Innovation, NASA, and the Future of Software — feat. Michael Ritchson (NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center)
MICHAEL RITCHSON — Michael Ritchson — NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center
A NASA developer's high-energy take on failing forward, mentoring the next generation, and data's future.
Show notes
A NASA developer's high-energy take on failing forward, mentoring the next generation, and data's future. Michael Ritchson shares his journey from aircraft mechanic to NASA software developer and reflects on the culture of innovation, creativity, and failing fast. He and Jonathan Wright discuss instilling curiosity in the next generation, NASA's image and the human cost of space exploration, and how modern architecture leans on containers (Docker, Kafka), redundancy, and resilience. They explore digital twins (inspired by Apollo 13), migrating legacy data into modern systems, applying NLP/AI and VR to historical archives, and the "six degrees of separation" idea that every contributor's small idea can ripple across society. The episode is a warm, motivational conversation about community, mentorship, and the art of the possible. **In this episode:** - Career Development in QA - Mentoring