in that area. 00:49:25.007 --> 00:49:26.473 position:50% align:middle Good question. 00:49:32.000 --> 00:49:33.157 position:50% align:middle - [Woman] First of all, thank you. 00:49:33.157 --> 00:49:36.067 position:50% align:middle Great presentation and thank you for your service to our country. 00:49:36.067 --> 00:49:38.187 position:50% align:middle - Oh, thank you. - We appreciate it. 00:49:38.187 --> 00:49:44.437 position:50% align:middle Many people in this room are dependent on state funds in order to operate. 00:49:44.437 --> 00:49:48.957 position:50% align:middle And I know you were obviously dependent on federal funds working at NASA. 00:49:48.957 --> 00:49:55.857 position:50% align:middle Did you have any hints as to ways to ge t more money to do your job, and you know, 00:49:55.857 --> 00:50:01.680 position:50% align:middle what were successful ways to do that, and then maybe how to utilize the resources you were 00:50:01.680 --> 00:50:03.800 position:50% align:middle given in different ways, in more creative ways? 00:50:03.860 --> 00:50:08.150 position:50% align:middle - So I'm going to answer that one a little bit differently using another job that I have that I didn't 00:50:08.150 --> 00:50:11.510 position:50% align:middle tell you about, that's directly related to state funds. 00:50:11.510 --> 00:50:16.340 position:50% align:middle So I am on the board of regents for Texas Tech University System. 00:50:16.340 --> 00:50:18.650 position:50% align:middle We have five universities under our purview. 00:50:18.650 --> 00:50:25.790 position:50% align:middle And when you look at the state funding that's available to a university, 00:50:25.790 --> 00:50:33.780 position:50% align:middle historically, we would get 30% of what a student would need to have a successful year in college. 00:50:33.780 --> 00:50:36.780 position:50% align:middle Thirty percent of that would be provided by the state. 00:50:36.780 --> 00:50:40.629 position:50% align:middle Every year that dwindles, I think we are down to 23%. 00:50:40.629 --> 00:50:47.450 position:50% align:middle And so what we are doing at the university level, we try to get more state funding here and there, 00:50:47.450 --> 00:50:51.740 position:50% align:middle but you know how that is, because of the different budget pockets that we have 00:50:51.740 --> 00:50:55.300 position:50% align:middle to compete with because we are discretionary. 00:50:55.300 --> 00:51:01.302 position:50% align:middle So what I'm encouraging them to do, because of my experience with NASA and 00:51:01.302 --> 00:51:07.092 position:50% align:middle commercial industry, is to explore partnerships with industry. 00:51:07.092 --> 00:51:13.142 position:50% align:middle Is there a way that you can tie, for example, the research going on at a particular university, 00:51:13.142 --> 00:51:19.902 position:50% align:middle which when I did it was just for research sake itself to a company's need? 00:51:19.902 --> 00:51:30.142 position:50% align:middle You know, maybe if you partner the research faculty and the students with a corporation who's needing 00:51:30.142 --> 00:51:35.744 position:50% align:middle to innovate, needing to come up with new ideas to find solutions to reduce, you know, 00:51:35.744 --> 00:51:40.304 position:50% align:middle the cost of what they're making or make it faster, that might be an avenue. 00:51:40.304 --> 00:51:43.214 position:50% align:middle So it benefits the company, it benefits the student. 00:51:43.214 --> 00:51:50.194 position:50% align:middle You could get the company to fork over some money to pay the student stipend. 00:51:50.194 --> 00:51:59.844 position:50% align:middle So there may be opportunities for you to explore mutually-beneficial relationships between private 00:51:59.844 --> 00:52:06.574 position:50% align:middle industry and your organization and not solely rely on the state funding. 00:52:06.574 --> 00:52:13.934 position:50% align:middle At the NASA level, you know, the federal level doesn't work the same way 00:52:13.934 --> 00:52:15.274 position:50% align:middle as the state level. 