Former Deputy Manager Of The Exploration Launch Projects
Office
Aero-News learned this
week Dan Dumbacher has been named head of the Engineering
Directorate at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville,
AL. He replaces Michael Rudolphi, who retired in March.
Dumbacher will lead an organization of 1,400 civil service and
1,200 support contractor employees responsible for the design,
test, evaluation and operation of hardware and software associated
with space transportation, spacecraft systems and science
instruments, along with payloads under development at the Marshall
Center. The Directorate also manages NASA's Payload Operations
Center at Marshall -- the command post for scientific research
activities on board the International Space Station.
Since September 2005, Dumbacher has served as deputy manager of
the Exploration Launch Projects Office, where he assisted in the
overall project management of NASA's Ares I crew launch vehicle and
Ares V cargo launch vehicle. NASA's Ares I is the launch vehicle
slated to transport the Orion crew exploration vehicle to space.
Ares V will serve as NASA's primary vessel for delivering resources
and the lunar lander to space.
Together, the Ares I and V will provide the human space
transportation capabilities that fulfill the nation's strategic
goals to return to the moon and one day explore Mars.
Previously, Dumbacher was deputy director for product assurance
in the Safety and Mission Assurance Office at Marshall, focusing on
efforts to return the space shuttle to flight. He also served from
2003 to 2004 as manager of Marshall's X-37 Flight Demonstrator
Project Office. The X-37 was an advanced technology flight
demonstrator used to test and validate technologies in the space
environment.
From 1994 to 2003, Dumbacher served in a variety of Marshall
leadership positions related to advanced space transportation
research and technology development. His positions included manager
of the Delta Clipper-Experimental Advanced Flight Vehicle Project,
deputy manager of the X-33 Program, manager of the Structures,
Mechanics and Thermal Department, manager of the Space Launch
Initiative's 2nd Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle Program, and
deputy manager of the Orbital Space Plane Program.
Dumbacher has also served in positions of increasing
responsibility in Marshall's Propulsion Laboratory, responsible for
space shuttle main engine systems analysis; the Space Shuttle Main
Engine Chief Engineers Office; the Space Shuttle Main Engine
Project Office, where he served as assistant project manager; and
at NASA Headquarters in Washington as the Space Shuttle Main Engine
Program representative.
Dumbacher joined NASA
in 1979 at the Marshall Center. During his career, he has received
numerous awards and honors. In 2003, Dumbacher received Purdue
University's Outstanding Mechanical Engineer award. He received the
NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal in 2002 for noteworthy
accomplishments related to NASA's 2nd Generation Reusable Launch
Vehicle Program, and in 1997 for his work on the Delta
Clipper-Experimental Advanced Flight Vehicle Project, or DC-XA -- a
single-stage-to orbit launch vehicle tested by NASA. He was honored
in 1996 with a Marshall Director's Commendation for accomplishing
two flight tests within 26 hours in the DC-XA project flight test
series.
An Indianapolis native, Dumbacher attended Bishop Chatard High
School and received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering
from Purdue University in 1981. He received his master's degree in
administrative science from the University of Alabama in Huntsville
in 1984. He completed the Senior Managers in Government study
program in 2002 at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA.