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Northrop Grumman Employees Receive NASA’s Highest Honors for Building the JWST

97 points by rm_ng 4y ago

subsubzero 4y ago
I thought the "silver snoopy" award was NASA's highest honor? I guess that is more of an astronaut award vs. a scientist/engineering award.
- swozey 4y ago
  I posted above but my grandfather has one and he was a jet propulsion engineer. Maybe he doesn't have the "silver snoopy" and just a snoopy. I forget and he's passed but I distinctly remember a Snoopy on his wall as a kid.
  - subsubzero 4y ago
    That is so cool, I would treasure that should it ever fall in your possession. And it looks like its just silver snoopy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Snoopy_award https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Snoopy_award
tibbydudeza 4y ago
Well deserved.
MichaelZuo 4y ago
Congrats to the team that built JWST!
junon 4y ago
Super well deserved. Incredible accomplishment of humankind.
d3ckard 4y ago
Thanks to the everyone involved, you did a great job!
swozey 4y ago
Very well deserved. I thought the Snoopy award was the top award but apparently not. My grandfather is in the NASA hall of fame for the Apollo mission and was awarded a Snoopy. He was also part of Challenger but that's another story.
- atlgator 4y ago
  If NASA is anything like CDC, most awards are reserved for federal employees. Very rare for contractors (firms or individuals) to receive awards.
  - Communitivity 4y ago
    It's next to impossible in many agencies and departments. The reason given is that they are not allowed to show favoritism or clear support/preference to one given contracting company, and they say an award to a contractor would do that.
Robotbeat 4y ago
One thing that will be memory holed because of the ultimate successful launch is just the MASSIVE overpromising on schedule and budget. Nearly criminal, in fact. Billions of dollars wasted and countless valuable missions that had to be sacrificed. The team (I think under new management) eventually delivered a successful launch, so no one will remember. I do think the final team who got it turned around and actually launched absolutely do deserve credit, I don’t want to deny that at all. But the opportunity cost was absolutely astounding. (Will add sources) EDIT: this 2018 article in The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/07/nasa-james-webb-space-telescope-northrop-grumman-cost/566186/ https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/07/nasa-jam... Remember it was supposed to launch in 2007 for just $500 million when conceived and 2010 and $1 billion (respectively) when approved. Didn’t launch until the tail end of 2021 for $10 billion!
- dylan604 4y ago
  In this line of thought, in about 15 years, Boeing employees will get recognized for the incredible work on Starliner capsule. Wait, at this rate, it'll be closer to 25 years. But as the saying goes, good things come to those who wait and wait and wait and bloat the budget
  - abudabi123 4y ago
    Aviation Week's Check 6 podcast has an outlook on Boeing's CEO as a money generator to reach $10B cuts to investors before a decision to design more new aircraft for the future
- dsfyu404ed 4y ago
  >One thing that will be memory holed because of the ultimate successful launch is just the MASSIVE overpromising on schedule and budget. All the bureaucrats and contractors who are part of the revolving door will remember it and not in a way that is good for us.
  - Robotbeat 4y ago
    You shouldn't be downvoted. The revolving door thing is a real problem with private industry and underpaid government bureaucrats. Managers and stakeholders will point out how JWST means that cost and schedule overruns don't matter and will soon be forgotten, no matter how large... As long as the project launches and operates. IMHO, this is bad. We'd be much better off cancelling highly underperforming projects early and reorienting resources towards competently run projects. Instead, we more often tend to throw good money after bad. A problem that has echoes in the US's infrastructure cost woes.
wordsarelies 4y ago
I know it's stupid, and at the time political, but I keep my certificate that came with my NASA award. As a kid who always wanted to be an astronaut, helping the space program enough that they give you a postit note that says "thank you" in government speak is still my highest honor.
ourmandave 4y ago
Do they get to take a victory lap around moon?
- Iwan-Zotow 4y ago
  They would be send to the 1st Lagrange point
begueradj 4y ago
That reminds me of what Whitney Webb wrote and said: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=w-d3jFIGxdQ&ab_channel=GlennBeck https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=w-d3jFIGxdQ&ab_c...
jwuphysics 4y ago
Congratulations to the whole team! I know this celebrates the achievements by select Northrop Grumman employees, but the JWST success deserves to be shared among all the teams: NASA, ESA CSA, U Arizona, Ball Aerospace, L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and the Space Telescope Science Institute. I work at the latter institution and I believe two individuals here were also awarded this honor.

97 points by rm_ng 4y ago

I thought the "silver snoopy" award was NASA's highest honor? I guess that is more of an astronaut award vs. a scientist/engineering award.

swozey 4y ago
I posted above but my grandfather has one and he was a jet propulsion engineer. Maybe he doesn't have the "silver snoopy" and just a snoopy. I forget and he's passed but I distinctly remember a Snoopy on his wall as a kid.
- subsubzero 4y ago
  That is so cool, I would treasure that should it ever fall in your possession. And it looks like its just silver snoopy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Snoopy_award https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Snoopy_award

tibbydudeza 4y ago

Well deserved.

MichaelZuo 4y ago

Congrats to the team that built JWST!

junon 4y ago

Super well deserved. Incredible accomplishment of humankind.

d3ckard 4y ago

Thanks to the everyone involved, you did a great job!

swozey 4y ago

Very well deserved. I thought the Snoopy award was the top award but apparently not. My grandfather is in the NASA hall of fame for the Apollo mission and was awarded a Snoopy. He was also part of Challenger but that's another story.

atlgator 4y ago
If NASA is anything like CDC, most awards are reserved for federal employees. Very rare for contractors (firms or individuals) to receive awards.
- Communitivity 4y ago
  It's next to impossible in many agencies and departments. The reason given is that they are not allowed to show favoritism or clear support/preference to one given contracting company, and they say an award to a contractor would do that.

Robotbeat 4y ago

One thing that will be memory holed because of the ultimate successful launch is just the MASSIVE overpromising on schedule and budget. Nearly criminal, in fact. Billions of dollars wasted and countless valuable missions that had to be sacrificed. The team (I think under new management) eventually delivered a successful launch, so no one will remember. I do think the final team who got it turned around and actually launched absolutely do deserve credit, I don’t want to deny that at all. But the opportunity cost was absolutely astounding. (Will add sources) EDIT: this 2018 article in The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/07/nasa-james-webb-space-telescope-northrop-grumman-cost/566186/ https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/07/nasa-jam... Remember it was supposed to launch in 2007 for just $500 million when conceived and 2010 and $1 billion (respectively) when approved. Didn’t launch until the tail end of 2021 for $10 billion!

dylan604 4y ago
In this line of thought, in about 15 years, Boeing employees will get recognized for the incredible work on Starliner capsule. Wait, at this rate, it'll be closer to 25 years. But as the saying goes, good things come to those who wait and wait and wait and bloat the budget
- abudabi123 4y ago
  Aviation Week's Check 6 podcast has an outlook on Boeing's CEO as a money generator to reach $10B cuts to investors before a decision to design more new aircraft for the future
dsfyu404ed 4y ago
>One thing that will be memory holed because of the ultimate successful launch is just the MASSIVE overpromising on schedule and budget. All the bureaucrats and contractors who are part of the revolving door will remember it and not in a way that is good for us.
- Robotbeat 4y ago
  You shouldn't be downvoted. The revolving door thing is a real problem with private industry and underpaid government bureaucrats. Managers and stakeholders will point out how JWST means that cost and schedule overruns don't matter and will soon be forgotten, no matter how large... As long as the project launches and operates. IMHO, this is bad. We'd be much better off cancelling highly underperforming projects early and reorienting resources towards competently run projects. Instead, we more often tend to throw good money after bad. A problem that has echoes in the US's infrastructure cost woes.

wordsarelies 4y ago

I know it's stupid, and at the time political, but I keep my certificate that came with my NASA award. As a kid who always wanted to be an astronaut, helping the space program enough that they give you a postit note that says "thank you" in government speak is still my highest honor.

ourmandave 4y ago

Do they get to take a victory lap around moon?

Iwan-Zotow 4y ago
They would be send to the 1st Lagrange point

begueradj 4y ago

That reminds me of what Whitney Webb wrote and said: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=w-d3jFIGxdQ&ab_channel=GlennBeck https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=w-d3jFIGxdQ&ab_c...

jwuphysics 4y ago

Congratulations to the whole team! I know this celebrates the achievements by select Northrop Grumman employees, but the JWST success deserves to be shared among all the teams: NASA, ESA CSA, U Arizona, Ball Aerospace, L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and the Space Telescope Science Institute. I work at the latter institution and I believe two individuals here were also awarded this honor.