Achievements of Suresh B. Kulkarni
His significant accomplishments as he moved up the ladder were:
1. He wrote the design manual used by the Air Force to design elastomeric( rubber) lubrication free bearings for helicopters, which are still in use today.
2. He designed and developed the first stage rocket motor called Midgetman.
3. He designed and developed the first large composite, Kevlar / epoxy, case for first stage of the ICBM system.
4. He represented Thiokol at Cape Kennedy to present to top NASA officials, the readiness of Thiokol rocket motors for launch and gave the final“ go ahead” for ignition of Satellite’ s rocket boosters.
5. He made numerous presentations at conferences sponsored by the U. S. Army, Navy, Air Force and NASA and wrote several technical articles.
6. By the end of his career in Space, 1989-1977, he had helped launch 55 successful flights of the Space Shuttle-an awesome responsibility and accomplishment. Some of the notable missions that he was a part of include:
10. He has served on the external advisory boards for the engineering schools at the University of Illinois, IL; Utah State University, Logan. UT and Weber State University, Ogden, UT.
Overall, he enjoyed his career and had the opportunity to interface with a lot of people at all levels: CEOs, professors, scientists, astronauts including John Young, the first commander of the Shuttle which had walked on the moon.
Awards and Recognitions:
1. The Silver Snoopy Award bestowed by Astronaut Dan Brandenstein, Head of the NASA Astronaut Office at Johnson Space Flight Center, Houston, Texas, for outstanding achievements related to human flight safety and mission success.
2. A wooden plaque was engraved in recognition for providing technical direction to the RSRM program, resulting in the successful completion of 55 consecutive launches without a failure. v
Magellan Spacecraft to Venus( May, 1989) Galileo Spacecraft to Jupiter( October, 1989) Hubble Space Telescope( April, 1990) First Shuttle-Mir docking( July, 1995)
7. In 1995, he was sent by Thiokol to Charlotte, Virginia, where he earned his Executive MBA at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.
8. In 1997, he headed up the engineering organization for all Air Force, Navy and commercial programs with the assignment to reduce cost without impacting technical vigor and thorough precision.
9. From June-November 1999, he represented Thiokol on President Bill Clinton’ s Presidential Commission known as the Space Launch Broad Area Review( BAR).
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