NASA Career Encompassed 37 Years

The former director of the Stennis Space Center has died from complications related to an insect sting. Roy Estess passed away Friday at the age of 71 at his Tylertown, MS residence.

Estess (NASA photo, right) served as director of the Stennis Space Center from 1989 until 2002. For the last year of that tenure, he also served as acting director of the Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston.

The Mississippi native joined the Stennis center as a test engineer in 1966 and worked his way up through the ranks. According to his bio on the NASA website, during his early years in key positions at the facility and while serving on temporary duty at NASA Headquarters, Estess came to be known as a "straightshooter." Many describe him as a no-nonsense manager who has the ability of cutting through the chaff to get to the heart of a problem or situation.

His first assignment at SSC, known then as the Mississippi Test Facility, was as a test engineer working on the Saturn V S-II second stage test program. When the facility's manager, Jackson Balch, began diversifying the installation in the early 1970s, he assigned Estess to serve as one of his marketers. Balch tasked Estess with searching for new and compatible federal and state agencies to share in the vast facilities and diverse programs starting up at the center.

He was eventually promoted to deputy director in 1980, and then director in 1989.

Johnson Space Center Acting Director Roy Estess (right) greets the Expedition 3 and STS-108 crews during return ceremonies.

The Biloxi-Gulfport Sun Herald reports that Estess was working to establish the Infinity Science Center in Hancock County at the time of his death. A contract had been signed with the builder in April,  but construction has not yet begun.

The paper reports that he died because of an allergic reaction to an insect sting.

FMI: www.nasa.gov