|
|
|
|
|
NASA names new Stennis center director NASA NEWS RELEASE Posted: September 14, 2005 NASA named William (Bill) W. Parsons as the new director of NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center in south Mississippi, effective immediately. Parsons succeeds retired Rear Admiral Thomas Donaldson, USN. Parsons returns to the position he held prior to becoming Space Shuttle program manager in May 2003. As Space Shuttle program manager, Parsons led the Return to Flight activities for the agency and played a major role in the recent success of the Discovery STS-114 mission. His first stint as Stennis center director came in August 2002. He was first assigned to Stennis in 1997 as the chief of operations of the Propulsion Test Directorate. Parsons relocated to NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, to become the director of the Center Operations Directorate. He later served as the deputy director of Johnson. He returned to Stennis in 2001 and served as director of the Center Operations and Support Directorate. Parsons has received numerous honors, including NASA's Exceptional Service Medal; the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement; the Silver Snoopy, awarded by astronauts for outstanding performance in flight safety and mission success; the Center Directors' Commendation; and the Commandants Certificate of Commendation from the U.S. Marine Corps. He holds a bachelor's degree in engineering from the University of Mississippi and a master's degree in engineering management from the University of Central Florida. Donaldson is on a special assignment to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help with recovery efforts in Mississippi. Deputy Shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale is acting Space Shuttle program manager. |
|
|
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||
Astronomers announce the detection by NASA's Swift satellite of the most distant explosion yet, a gamma-ray burst from the edge of the visible universe, during this media teleconference held Monday, September 12. (54min 01sec file)
The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has reached the summit of Husband Hill, returning a spectacular panorama from the hilltop in the vast Gusev Crater. Scientists held a news conference Sept. 1 to reveal the panorama and give an update on the twin rover mission.
To gain a new perspective on space shuttle Discovery's ascent and gather additional imagery for the return to flight mission, NASA dispatched a pair of high-flying WB-57 aircraft equipped with sharp video cameras in their noses.
When space shuttle Discovery launched its two solid-fuel booster rockets were equipped with video cameras, providing dazzling footage of separation from the external fuel tank, their free fall and splashdown in the sea.
Mounted atop a modified Boeing 747, space shuttle Discovery was ferried across the country from Edwards Air Force Base, California, to Kennedy Space Center, Florida.