Charles J. Pellerin Jr.
Charles J Pellerin Jr. | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | December 11, 1944 |
| Education | Drexel University (BS) Catholic University of America (MS and PhD in Astrophysics) Harvard Business School (General Management Program) |
| Known for | Great Observatories program Hubble Space Telescope |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astrophysics |
| Workplaces | Goddard Space Flight Center NASA |
Charles James Pellerin Jr. (born December 11, 1944), better known as Charlie Pellerin, is an American astrophysicist, former NASA executive, author, and academic.[1]
Career
NASA
Pellerin joined Goddard Space Flight Center as a physicist and instrument designer in 1967. He conducted experiments in solar physics and published in the journal Solar Physics.[2]
Pellerin worked as deputy director, Spacelab Flight at NASA Headquarters (1976–1982); director of astrophysics division (1983–1992); and associate deputy administrator for strategic planning (1992–1993). As Director of Astrophysics for a decade from 1983, he oversaw a $750 million annual program launching a dozen satellites.
According to Britannica, "The Great Observatories concept was developed in the mid-1980s by American engineer Charles Pellerin, then Director of Astrophysics at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), as a way of providing an umbrella for four large, expensive astrophysics missions that otherwise might be viewed as funding competitors."[3] The Great Observatories program, included the Hubble Space Telescope, Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, Chandra X-ray Observatory, and Spitzer Space Telescope.[4][5]
After the Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990 with a flawed mirror, Pellerin organized the mission to repair the telescope in space.[6][7]
Academia
On a sabbatical from NASA, Pellerin joined the business school of the University of Colorado, where he taught a course titled "21st Century Leadership." Taking lessons from the organisational problems that led to the Hubble Space Telescope's mirror flaw, Pellerin developed a team-building approach that he called the '4-D System'.[8] Pellerin then founded a company called 4-D Systems to promote this concept.[9][10]
Publications
In 2009, Wiley published Pellerin's book “How NASA Builds Teams: Mission Critical Soft Skills for Scientists, Engineers, and Project Teams.”[1][11][12]
External links
References
- 1 2 Pellerin, Charles J. (2009). How NASA Builds Teams: Mission Critical Soft Skills for Scientists, Engineers, and Project Teams. Wiley. ISBN 9780470456484.
- ↑ Pellerin, Charles J. (1975). "Heavy solar cosmic rays in the January 25, 1971 solar flare". Solar Physics. 41: 449–458. doi:10.1007/BF00154081.
- ↑ "Great Observatories". Britannica.
- ↑ NASA Astrophysics Division; prepared under the auspices of Dr. Charles J. Pellerin Jr., Director; Martin Harwit (Cornell University); Valerie Neal (Essex Corporation) (1986). The Great Observatories for Space Astrophysics (PDF) (Technical report). NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration – Astrophysics Division.
{{cite tech report}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ↑ Harwit, Martin (2013). In Search of the True Universe: The Tools, Shaping, and Cost of Cosmological Thought. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-04406-7.
- ↑ "NASA Plans Mission by 1994 to Repair Hubble Telescope". The New York Times. July 3, 1991.
- ↑ Gainor, Christopher (2020). Not Yet Imagined: A Study of Hubble Space Telescope Operations (PDF). NASA History Program Office. pp. 36, 41, 48–49, 71. ISBN 9781626830615.
- ↑ "Cartoon, Hubble problem inspire team-building system". The Denver Post. September 6, 2009. Retrieved February 19, 2026.
- ↑ "The technical aspects of good teams". South China Morning Post. July 9, 2011. Retrieved February 19, 2026.
- ↑ "Ex-Nasa official to help China's space programme". South China Morning Post. May 20, 2011. Retrieved February 19, 2026.
- ↑ "Building teams at NASA: it's not rocket science". Federal News Network. August 4, 2010. Retrieved February 19, 2026.
- ↑ "CMA Presents "How NASA Builds Teams: Mission Critical Skills for Scientists, Engineers, and Projects"". California Institute of Technology. June 8, 2010. Retrieved February 19, 2026.