500 jobs tied to 3 programs; director won't rule out changes
1/16/2004
As part of a reorganization spurred by President Bush's new goal of putting men back on the moon and eventually on Mars, NASA officials have created the Office of Exploration Systems to oversee several key technology and spacecraft programs under way in Huntsville.
The office, headed by retired Rear Adm. Craig E. Steidle, will oversee work done in Huntsville on the Orbital Space Plane, the Space Launch Initiative and Next Generation Launch Technology programs. These programs have been geared at developing a crew ferry for the space station, reducing launch costs and developing a replacement for the space shuttle.
About 500 local NASA jobs are tied to the three programs, about half at Marshall Space Flight Center and half in the Orbital Space Plane program office managed and housed at Boeing Co.'s offices in Cummings Research Park.
Steidle, speaking from Washington in a teleconference with reporters Thursday to explain the NASA reorganization, couldn't say yet if the programs will continue to be managed in Huntsville but said he "was very impressed with the work done" here.
"I don't know that there will or will not be changes. I visited Huntsville Monday and spent several hours with the teams there. I was significantly impressed with work done with the Orbital Space Plane and the Next Generation Launch Technology," Steidle said. "I wouldn't want to lose that expertise."
Under the reorganization, Marshall will still report to Associate Administrator Bill Ready, who is in charge of NASA's manned spaceflight efforts. He also oversees Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Johnson Space Center in Texas and Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.
A different vehicle
President Bush and NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said Wednesday the Orbital Space Plane, which Huntsville engineers have been working on for 14 months, would be changed into a more capable "planetary" vehicle - now called the Crew Exploration Vehicle.
Steidle said it's too early to say what the new vehicle would look like or how much of the Orbital Space Plane work could be transferred into the new concept.
The space plane was planned as only a low-Earth-orbit crew transfer vehicle. With the new lunar and Mars exploration program, NASA managers want a more capable, flexible spacecraft that can go from the International Space Station to the moon and, possibly, Mars.
"There has been a tremendous amount of work done on" the Orbital Space Plane concept, said Steidle, who was named associate administrator in charge of the Office of Exploration Systems on Thursday morning. "That office has done a tremendous job. ... We have to take that as a baseline for the new (Crew Exploration Vehicle) vision."
In addition to Steidle, O'Keefe appointed Dr. J. Victor Lebacqz associate administrator in charge of the newly created Office of Aeronautics.
In previous years, NASA has been criticized for allowing basic aircraft research to slip. In 1958, the space agency was created by taking the National Advisory Council on Aeronautics and military research labs - including Army labs at Redstone Arsenal - to create a national space agency.