After spells in the nuclear industry, Gregg McDaniel, manager of NASA's International Space Station Vehicle Office, has followed his father into space. He describes to Working Week the challenges of constructing the ISS
Having watched his father support the Apollo space programme during the late 1960s, Gregg McDaniel dreamed of eventually joining NASA. A mechanical engineering graduate from Mississippi State University, Gregg joined the space agency in 1985 following spells in the nuclear industry and assisting in the development of new guidance systems for the US Army Missile Command. Working out of Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, he has gone on to work on a wide range of projects, including the Spacelab programme in the early 1990s.
When did you join the ISS programme?
I joined the payload integration office of the Science and Engineering Directorate at Marshall in 1995. I served as the lead engineer working on the integration of the first multipurpose logistics module mission. This is a large pressurised container used on Space Shuttle missions to transfer cargo to and from the International Space Station. It berths with the ISS Unity module, where supplies are offloaded and finished experiments and waste are loaded. I led a team of about 20 engineers in developing the integration and interface requirements and ensuring the module and Shuttle safety. We have three multipurpose logistics module missions - Leonardo, Raffaello and Donatello - that are supplied to NASA under contract by the Italian Space Agency.
As manager of the ISS Vehicle Office what does your role involve today?
I manage a number of separate projects including the design and development of the environmental control and life support systems, continuing support of multipurpose logistics module mission missions, and the development and integration of Nodes 2 and 3. The life-support system has a number of functions. Primarily it provides oxygen and potable water, but it also removes carbon dioxide and particulates from the station's atmosphere and maintains cabin pressure, temperature and humidity. The system is 91% efficient in terms of recycling potable water and generates 5.5kg (12lb) of oxygen each day - enough for a crew of six. Node 2, the Harmony module, is a European Space Agency-built habitation module which will provide a passageway between three science experiment facilities.
How many people are involved in the ISS project at Huntsville?
We have 82 full-time NASA staff working on the various projects, but we also have twice that number of contractors who are vital to our work. We are also the home of the Payload Operations Center, which provides the heartbeat for all scientific operations on board the ISS. In conjunction with Johnson Space Center, between 50 and 100 people manage and support the astronauts in conducting scientific experiments, 24h a day, 365 days a year since September 2000.
So the technologies being developed at Huntsville are breaking new ground?
Absolutely! The regenerative environmental control technology developed for the ISS has implications for future missions to the Moon and Mars. In fact, the technology used in the water recovery system is also being used to ease water shortages in northern Iraq.
Source: Flight International
