January 29, 2016
Three-time space shuttle astronaut and JHU APL employee Pierre Thuot, the lead Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) astronaut on the maiden flight of the space shuttle Endeavour, shares his experiences on this challenging mission to capture and repair a 9,000 lb. communications satellite.
- Learn what happens when you don’t test critical interfaces, you don’t test the way it's going to be operated, you have inaccurate modeling and simulation and ... there’s a wicked thunderstorm in the desert!
- Learn how good communications and collaboration throughout the government and industry team are essential to overcoming almost any challenge.
- Learn how teams that are completely committed to their mission, goals, and objectives can be amazingly successful … and how …
The Power of Teamwork Knows No Limits!
Pierre Thuot’s multi-media presentation about this space flight will bring to life many lessons that are applicable to every team that wants to succeed.
CAPT Pierre Thuot (pronounced THOO-it) is a distinguished graduate of the United States Naval Academy, has a Master’s Degree from the University of Southern California, and an honorary Doctorate from Coastal Carolina University. He flew the F-14 Tomcat in the Navy, is a graduate of TOPGUN, the U. S. Naval Test Pilot School, and the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program.
In June 1985 he was selected by NASA as an Astronaut. CAPT Thuot is a veteran of three space flights, STS-36 aboard Atlantis in 1990, STS-49 aboard the first flight of Endeavour in 1992, and STS-62 aboard Columbia in 1994. During STS-49 he performed three space walks that resulted in the capture and repair of a stranded commercial communications satellite. He left NASA in 1995 to become the Associate Chairman of the Aerospace Engineering Department at the U. S. Naval Academy. His final Navy assignment was with the National Reconnaissance Office as a Program Director.
CAPT Thuot retired from the Navy in August 1998 and became a Vice President with Orbital Sciences Corporation. In 2002, CAPT Thuot became the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of HawkEye Systems, LLC a subsidiary of Gray Hawk Systems, Inc. and then in November 2004, he was named President and CEO of HawkEye Systems. In May 2005 HawkEye and its parent company, Gray Hawk Systems, Inc., were acquired by ManTech International Corporation. CAPT Thuot is currently a Senior Systems Engineer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in their Lexington Park, MD field office.
He has logged 654 hours in space, including 17 hours on three space walks. He has traveled 11.4 million miles in space and orbited the Earth 437 times. He has over 3,500 flight hours in more than 50 different aircraft, and has over 270 carrier landings. He is the recipient of 18 team achievement awards and eleven personal awards including three Defense Superior Service Medals, the Legion of Merit, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, and the Meritorious Service Medal. He held the U. S. National and Absolute world records for extravehicular (EVA or space walk) duration in space from 1992 until 2001.