Jun 13 2003
From The Space Library
NASA named Roy D. Bridges Jr., Director of NASA's KSC, to head NASA's LaRC in Hampton, Virginia, effective 10 August. Bridges, a retired U.S. Air Force Major General and former astronaut who had piloted STS-51F in 1985, was a “natural selection to lead the Agency's premiere center for aviation and space research,” according to William F. Readdy, Associate Administrator for Space Flight at NASA Headquarters. Bridges had been Director of KSC since 1997 and, before that, had held various key aerospace positions, serving as Commander of the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California, as well as Commander of the Eastern Space and Missile Center at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida and Commander of the 412th Test Wing at Edwards Air Force Base. With his appointment as Director of LaRC, Bridges replaced Delma C. Freeman Jr., who had planned to retire but had been serving as Acting Director until NASA found a permanent director. Freeman planned to retire. In transferring Bridges to LaRC from KSC, NASA hoped to strengthen its engineering department in preparation for resuming Shuttle flights. (NASA, “Gen. Roy D. Bridges Named Langley Center Director,” news release 03-197, 13 June 2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/jun/HQ_03197_bridges.html (accessed 12 December 2008); Marcia Dunn for the Associated Press, “Kennedy Space Center Director Transferred,” 13 June 2003.
NASA appointed two veteran astronauts~Apollo Commander Thomas P. Stafford and Space Shuttle Commander Richard O. Covey~to lead the task force assisting NASA's return-to-flight team. The Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Group (SCTG), composed of distinguished experts and industry professionals representing a wide range of disciplines, would help the NASA team implement the CAIB's findings following the release of its final report. Stafford, a retired Lieutenant General in the U.S. Air Force who had flown four missions during the Gemini and Apollo programs, had also chaired the NASA Advisory Council Task Force on ISS Operational Readiness. Covey, a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel, had piloted the 1988 Shuttle Mission STS-26, the first flight following the Challenger accident. He had also piloted Mission STS-51I in 1985 and had commanded STS-38 in 1990 and STS-61 in 1993. (NASA, “Former Apollo and Shuttle Commanders Lead Columbia Accident Report Task Force,” news release 03-196, 13 June 2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/jun/HQ_03196_covey_lead.html (accessed 12 December 2008).
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