2017 Issue

66 How Orbital ATK is Building the Future Using Lessons Learned from the Past By Earl Benson, Orbital ATK “A ccept the challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.” This sim- ple quote from General George Patton is applicable to every part of life, but for Orbital ATK and the aerospace industry as a whole, it provides a glimpse into the attitude necessary to transform and improve upon past successes to deliver a future for human space flight that will be a source of na- tional pride. The challenges we face to build the future of space flight are substantial. Create the new and different, maintain technical rigor, and increase hardware reli- ability, while also reducing cost, increasing efficien- cy, and not losing sight of the failures and lessons learned that made us who we are today. So, how do you overcome those challenges? How do you self-evaluate your weaknesses? Most im- portantly, how do you ensure the lessons learned from your past are applied so you don’t repeat previous mistakes? First of all, it always starts with people. Having the right people in the right place at the right time asking the right questions is essential to the evalu- ation and decision-making processes. This not only includes the greybeards who lived ‘it’ and have the scar tissue as proof, but also the new-comers, those who can question the standards, challenge