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-12.02.24

Airborne-NextGen-12.03.24

Airborne-Unlimited-12.04.24

Airborne Flt Training-12.05.24

Airborne-Unlimited-12.06.24

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

NTSB Final Report: Michael G Darby DARD 1

After Landing He Realized He Had Misidentified The Runway And Landed In Softer Snow Analysis: The pilot reported that during approach to the snow-covered runway in flat light condi>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (12.04.24): Arresting System

Arresting System A safety device consisting of two major components, namely, engaging or catching devices and energy absorption devices for the purpose of arresting both tailhook a>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (12.04.24)

“We learned a great deal in the process, such as greater coding skills, soldering techniques, and video editing skills...” Source: Cuyahoga County Team Captain John Ana>[...]

Airborne Affordable Flyers 11.26.24: BushCat's Back!, LODA Update, DRL Miami

Also: Van Celebrates 85th, Trio Pro Pilot Autopilot, Joby on MSFS24, Sonex Transition The BushCat was manufactured in South Africa by SkyReach beginning in 2014, selling its first >[...]

Airborne 12.02.24: Electra FG EIS, Prez Osprey Problems, Starship Wants 25

Also: EAA Ray Foundation, MagniX Records, Ruko U11MINI Drone, RCAF PC-21s Elektra Solar recently put the first aircraft from its Elektra Trainer Fixed-Gear (FG) family into service>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

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