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“Whatever your goal is, you will never succeed unless you let go of your fears and fly.” – Richard Branson

“What we need to do is always lean into the future;” – Jeff Bezos

Yesterday morning, the nation and the world watched with excitement as former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and three others lifted off toward the farthest edge of Earth’s atmosphere aboard the Blue Origin New Shepard. This mission took place only nine days after Virgin Group founder Richard Branson boarded the Virgin Galactic VSS Unity, embarking on the first fully crewed commercial voyage to space.

More than space tourists, Bezos and Branson are leading the way to commercial and public utilization of space previously only imagined in science fiction. These pioneers of both high-tech business and new space are now blazing trails into an emerging commercial landscape of untold opportunity and promise.

While some may debate the scientific and societal benefits of these flights as well as their cost, the symbolic and technical impact of the past several days cannot be ignored. On the heels of the 2019 commemoration of Apollo 11 and its monumental legacy for crewed spaceflight, we are now witness to another profound first step for humankind.

These two flights represent the start of a thrilling new space race as well as a time to celebrate a key milestone of our civilization. After all, our overall advancement and progress have always been measured by transportation and exploration. While reflecting that the real competitors in this arena are the U.S. and Chinese governments, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson remarked that Branson’s flight is a “great” milestone.

We believe that that the launches of the wealthiest man in the entire world and another billionaire businessman surpass the perception of “rich boys and their toys” to serve as compelling demonstrations of boldness, calculated risk, and the endless possibilities of technical innovation and excellence. These developments are of particular interest to Stellar—from our corporate focus on critical solutions to our Civil and Commercial Points of the Star. Our expert teams continue to be galvanized for Stellar’s efforts to create engineering solutions for our partners in legacy and new space, as well as high-tech commercial ventures.

Just as the achievements of the United States space program heralded by NASA have delivered countless spinoff technologies that have improved every aspect of life on this planet, the resulting inspiration of a generation and nation-building drive have cemented our preeminence across the world and our destiny to do even greater things. It’s such an honor to contribute to the next phase of this adventure, and to be able to do it as our dream jobs.

Although Virgin Galactic aims to “fill the world with astronauts,” Branson offers a universal lesson that success in any venture occurs “when preparation meets opportunity.”  Bezos’ thoughts on the disruptive nature of invention are similarly inspired: “If you want to be understood at all times, then don’t do anything new.” We sincerely agree and have said this before: what an incredibly exciting time to be in the business of space and other disruptive technological fields. As if this week wasn’t already one for the record books, Bezos was accompanied by female aviator Wally Funk, one of the original so-called Mercury 13 or First Lady Astronaut Trainees who never went to space, becoming the oldest astronaut in history.

The months ahead should prove to be just as exciting as billionaire Elon Musk and SpaceX will soon launch civilian astronauts aboard Crew Dragon, along with efforts from other companies like Axiom. Stellar Solutions extends heartfelt kudos and congratulations on this unprecedented moment to Jeff and Richard as well as Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic–the courageous first of many catalysts for an extraordinary future.

Celeste Ford, Stellar Solutions Board Chair and Founder, was featured as a 2021 Trailblazer in Enterprising Women magazine. A winner of the Enterprising Women of the Year Award in 2020, Celeste was cited in the article for her vision of “satisfying customers’ critical needs while realizing our dream jobs.” 

An advocate of women leaders, she has mentored women in STEM across the nation. As a company, Stellar Solutions is exemplary for its hiring and promotion of women: three of its six Vice Presidents are women.

Celeste recalled being the only woman in a control center more than 25 years ago, “Although it was a thrilling challenge, I knew that my voice stood out in the crowd on the console and any mistake would not only impact the mission but my future career and that of the women that would follow me. It focused me on being the best I could be.”

To learn more about Celeste’s Trailblazing career, see Enterprising Women Summer 2021

Stellar Solutions shared its Malcolm Baldrige quality and excellence insights at “Visionary Leadership That Works – Southcentral Foundation with Stellar Solutions,” part of the Baldrige Executive Fellows Program that took place in Anchorage, Alaska, June 21-22.

Jennifer Luce, VP Defense Programs, led with the first presentation for the Conference on Leadership; Janet Grondin, VP Intelligence Programs, headed up a concluding Leadership Panel, and Edward Dane, Senior Systems Engineer and Acquisition/Program Management Specialist, led the Strategy Roundtable providing Strategic Planning Takeaways.

The speakers shared Stellar Solutions’ lasting Vision — to satisfy customers’ critical needs and employees’ dream jobs; its Mission – to provide high impact engineering expertise, and its Values, to do the right thing for customers, employees and the community. 

Jennifer Luce showed how Baldrige practices and processes support the organization’s ongoing commitment to these pillars.  “Stellar Solutions’ leadership team keeps laser-sharp focus on our Vision, and uses the Baldrige Leadership Communication tools and Strategic Planning Processes to keep us true to our culture.” Survey data bear this out:

·      100% of customers say that Stellar Solutions is satisfying a critical program need.

·      99% of Stellar Solutions; employees say that “taking everything into account, Stellar Solutions is a great place to work.”

·      84% of employees are in their Dream Job or working toward it.

·      99% of employees say, “I feel good about the ways we contribute to the community.”

Ed Dane emphasized Stellar Solutions’ ongoing, integrated approach to Baldrige training and communications.  “Ongoing interaction with employees at all levels of the organization and all stages of employment generates the kind of valuable feedback and data that enable continuous process improvements,” he said.

Janet Grondin explained in an interactive session how Stellar Solutions keeps employee teams working cohesively from locations across the country and world.  “Our values define us in who we hire, the clients we partner with, and the culture we develop.  Together we learn from each other and build action plans to achieve our mission success.”