In the News: Sean O'Keefe

"This is a remarkable chapter in NASA’s history that has lived for 50 years to remind everybody at that remarkable storied agency what a tremendous accomplishment can be yielded even in moments in which it appears to be on the verge of failure," University Professor Sean O'Keefe says. "It reminds us of our humanity." 

"You can’t just turn the lights out and say, we’ll be back," says University Professor Sean O’Keefe. "[The space station] is an asset that needs constant operational attention."

"At its core, this is about an aircraft carrier skipper who sees an imminent threat and is forced to make a decision that risks his career in the act of what he believes to be the safety of the near 5,000 members of his crew," says University Professor Sean O’Keefe.

"Contamination from the president’s approach is amplified when his judgment is largely shaped by television commentators and his decision announced by tweet," write University Professor Sean O'Keefe and his co-author. "No one is as well positioned to balance the exigencies of combat and the demands of law and ethics as a panel of fellow sailors, Marines, airmen or soldiers," they add.

"We're seeing some really, really inventive entrepreneurs with grand visions that are basically just getting started to move towards that same pattern that we saw for commercial aviation that made traveling around the globe a relatively easy proposition," says Sean O'Keefe, University Professor and former NASA administrator.

Former NASA Administrator and University Professor Sean O'Keefe spoke with several media outlets about the July 20, 1969, landing of Apollo 11 on the moon and the possibility of future space exploration. "It is a common aspirational goal as big as what we saw in the 1960s," O’Keefe told the Gazette. "Could we see convergence around a common goal that could benight this era? Absolutely." 

"It’s too early to tell what the implications may be," says Sean O'Keefe, University Professor, about the SpaceX crew capsule accident setback.

"With the technology we have today, returning to the moon is within reach in five years. As we keep rediscovering, exploration really is a journey. It only gets longer when we take a break," writes Sean O'Keefe, Howard G. and S. Louise Phanstiel Chair in Strategic Management and Leadership.

"If enacted, this directive will add an organizational overhead expense for this separation and will create countless bureaucratic fist fights over what goes into which part of this new Department of the Air Force enterprise," writes Sean O'Keefe, University Professor and Howard G. and S. Louise Phanstiel Chair in Strategic Management and Leadership.

According to University Professor Sean O'Keefe, "...it isn’t necessarily the beginning of a new space race as much as it is evidence that exploration beyond low Earth orbit is picking up momentum. That’s been a long time coming, but it signals the dawning of a new chapter of global ambitions to explore our neighborhood in this solar system." 

"Today’s technology gives us the means to minimize human risk of space ventures by having a much better idea of what we’re likely to encounter and the ability to have a much better plan of what we can do when people do arrive," says Sean O'Keefe, University Professor and Howard and Louise Phanstiel endowed Chair in Strategic Management and Leadership. 

University Professor and former NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe was tasked with informing the families and friends of the terrible fate of the astronauts on the Columbia Space Shuttle. "It went from being a moment of great anticipation and elation...to a stillness, recognizing that the time that had been anticipated for the shuttle to land had passed," he says of the tragic event.

The fellowship is made possible by generous gifts to the Astrid Merget Fund honoring two-time alumna and former associate dean of the Maxwell School Astrid Merget ’68 M.P.A./’73 Ph.D. (SSc).

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) program's reputation and Washington location provide Maxwell students and faculty regular access to a range of leaders and practitioners—to an extent not feasible in Syracuse,” says University Professor and Phanstiel Chair Sean O’Keefe ’78 M.P.A., who is charged with developing opportunities to further nurture Maxwell/CSIS collaboration.

"There's been no effort to even address that point. I can barely call what was articulated [on Monday by the president] a vision. It was more of just an expression. You know, that's about it," says University Professor Sean O'Keefe.