SpaceX launched a two-astronaut crew yesterday, on a mission to dock with the International Space Station. It was the first human spaceflight launch from the US in almost ten years. It was exciting and inspiring.
This is the first of several posts inspired by SpaceX that will tie back to data strategies in healthcare, and my lessons learned inside a startup company that raised $500M in venture capital funding. SpaceX raised $500M in new funding, in March 2020, bringing their total to about $4B.
Half of my United States Air Force and TRW (now Northrop Grumman) career was spent in Space Operations. My teams were involved in eight different satellite systems, in one form or another. The missions of these satellite systems included photographic, electronic, and signals intelligence; space-based sensors; and communications relay. The DSCS III satellite system, posted below, was one of those eight. Those same teams were also involved in Space Shuttle operations-- tracking the launch and mission, and supporting flight operations as one of several alternate emergency landing sites.
All of this early-career Space Operations experience had a profound impact on how I've approached data strategies in healthcare. Conceptually, monitoring the health of patients and monitoring the health of satellites has many overlaps.
