Calendar of Events

Michael Thompson, Lt Col, PMP, USAF, Director of Military Liaison, PMI Space Coast Risk management is the key to project success and is a priority to all leaders and managers. Successful project risk management will mean the difference between project success and failure. Risk management is never more important than when your job is to provide contingency rescue for NASA and NASA-sponsored astronauts at a moment’s notice covering a 155 million square mile area of responsibility. Lt Col Michael Thompson will discuss project risk management planning and execution through the lens of the Commander in charge of recovering NASA astronauts flying in commercial capsules such as the SpaceX Crew Dragon or Boeing Starliner CST-100, or the NASA deep-space Orion capsule. Risk management is an iterative process which occurs at in all project processes and in the military context is conducted at the Strategic, Operational and Tactical levels of command. The scrutiny and attention of a project protecting national assets in the international spotlight after nearly a nine-year gap is nearly impossible to explain. Risk management is a must. At the end of the day, whether it’s rescuing military members on the battlefield or recovering astronauts after a launch anomaly, Lt Col Thompson and his team have risk mitigation as the cornerstone to ensure that someone’s worst day is not their last day.