Minutes of Senior Staff and Center Directors’ Meeting May 15, 2000

The following documents the discussions addressed at the Senior Staff and
Center Directors’ Meeting on May 15, 2000. Mr. Goldin attended the
meeting. Action assignments have been placed in brackets [ ] for easy
identification.

1. AA Reports

I/Cline: Ms. Cline reported that Code I is supporting Code S this week in
conducting a space science conference with representatives of 20 space
agencies. The purpose of the conference is to exchange information on our
respective plans and interests in space science to identify new partnership
opportunities. Dr. Weiler and Mr. Schumacher are giving presentations to
the conference participants this morning.

W/Gross: Ms. Gross reported on a Management Alert-Data Remaining on Loaner
Laptop Hard Drives. During a recent inspection of hard drives of loaner
laptops, we discovered that user data, such as e-mail messages, were not
being effectively removed. Some of the information retrieved contained
sensitive, privacy act, or administratively controlled data. Other data
indicated personal use of the computer, e.g., not related to Government
business, and access to sexually explicit Web sites. The same guidelines
governing the use of desktop computers also apply to laptops. In light of
our findings, we recommend that each NASA Center review its procedures for
clearing data from loaner laptop hard drives and ensure that NASA and
Center guidelines are followed. We also recommend that Center management
remind employees of official use policies and their application to laptop
computers. In addition, employees should be reminded of the particular
vulnerabilities of laptop conputers to loss and theft. I want to
acknowledge MSFC’s Center Director, Art Stephenson’s positive response to
previous alerts on clearing hard drives.

G/Frankle: Mr. Frankle reported that today is the usual due date for
filing Public Financial Disclosure Statement, Standard Form (SF) 278. This
is the form filed by members of the Senior Executive Service (SES) and
others that are paid at similar rates. At Headquarters, this date has been
extended until June 2. Other extensions, up to a total of 45 days, can be
granted by NASA ethics officials for good cause shown. Failure to file a
report within 30 days of the due date results in the automatic imposition
of a $200 fine, which can only be waived by the Office of Government
Ethics. NASA has no authority to waive this fine on its own. If any SES
member or other covered person has not or will not be able to file SF 278
by the actual due date (June 2 for Headquarters), an extension should be
requested from the local ethics office.

R/Reck: Mr. Reck reported that there will be a 2-day conference at MSFC on
“Turning Goals into Reality,” which is an opportunity for NASA and its
industry partners to acknowledge major technological advances in
aeronautics and space access. It will include keynote addresses by
top-level NASA managers and other Government leaders, awards for technology
development leaders, and opportunities for potential partners to discuss
the groundbreaking work that lies ahead.

AE/Keegan: Mr. Keegan thanked MSFC for hosting the NASA Integrated Action
Team last week. The Team will develop the preliminary action plan
responding to the recommendations of the Young, Spear, Stephenson, and
McDonald reports related to program/project management approaches. The
Team is on track to report its proposed action plan to the Chief Engineer
and others on June 14.

AO/Holcomb: Mr. Holcomb thanked JSC for hosting the Records Management
conference this week. Electronic records will be discussed, as they will
become more important, especially to Integrated Financial Management
processes.

Y/Asrar: Dr. Asrar reported that GOES-L is in final orbit and working
flawlessly. The magnetometer boom-release locked; the solar array is fully
deployed; and the solar sail is fully deployed. All activities continue to
execute smoothly.

Q/Gregory: Mr. Gregory reported that there are no constraints to the
upcoming launch on Thursday.

P/Wilhide: Ms. Wilhide reported on the following: 1) Last week was a big
week, thanks to Code Y and GSFC with the GOES-L story. 2) JPL will conduct
live news interviews on its testing of the Field Integrated Design and
Operations (FIDO) planetary rover. Students from around the Nation are
working on this project; the student groups will be controlling the rover
from their schools around the country. In addition, a group of students
from Copenhagen, Denmark, will be participating, working in the JPL mission
control room. 3) ABC, NBC, and CBS all ran GSFC’s story called Adios La
Nina, which discussed the end of the phenomena. This story was a national
hit with over 400 national, local, and cable outlets carrying the news.

