NASA Names New Shuttle Chief | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-04.29.24

Airborne-NextGen-04.30.24

Airborne-Unlimited-05.01.24 Airborne-AffordableFlyers--05.02.24

Airborne-Unlimited-05.03.24

Sat, May 10, 2003

NASA Names New Shuttle Chief

Parsons Replaces Dittemore

The man NASA hopes will lead the space program out of the dark days following the Columbia tragedy now has a name.

Bill Parsons.

The 46-year old manager of the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi will replace Shuttle Program Manager Ron Dittemore, who announced last month that he would soon leave NASA.

NASA's associate administrator for spaceflight, Michael Kostelnik, was quoted by UPI as saying the agency looked "far and wide" for a suitable replacement for Dittemore. "We could not have asked for a better candidate. This is not a job that just anyone can do."

No Transition Date

As the Columbia investigation continues, as NASA struggles to find meaning and a cure for the shuttle's disintegration over Texas, Dittemore's plans for leaving the space agency have been even further delayed. Dittemore will stay on for several months to ensure a smooth transition, Kostelnik said.

As of now, a NASA spokesman told UPI, "The transition is designed to last through the summer if necessary."

Kostelnik described Parsons as "a great leader and solid manager but has not been involved intimately with some of the moving parts of the shuttle and ... this will give him a reasonable time to do a graceful transition."

Parsons is a former Marine who joined the space program in 1990. He worked on payload integration for the shuttle Discovery. In 1996, he took over as manager of Hardware Integration for the Space Station Office at KSC.

He's An Optimist

Speaking of life after the Columbia disaster, which claimed the lives of seven astronauts, Parsons said, "I came to this job thinking that we're going to fly again and that's what my job is, is to find out what we need to fix, to fix it and get back to flight." Regarding suggestions by some in Congress that the shuttle fleet be permanently grounded, Parsons said Friday, "I find it troublesome maybe that there are thoughts like that out there but we have to work our way through that. I think we can fly the shuttle safely and so we look forward to doing that in the future."

FMI: www.spaceflight.nasa.gov

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (05.02.24)

Aero Linx: Model Aeronautical Association of Australia MAAA clubs are about fun flying, camaraderie and community. For over 75 years, the MAAA has been Australia’s largest fl>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (05.02.24): Touchdown Zone Lighting

Touchdown Zone Lighting Two rows of transverse light bars located symmetrically about the runway centerline normally at 100 foot intervals. The basic system extends 3,000 feet alon>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (05.02.24)

“Discovery and innovation are central to our mission at Virgin Galactic. We’re excited to build on our successful record of facilitating scientific experiments in subor>[...]

ANN FAQ: Contributing To Aero-TV

How To Get A Story On Aero-TV News/Feature Programming How do I submit a story idea or lead to Aero-TV? If you would like to submit a story idea or lead, please contact Jim Campbel>[...]

NTSB Final Report: Cirrus Design Corp SR20

Student Pilot Reported That During Rotation, “All Of A Sudden The Back Of The Plane Kicked To The Right..." Analysis: The student pilot reported that during rotation, “>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2024 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC