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A 25-year Defense Contract Management Agency property administrator and 35-year veteran with the Shuttle External Tank Program was selected for the Space Flight Awareness STS-134 Honoree Award, one of the highest presented to NASA and industry for their dedication to quality work and flight safety.
Gail Bennett will officially receive her award, April 27. The award consists of a trip to Cape Canaveral, Fla., for a tour of Kennedy Space Center and a launch viewing opportunity from the Saturn V Banana Creek site, a certificate, and a 1/200th scale Shuttle model. The shuttle launch is currently scheduled for April 29.
“I was extremely honored to receive the NASA Space Flight Honoree Award, as it is one of the highest awards presented by NASA,” said Bennett. “As the shuttle program is coming to an end and having worked on the External Tank portion of the program for more than 35 years, it is a dream come true to actually witness a space shuttle launch. I am proud to have been a part of such a prestigious program,” said Bennett.
To qualify, the individuals must have contributed beyond their normal work requirements to achieve significant impact on attaining a particular human space flight program goal; contributed to a major cost savings; been instrumental in developing modification to hardware, software, or materials that increase reliability, efficiency, or performance; assisted in operational improvements; or been a key player in developing a beneficial process improvement.
“I have been responsible for continuous evaluation and analysis over the property control system of the External Tank production and Facility contractor,” said Bennett. “I have been responsible for $2.1 billion of NASA property located at the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans where the External Tank for the Space Shuttle is manufactured,” said Bennett.
One of Bennett’s major accomplishments was serving on the team that developed and implemented the "Bar Code Tags and Scanner Program." This program provided an effective means of inventorying government property at the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility.
According to Philip Heisler, property center supervisor, the entire facility was divided into zones. Each zone was given a discrete zone location bar code tag which when scanned, displayed a specific location. Heisler said when any item of government property is moved within this vast facility, it is easily located along with the badge number of the individual who moved it and the time and date it was moved.
“The Bar Code Tags and Scanner Program contributed to cost savings and/or cost avoidances by enabling government property to be located easier and faster thereby reducing overall inventory costs,” said Heisler.
Bennett said the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility is an 832-acre site, one of the largest manufacturing plants in the world with 43 environmentally controlled acres under one roof.
“Working at this facility feels like a city within itself,” said Bennett. “Categories of property for this contract consist of plant equipment, special tooling, special test equipment, material, agency peculiar property and real property.”
Bennett said her favorite part of the job is her ablility to work on a program with such high visibility. “The fact that I can walk pass an External Tank every day is something not many people can say or do.”
Over the course of the shuttle program and other programs located at Michoud, it is reasonable to estimate that a total life cycle cost reduction of $1 million has been achieved. This amount is based on the reduction in man hours to perform physical inventories, reduction in time for reconciliations efforts, and a reduction of time to perform the inventory over 832 acres. Likewise, using barcodes enabled inventory by exception whenever an item is sent through calibration , maintenance or moved from one location to another. This further reduced the man hours to conduct inventories.
“Another reason I am so excited to view this particular launch is because the External Tank 122 that will fly with STS-134 is the tank that we affectionally call ‘The Hurricane Tank’.”
She said this particular tank was damaged when Hurricane Katrina devastated the New Orleans area in 2005.
“The repair of the damage to this tank mirrors my own rebuilding of my home and life, like many others who lost everything during Katrina.”
She said painted on the intertank access door of this tank is an insignia which shows the restored ET-122 in flight with a shuttle on its back flying out of the eye of the hurricane.
“The tour of the Space Center will complete the experience allowing me to witness how the various parts of the program come together to create a successful launch.”
| Date Taken: | 04.12.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 04.12.2011 13:20 |
| Story ID: | 68633 |
| Location: | LOUISIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 164 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Gail Bennett: NASA Space Flight Honoree, by Cassandra Locke, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
