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Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM

photo of David Throckmorton

Monday, September 18, 2017 / 3:30 PM, Building 8 Auditorium

David Throckmorton

"In the Eye of the Storm: Hurricane Katrina — The NASA Experience"

ABSTRACT -- On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina — a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds in excess of 140 miles per hour — came ashore along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and Louisiana. The storm did catastrophic damage to communities along the Gulf Coast from Mobile, Alabama, to New Orleans, Louisiana; and took the lives of more than 1500 people.

The storm also endangered the operations of two NASA facilities that were critical to the operation of NASA's Space Shuttle Program. The large external fuel tanks of the space shuttle launch system were manufactured at the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans; and all ground testing of space shuttle main engines was performed at the NASA Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Extreme damage to these facilities might well have brought an end to the Space Shuttle Program, and set back the U.S. human spaceflight program for a number of years.

The lecture will describe the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the NASA facilities and their surrounding communities, and the NASA response to this natural disaster, with first-hand observations from an individual who was there both during and in the aftermath of the storm.

SPEAKER -- David Throckmorton is Vice President for Research at the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA). In that position, he leads the Institute's research programs

Before joining the NIA, he spent 37 years working for NASA. He began his NASA career at Langley, where he used hypersonic wind tunnel tests to study possible designs for the space shuttle orbiter. He later studied data from the test missions of Shuttle Columbia.

After serving as Deputy Director of Engineering at the Marshall Space Flight Center, Mr. Throckmorton moved to the John C. Stennis Space Center, where he served as Center Deputy Director. His duties included coordination of tests of the Shuttle Main Engines (and of all other rocket propulsion.)

After leaving NASA, Mr. Throckmorton served as Chair of the Standing Review Board for the Orion Project. The board provided independent reviews of the project for NASA management.

Mr. Throckmorton also worked for Northrop Grumman and Program Manager for a support contract at the Langley Research Center.

Mr. Throckmorton is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, including: the Presidential Rank of Meritorious Executive, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, and the Astronauts' "Silver Snoopy" Award for contributions to the safety of human spaceflight.

Engineering Colloquium home page: https://ecolloq.gsfc.nasa.gov