Page 88 - Modern Robotics Building Versatile Macines

68 Modern Robotics

still suited her interest in aviation engineering, she changed majors
and graduated in 1963 with a degree in technical writing.
Shirley went to work at McDonnell Aircraft in St. Louis, Missouri,
as a specifications writer. There she had her first experience of dis-
dain and even sexual harassment in a virtually all-male workplace.
She decided to go back to the University of Oklahoma, where she
received her bachelor’s degree in aerospace and mechanical engineer-
ing in 1965. When she returned to McDonnell Aircraft that year, it
was as an aerodynamicist.
In 1966, Shirley visited the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in
Pasadena, California. This was the research organization that was
powering America into the space age with innovative propulsion sys-
tems and vehicles. In the late 1960s, Shirley had the opportunity to
help design a space probe that would later become Mars Pathfinder,
while finishing studies leading to a master’s degree in aerospace
engineering in 1968 from the University of Southern California.
In the early 1970s, Shirley worked as a specialist and then became
a manager on the Mariner 10 project, which would successfully send
back the first detailed high-quality pictures of Venus and Mercury. The
challenges and rewards of managing complex projects began to appeal
to her almost as much as the desire to build innovative machines. Shirley
was also designated as the group’s media representative, responsible for
explaining the exciting but complicated world of space science in terms
that ordinary people could understand. The result of her excellence in
all of these roles was a NASA Group Achievement Award.
In 1979, Shirley reached project leader status, being placed in
charge of the effort to design a mission to Saturn. (This would even-
tually become the Cassini-Huygens mission, which explored Saturn
and its moon Titan starting in 1997). Shirley also worked on proj-
ects to design better computer systems for military satellites and to
develop a viable space station.

Designing Space Robots

During this time, Shirley also became interested in robotics and its
application to the design of space probes. Space applications impose
special requirements on robots. The environment of space is incred-