L/Heffernan: Mr. Heffernan reported on the following: 1) Dr. Weiler will
testify tomorrow, May 16, before the House Science Committee. 2) Mr.
Goldin will be testifying before the Transportation Committee. 3) The
appropriations markup will begin on May 23.

2. AI/Dr. Mulville

Dr. Mulville reported on the following: 1) The Det NorskeVertitas ISO
preregistration audit of NASA Headquarters will take place this week. 2)
The Program Management Council’s Quarterly Status Review will be held May
18 at 1 p.m. in 9H40. 3) Each Headquarters Code is to designate a point of
contact for the upcoming softball season. Philip Cleary in Code I will be
the Softball Commissioner. The tournament will take place from June 13 to
the end of July.

3. Center Reports

GRC/Campbell: Mr. Campbell reported on the following: 1) May 4 was GRC’s
inaugural celebration of “Space Day 2000” in which it initiated a
partnership with Inventure Place in Akron, Ohio, for a day filled with
activities for the 600 plus children in attendance. 2) A sapphire
refractive secondary concentrator successfully completed solar vacuum
testing in the Center’s Tank 6. The secondary concentrator, used in
combination with advanced primary concentrators, provided very high
concentration ratios (10,000 to 1), allowing high-temperature solar
applications. The efficiency ranged between 85 to 90 percent. 3) A May 5
meeting between GRC and ARC began a promising collaboration on ultrahigh
temperature ceramic composites. Under this collaboration, GRC will give
ARC material requirements for turbine engine applications, and GRC will
receive from ARC their TPS material for testing at GRC facilities to
determine life under gas turbine operating conditions.

JSC/Garman: Ms. Garman reported on the following: 1) Everything is ready
for the STS-101 launch. 2) The International Space Station is doing fine
on orbit.

KSC/Bridges: Mr. Bridges reported on the following: 1) The Atlas launch,
scheduled for 17:37 on May 15, has a 40-percent chance of no go due to
weather. This Atlas must get off in the next 2 days for STS-101 to have a
chance of launching on Thursday. (Note: The Atlas III launch did not
occur.) 2) A 10-percent chance of violation due to weather exists for
STS-101, mainly due to early morning fog, but the Trans-Atlantic Landing
sites look good.

MSFC/Stephenson: Mr. Stephenson reported on the following: 1) Mr. Goldin
gave a great speech at the commencement of the University of Alabama in
Huntsville on Sunday. 2) The “Turning Goals into Reality” Conference will
be held on May 18 and 19 of this week. Thanks in advance to all the Center
Directors, Mr. Venneri, and Mr. Goldin for participating. 3) Thanks to JSC
and Mr. Rothenberg for the good meeting last week on the propulsion module.
4) MSFC will hold an Open House on Saturday, May 20. We are expecting
attendees from four States and are looking forward to a large crowd.

4. Mr. Goldin

Mr. Goldin began by describing the terrific experience he had at the
Commencement exercises for the University of South Carolina, Louisiana
State University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the University of
Alabama at Huntsville. He encouraged all Center Directors and Associate
Administrators to participate in graduation events as a way of reaching out
to a broader segment of the population-especially since we are hiring
again. The Administrator’s Health and Safety message this week was on
ergonomics. Below are his comments in their entirety.

“Ergonomics is the science of matching the physical requirements of the job
and the physical capacity of the worker in order to achieve optimal safety
and performance. When there is a mismatch between these two factors,
illness or injury such as a work-related Musculo-Skeletal Disorder (MSD)
can result. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is one of the most familiar examples of
a work-related MSD, but injuries can occur in the back and the upper and
lower extremities as well. Workers who must repeat the same motion
throughout their workday, who must do their work in an awkward position,
who must use a great deal of force to perform their jobs, who must
repeatedly lift heavy objects, or who face a combination of these risk
factors are most likely to develop MSD. What are the facts?