As the Facility Safety program executive at Headquarters, Jose Caraballo works with Safety and Mission Assurance managers and various institutional groups to help them accomplish the agency’s mission of keeping NASA employees safe.

The latest issue of Orbital Debris Quarterly News is now available. See the latest updates as of March 2023. 

NASA personnel at Marshall Space Flight Center are preparing for a big lift in support of the Artemis Program.

In the coming months, NASA intends to use four strand jacks in unison to lower the test stand’s crosshead, which weighs 1.25 million pounds, or 625 tons, onto Test Stand 4693 with the Exploration Upper Stage test article underneath. 

As NASA’s Planetary Protection Officer, James “Nick” Benardini knows his role is all about the community: his NASA discipline colleagues, agency programs and projects, the international community, and academia. 

NASA released NASA-STD-8719.28, Wind Tunnel Model Systems Criteria, effective Oct. 10, 2022. The new agency standard — which replaces local center standards at Ames Research Center, Glenn Research Center and Langley Research Center — ensures models can move seamlessly between the centers for testing in various wind tunnels. 

NPR 8705.5, Technical Probabilistic Risk Assessment Procedures for Safety and Mission Success for NASA Programs and Projects was cancelled, a move consistent with the policy direction to be more objectives-driven, as defined in the recent update to NPD 8700.1, NASA Policy for Safety and Mission Success.

The EEE Parts Bulletin for November 2022 includes a thorough analysis of Covid-19’s impact on the Electrical, Electronic and Electromechanical (EEE) parts supply chain and also offers approaches to risk reduction.

Merriam Webster defines a leader simply as a “person who leads.” For Kennedy Space Center Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) Director Ronnie Rodriguez, a leader is better defined by why people follow him or her.

NASA engineered the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to withstand continual bombardment from dust-sized particles moving at extreme velocities, known as micrometeoroid strikes. To date, JWST is averaging one to two strikes a month.

Although both Planetary Protection and Planetary Defense programs at NASA include the word “planetary” and aim to protect the planet, that’s where similarities end. These two vital efforts oversee very different aspects of the agency’s role in protecting Earth, and in some cases, other planets.