Mary Kaye died suddenly, at the age of only 37, a couple of weeks before the launch of Mars Global Surveyor. Her name was painted on the gantry and a seat full of flowers was kept for her in the launch viewing area.

Who I Am

As the Mars Global Surveyor program manager, I am officially responsible for "program formulation, external advocacy, establishing policy, defining the objectives and requirements, allocating resources and assessing performance of the project." But really, my job is to try to facilitate the work of a superb group of managers, engineers, scientists and technicians at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), who, working with Lockheed Martin Astronautics (LMA) in Denver, Colorado, are building and will operate the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft.