When Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong walked on the surface of the moon 50 years ago, an estimated 600 million people (a fifth of the world’s population at the time), watched Armstrong’s famed initial walk on the moon from TV sets around the globe.
The 50th anniversary of the lunar landing (20 July 2019) is a unique chance for generations to get caught up in the excitement of 1969 all over again – generations who are now accustomed to the everyday normalcy of satellites and privatized rocket launches.
To celebrate this momentous occasion, we checked in with Darden alum Keith Krut (EMBA ’13), NASA Director of People Analytics, to get an inside scoop on what it’s like working for NASA.
Working at NASA has been the perfect match as a Darden grad. Every day presents a case study and a seemingly impossible challenge. Right now it’s figuring out how to align a wide range of partners and stakeholders to get astronauts to the moon and then Mars in a fraction of prior time estimates, while maintaining strategic focus on missions as diverse as learning about the origins of the universe, creating the next commercial supersonic aircraft, understanding weather on Earth, transitioning space technologies to help farmers, or creating the capability to autonomously build a farm on Mars before our crews arrive.
Thankfully, like Darden, we’re loaded with brilliant people who are driven by our mission, and who work together to achieve it. I love having the opportunity to play a small role in that, which currently centers on applying analytics and digital transformation toward shaping the future for our talent strategy and the experience of working at NASA. In a workshop during my first month here, we discussed how we would need to adapt our workforce skills if we found life on another planet, and I knew I found the coolest place for strategic planning work.
Now, I get to explore how we can apply some of the same artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities we’re using for science and engineering toward organizational effectiveness, planning and improving people’s jobs. I regularly draw from the tools I gained from Darden, and even more importantly, from the invaluable enterprise perspective, critical thinking and collaborative approach fostered in the Execuitve MBA program.
Can’t get enough of the moon-related festivities? Here’s a just few highlights to check out this weekend (either in-person or on your favorite social media feed):
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C.: Armstrong’s suit will be displayed for the first time in 13 years, the Washington Monument will be illuminated with a projection of the Saturn V rocket and more!
The People’s Moon in Times Square, New York City: Thousands of photos of people from around the world make up a giant mosaic of the iconic moon boot print.
NASA TV will feature many of its celebrations around the country on its dedicated channel, as well as online.