00:52:15.274 --> 00:52:21.784 position:50% align:middle I could go up there and petition for more money and they go, "Oh, you're so cute. No." 00:52:21.784 --> 00:52:26.234 position:50% align:middle So it is all very politically motivated. 00:52:26.234 --> 00:52:30.716 position:50% align:middle And if you can find the right congressman to get in your corner to go and sell something, 00:52:30.716 --> 00:52:34.466 position:50% align:middle that's how we saved the human landing system. 00:52:34.466 --> 00:52:38.976 position:50% align:middle The huge thing that we needed money to give to SpaceX upfront. 00:52:38.976 --> 00:52:40.376 position:50% align:middle They were going to kill that. 00:52:40.376 --> 00:52:42.246 position:50% align:middle And we got one of the congressmen to help us. 00:52:42.246 --> 00:52:47.256 position:50% align:middle So if you want to increase your state funds, make friends in the political realm, 00:52:47.256 --> 00:52:52.746 position:50% align:middle but I would sincerely encourage you to explore partnerships with industry in ways that you 00:52:52.746 --> 00:52:55.381 position:50% align:middle haven't partnered before. 00:52:57.946 --> 00:53:00.371 position:50% align:middle Any other questions? Oh, we got somebody. 00:53:03.000 --> 00:53:04.111 position:50% align:middle - [Shay] Shay Montgomery. Thank you. 00:53:04.111 --> 00:53:13.398 position:50% align:middle What are some of the partnerships that you have and how much did politics play in the upcoming 2026 Artemis? 00:53:13.398 --> 00:53:14.655 position:50% align:middle - That our company has? - Mm-hmm. 00:53:14.655 --> 00:53:17.451 position:50% align:middle - Or NASA with Artemis? 00:53:17.451 --> 00:53:20.531 position:50% align:middle - NASA and Artemis. Yes. 00:53:20.531 --> 00:53:21.101 position:50% align:middle - Okay. 00:53:21.101 --> 00:53:25.141 position:50% align:middle So, for NASA, just to be clear, I've been out of the NASA realm for a year now, 00:53:25.141 --> 00:53:27.771 position:50% align:middle but I can tell you who they're partnering with. 00:53:27.771 --> 00:53:34.179 position:50% align:middle So a lot of them are the standard companies that you hear about today. 00:53:34.179 --> 00:53:38.819 position:50% align:middle So like SpaceX and Lockheed and Boeing, Northrop Grumman. 00:53:38.819 --> 00:53:45.029 position:50% align:middle But there are also other companies that they're trying to get in the game with other competitions. 00:53:45.029 --> 00:53:51.529 position:50% align:middle Like, for example, there's a company called Dynetics that is currently competing for the second wave of the 00:53:51.529 --> 00:53:52.689 position:50% align:middle human landing system. 00:53:52.689 --> 00:53:56.729 position:50% align:middle The one I showed you from SpaceX is only going to fly on the third mission. 00:53:56.729 --> 00:53:58.859 position:50% align:middle So there's a brand-new competition. 00:53:58.859 --> 00:54:00.449 position:50% align:middle That'll be the first time we set foot on the moon. 00:54:00.449 --> 00:54:04.893 position:50% align:middle But for Artemis 4 and subs, it could be different contractors. 00:54:04.893 --> 00:54:11.553 position:50% align:middle There's a company called Firefly that NASA and Intuitive Machines that NASA has partnered 00:54:11.553 --> 00:54:13.933 position:50% align:middle with to fly... 00:54:13.933 --> 00:54:17.293 position:50% align:middle It's called Commercial Lunar Payload Services. 00:54:17.293 --> 00:54:25.953 position:50% align:middle Big picture, these little companies build a small spacecraft, ran a rocket from SpaceX, 00:54:25.953 --> 00:54:32.118 position:50% align:middle and you send this spacecraft to the moon to, like, preposition supplies that our astronauts could use. 00:54:32.118 --> 00:54:34.688 position:50% align:middle That one is going to be happening pretty soon. 00:54:34.688 --> 00:54:37.518 position:50% align:middle Intuitive Machines should be launching in March of '23. 