Thu, Dec 22, 2011
Succeeds Ed Weiler, Who Retired In September
NASA has named physicist and former astronaut John Grunsfeld as
the new associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate
at the agency's headquarters in Washington. Grunsfeld will take the
reins of the office effective Jan. 4, 2012. He succeeds Ed Weiler,
who retired from NASA on Sept. 30.
Grunsfeld (pictured) currently serves as the deputy
director of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore,
which manages the science program for the Hubble Space Telescope
and is a partner in the forthcoming James Webb Space
Telescope. His background includes research in high energy
astrophysics, cosmic ray physics and in the emerging field of
exoplanet studies with specific interest in future astronomical
instrumentation.
A veteran of five space shuttle flights, Grunsfeld visited
Hubble three times as an astronaut, performing a total of eight
spacewalks to service and upgrade the observatory. "John's
understanding of the critical connection between scientific
research and the human exploration of space makes him an ideal
choice for this job," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "I
look forward to working with him to take the agency's science
programs to even greater heights and make more of the
ground-breaking discoveries about Earth and our universe for which
NASA is known."
Grunsfeld graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology in 1980 with a bachelor's degree in physics.
Returning to his native Chicago, he earned a master's degree and,
in 1988, a doctorate in physics from the University of Chicago
using a cosmic ray experiment on space shuttle Challenger for his
doctoral thesis. From Chicago, he joined the faculty of the
California Institute of Technology as a Senior Research Fellow in
Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy.
Grunsfeld joined NASA's Astronaut Office in 1992. He logged over
58 days in space on five shuttle missions, including 58 hours and
30 minutes of spacewalk time. He first flew to space aboard
Endeavour in March 1995 on a mission that studied the far
ultraviolet spectra of faint astronomical objects using the Astro
Observatory. His second flight was aboard Atlantis in January 1997.
The mission docked with the Russian space station Mir and exchanged
U.S. astronauts living aboard the outpost. Grunsfeld then
flew three shuttle missions - aboard Discovery in December 1999,
Columbia in March 2002 and Atlantis in May 2009 – that
successfully serviced and upgraded the Hubble Space
Telescope. He served as the payload commander on the 2002
mission and lead spacewalker in charge of Hubble activities on the
2009 flight. In 2004 and 2005, he served as the commander and
science officer on the backup crew for Expedition 13 to the
International Space Station.
"It is an honor and a privilege to be offered the opportunity to
lead NASA's Science Mission Directorate during this exciting time
in the agency's history," Grunsfeld said. "Science at NASA is all
about exploring the endless frontier of the Earth and
space. I look forward to working with the NASA team to
help enable new discoveries in our quest to understand our home
planet and unravel the mysteries of the universe."
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