Also, Falcon 1 Poised For Another Shot At Liftoff

SpaceX announced last week that Jim Maser will be joining the company as President and Chief Operating Officer. Prior to joining SpaceX, Maser (right)served first as Chief Systems Engineer and then as President and General Manager of Sea Launch -- arguably the world's most successful commercial launch company.

"Jim brings a wealth of capability and experience to the SpaceX team. His joining is also a tremendous endorsement of SpaceX, our accomplishments to date and our vision for the future," said Elon Musk, Chairman and CEO of SpaceX.

SpaceX representatives tell ANN Maser started his career with the Boeing Delta and Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle programs in structural design. He went on to serve as Chief Engineer of Delta III and was one of the key architects of the evolution of Delta II to Delta IV. Before joining McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) in the 1980s, he was a research fellow at the NASA/Lewis Research Center.

"I am very excited about joining Elon's entrepreneurial team. I'm looking forward to contributing to SpaceX's successes and working with the team to fundamentally change the nature of the space exploration business," said Maser.

SpaceX is developing a family of launch vehicles intended to reduce the cost and increase the reliability of both manned and unmanned space transportation ultimately by a factor of ten.

After a series of cancellations and technical glitches, the company's Falcon 1 launch vehicle has once again been placed on its launch pad at Kwajalein Atoll, with the intent of launching between March 20 and 25. The payload will be FalconSat-2, part of the Air Force Academy’s satellite program that will measure space plasma phenomena, which can adversely affect space-based communications, including GPS and other civil and military communications.

FMI: www.spacex.com