Rod Pyle - Innovation the NASA Way: Harnessing the Power of Your Organization for Breakthrough Success

Copyright 2014 by Rod Pyle. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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To my alma mater, Stanford University.
Thanks for everything that you do.

Our nations investment in NASA returns a wide range of benefits and value to society. These benefits range from the tangible to the abstract. Most often cited examples include direct knowledge of our changing planet, a better understanding of the universe, advancing technology, growing the economy, inspiring future generations, and advancing U.S. global leadership.

The common element that has set NASA apart for generations has been the agencys ability to find innovative ways to deliver each these benefits. Most of us have our favorite stories of innovation at NASA. Most often cited examples include the moon landings, safely bringing home the Apollo 13 crew, saving the Hubble Space Telescope, and many recent successful landings of robots on Mars.

In Innovation the NASA Way, Rod Pyle reminds us of many less-well-known examples of NASA innovation. From the early challenges of hypersonic flight, to spacewalking, to saving the first space station, and to working with the private sector to save our current space station, Pyle identifies specific challenges NASA has faced and then outlines the ultimate solutions worked out by the agencys talented workforce. Each of these examples is a compelling story of innovation as he reminds us that sometimes innovation is not a technology, not machines, and not anything material. Sometimes it is a thing of the spirit, a core belief and strength.

My belief is that NASAs primary value to society is as an engine of innovation. Reading this book is an affirmation of that belief.

Lori Garver

Former NASA Deputy Administrator

As always, thanks to the many grand people who selflessly donated time and attention to the completion of this book. I could not have done it without your invaluable input. Any errors or oversights remaining are mine.

Specifically and in no particular order, thanks to:

Knox Huston, my spectacular editor at McGraw-Hill Professional, and his long-time friendand my agent and friendJohn Willig of Literary Services Inc.

Ann Pryor, Chelsea Van der Gaag, Scott Kurtz, and many others also at McGraw: thank you so much for your support and talents. You are the best.

Henry Spencer provided amazing services as a fact-checker and proofreader his contributions were many, and anywhere they were not observed was strictly a matter of available space. His knowledge of the field is apparently limitless. Likewise, factual corrections and observations were contributed by Michael Ciancone, Chris Gamble, Christopher Ramsay, and Stephen Garber, all of current or past NASA affiliation. Steven Dick, formerly of NASA and now the Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology, was invaluable as always. His remaining professional credits would fill a page, so Ill stop there, but he is a gracious and willing colleague who generously makes time for others.

Roger Launius of the Smithsonian, as always, proffered fine advice. Leonard David, space journalist extraordinaire, lent a hand and an ear. Jason Rhian offered fact- checking and editorial suggestions. Steven Fentress of the Rochester Museum and Science Center provided intelligent observations and is a fine friend. Rand Simberg, fellow space authorthanks for sending me to Henry. Ray Arons of Grumman contributed his knowledge of the Lunar Module.

Janice Alvarez provided tireless and rapid transcriptionI would be DOA without her. Jason Clark assisted.

At JPL many people contributed their efforts: Blaine Baggett, Guy Webster (you rule), Rob Manning (ditto), Jia-Rul Cook, Suzanne Dodd, Mark Petrovich, Daniel Goods, Erik Conway, Elena Mejia, Scott Hulme, John Casani, John Beck-Hoffman, and Henry Kline.

Thanks to old friends from my Griffith Observatory days who selflessly donated time to JPL during the Curiosity landing: Jim Somers and John Sepikas. And Bob Brooks, who is at JPL every dayyour genuine warmth is appreciated.

Peter Orton, who helped both with this and my time at Stanford, is usually the smartest guy in the room. Thanks once again.

Jakob van Zyl, the Associate Director of Product Formulation and Strategy at JPL, granted a lengthy and insightful interviewmuch appreciated.

Joe Engle corrected the chapter on the X-15... because