00:54:37.518 --> 00:54:44.388 position:50% align:middle And that one shows a lot of promise because you can make a profit off of doing that. 00:54:44.388 --> 00:54:49.268 position:50% align:middle Part of the challenge of getting more people involved or more of the smaller companies involved is how do you 00:54:49.268 --> 00:54:50.528 position:50% align:middle make it profitable for them. 00:54:50.528 --> 00:54:57.002 position:50% align:middle How do you create a business case for low-earth orbit or cislunar activities? 00:54:59.588 --> 00:55:02.294 position:50% align:middle Any other? 00:55:02.294 --> 00:55:06.734 position:50% align:middle Come on, we got three minutes. 00:55:06.734 --> 00:55:10.544 position:50% align:middle No one even asked how to go to the bathroom in space. 00:55:11.445 --> 00:55:13.554 position:50% align:middle - [Yvonne] Thank you for your talk. 00:55:13.554 --> 00:55:17.384 position:50% align:middle I'm Yvonne. I'm from Washington State. 00:55:17.384 --> 00:55:20.994 position:50% align:middle So I know Boeing, but that's about it. 00:55:20.994 --> 00:55:27.294 position:50% align:middle So, I guess my question is more about the astronauts and the environment. 00:55:27.294 --> 00:55:32.218 position:50% align:middle And I mean, obviously, you have to have each other's backs up there. 00:55:32.218 --> 00:55:35.468 position:50% align:middle I mean, there's no question about it. 00:55:35.468 --> 00:55:44.818 position:50% align:middle And when you have conflict in that team, in your job, how did you assess that and have them 00:55:44.818 --> 00:55:45.998 position:50% align:middle work through that? 00:55:45.998 --> 00:55:50.818 position:50% align:middle - Okay, so I've been on two selection committees for our astronauts. 00:55:50.818 --> 00:55:53.828 position:50% align:middle So I know what we look for when we pick them. 00:55:53.828 --> 00:55:56.238 position:50% align:middle So I'll talk a little bit about that. 00:55:56.238 --> 00:56:00.328 position:50% align:middle So part of the selection process is to weed that out early. 00:56:00.328 --> 00:56:08.268 position:50% align:middle And what we'll do is we'll put these candidates in individual scenarios and in team scenarios and then we 00:56:08.268 --> 00:56:12.348 position:50% align:middle have the entire interview panel watching them. 00:56:12.348 --> 00:56:14.018 position:50% align:middle So we get 12 different perspectives. 00:56:14.018 --> 00:56:20.878 position:50% align:middle We have also hired a professional psychologist that watches them as well. 00:56:20.878 --> 00:56:26.768 position:50% align:middle Because people can look awesome on paper and then you bring them into that environment and you're like, 00:56:26.768 --> 00:56:33.649 position:50% align:middle oh my goodness, I thought you looked impressive and now I'm concerned for your employer. 00:56:33.649 --> 00:56:38.749 position:50% align:middle So we can learn a lot through that process and weed them out upfront. 00:56:38.749 --> 00:56:43.849 position:50% align:middle And then they go through about a two-year timeframe where it's called AsCan or 00:56:43.849 --> 00:56:45.899 position:50% align:middle Astronaut Candidate training. 00:56:45.899 --> 00:56:47.749 position:50% align:middle So now they're not real astronauts. 00:56:47.749 --> 00:56:50.289 position:50% align:middle We'll call them little baby astronauts. 00:56:50.289 --> 00:56:54.639 position:50% align:middle We call them astronaut candidates until they graduate from this program. 00:56:54.639 --> 00:56:58.779 position:50% align:middle And during that time, the instructors spend a lot more time with them one on one. 00:56:58.779 --> 00:57:00.707 position:50% align:middle We get to see where their strengths and weaknesses are. 00:57:00.707 --> 00:57:02.047 position:50% align:middle We get to try and build them up. 00:57:02.047 --> 00:57:07.377 position:50% align:middle And you get to learn more about their personality types so that when the chief of the astronaut office who is 00:57:07.377 --> 00:57:11.447 position:50% align:middle in charge of putting crews together, he has all this data. 00:57:11.447 --> 00:57:16.137 position:50% align:middle So then we'll put a crew together and then they go through flight-specific training. 