Almost by serendipity, I found myself working at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) beginning in the late 1980's.
People tend to think of scientists, engineers and astronauts when they think of NASA. I am none of those things.
My background is in business. I'd agreed to help a friend who owned a small temp accounting agency. He'd just landed a contract with JPL largely because he low-balled it but when the time came to implement the contract, the accounting professionals he was relying on weren't available so he called me.
When I got the call from him, I was my own boss but business was slow. Knowing this, he asked if I'd fill in at JPL until his people were available. I agreed -- and unknowingly began what became a 20+ year career at JPL or "The Lab" as it's called by its employees.
Not long after taking the assignment, I became a key member of the Magellan Project team overseeing all financial/business aspects of the mission. During my tenure I helped to manage the business aspect of many space flight projects including Magellan, Mars Pathfinder, Genesis, Mars Climate Orbiter, Stardust, and several others.
As the team at NASA/JPL waits to learn whether the Mars Science Lander (MSL) will be successful, I send them my best. I know they're all on pins and needles. I remember what that felt like.
If MSL is not successful, there will be plenty of lessons to be learned. My hope is that the focus of the lessons learned reviews will not be entirely on the technical aspects of the mission. All NASA missions require the joint efforts of engineers, scientists, administrators, business managers, and others.
It takes a village to conduct a mission. And the success or failure of a mission rests on the shoulders of the entire team. Soft skills often go unnoticed but can be the lynch pin to success as was the case with Mars Pathfinder -- obviously, this is my opinion.
Working at JPL was an amazing experience! I spent a good portion of my time working with brilliant engineers and scientists -- yes, rocket scientists -- helping them to develop and then stick to their budgets and schedules, what we call in the business "their plans".
I was in the room when the landing site was chosen for the Mars Pathfinder rover, helping the team to calculate the cost and keep track of their budgets.
I was at the landing site when the Genesis sample return probe crashed on the desert floor in Utah's Dugway Proving Grounds, upon which I immediately began the work of estimating the cost of continuing the science using the damaged contents within the probe.
I was also a key member of two of the most devastating space flight system failures -- Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander.
I felt fortunate have a front row seat as I participated in history in the making.
The biggest lesson I learned is that a strong team is a healthy team. Complex missions succeed when all systems are addressed -- BEST OF LUCK TO MSL