00:57:16.137 --> 00:57:18.587 position:50% align:middle And we get to watch that again. 00:57:18.587 --> 00:57:24.377 position:50% align:middle But from the flight director office, we weigh in as soon as they get assigned to a 00:57:24.377 --> 00:57:26.647 position:50% align:middle particular mission because that's our mission. 00:57:26.647 --> 00:57:29.167 position:50% align:middle We're in charge, we're the boss of you. 00:57:29.167 --> 00:57:34.678 position:50% align:middle So we get to watch them and understand the dynamic and try to regulate it, work with the chief of the 00:57:34.678 --> 00:57:38.018 position:50% align:middle astronaut office as much as we can to try and address it. 00:57:38.018 --> 00:57:41.878 position:50% align:middle And then we won't launch them unless we are 100% satisfied. 00:57:41.878 --> 00:57:43.708 position:50% align:middle But there have been scenarios where... 00:57:43.708 --> 00:57:50.858 position:50% align:middle There was this one guy and I'm like, "All right, you have a tendency to act like," I'm not going to use 00:57:50.858 --> 00:57:53.358 position:50% align:middle the word I used, "act like a jerk." 00:57:53.358 --> 00:57:55.718 position:50% align:middle And I know you're going to do it on orbit. 00:57:55.718 --> 00:57:59.568 position:50% align:middle It's going to happen and when you do it, I'm going to privatize the communication, 00:57:59.568 --> 00:58:02.345 position:50% align:middle I'm going to call up and I'm going to tell you you're acting like a jerk. 00:58:02.345 --> 00:58:03.523 position:50% align:middle Deal?" "Deal." 00:58:03.523 --> 00:58:06.113 position:50% align:middle And "Oh, I'm not going to do it. It'll be great. 00:58:06.113 --> 00:58:07.373 position:50% align:middle I'm going to be so happy when I get there." 00:58:07.373 --> 00:58:08.833 position:50% align:middle I'm like, "Mm-hmm." 00:58:08.833 --> 00:58:11.683 position:50% align:middle So he flies. 00:58:11.683 --> 00:58:13.233 position:50% align:middle It's like, "Let's set a timer." 00:58:13.233 --> 00:58:17.093 position:50% align:middle Sure enough, within the first three days, here it comes. 00:58:17.093 --> 00:58:19.913 position:50% align:middle And I'm like, "GC flight, please privatize the com." 00:58:19.913 --> 00:58:22.483 position:50% align:middle And GC's like, "Oh no, he's going to get it." 00:58:22.483 --> 00:58:26.393 position:50% align:middle And so I privatize and I said, "Do not make me come up there. 00:58:26.393 --> 00:58:27.283 position:50% align:middle I swear to God." 00:58:27.283 --> 00:58:30.471 position:50% align:middle And he's like, "Am I doing it?" 00:58:30.471 --> 00:58:34.311 position:50% align:middle And I'm like, "You don't even know you're doing it, ugh." 00:58:34.311 --> 00:58:36.831 position:50% align:middle And so that's how we handle that. 00:58:36.831 --> 00:58:42.011 position:50% align:middle And then after the mission, they go through this commission to talk about how the 00:58:42.011 --> 00:58:46.521 position:50% align:middle mission went and we get to weigh in on whether or not these individuals get reassigned. 00:58:46.521 --> 00:58:50.061 position:50% align:middle So there's a process from beginning to end. 00:58:50.061 --> 00:58:51.804 position:50% align:middle He never flew again. 00:58:54.121 --> 00:58:56.711 position:50% align:middle So we do our best because it is important. 00:58:56.711 --> 00:58:59.181 position:50% align:middle You've got to pick the right people. 00:58:59.181 --> 00:59:03.039 position:50% align:middle You don't want to have to Duct Tape anybody to a wall up there. 00:59:03.039 --> 00:59:06.719 position:50% align:middle So not that that's ever happened. 00:59:06.719 --> 00:59:07.539 position:50% align:middle All right. 00:59:07.539 --> 00:59:09.631 position:50% align:middle All right. Well, thank you very much for your time today. 00:59:09.631 --> 00:59:11.126 position:50% align:middle I hope you guys enjoyed it.