NASA names new Kennedy Space Center chief

NASA has announced that Deputy Director of the Kennedy Space Center, William Parsons will become the center's director effective in January.

Parsons succeeds James Kennedy, who is retiring.

As space shuttle program manager, Parsons led the return-to-flight activities for the agency, playing a major role in the success of the Discovery STS-114 mission.

His first stint as NASA's Stennis Space Center director came in August 2002 after initially being assigned to Stennis in 1997 as the chief of operations of the Propulsion Test Directorate. Parsons relocated to NASA's Johnson Space Center in 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 to become director of the Operations and Support Directorate.

In 1990, Parsons moved to Kennedy as a launch site support manager and also worked as an executive management intern and later as the shuttle flow director. In 1996, he became manager of Kennedy's Space Station Hardware Integration Office.

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.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International

Related stories:

MIT professor will lead science team for NASA satellite to map Earth's water cycle
MIT Professor Dara Entekhabi will lead the science team designing a NASA satellite mission to make global soil moisture and freeze/thaw measurements, data essential to the accuracy of weather forecasts and predictions of global carbon cycle and climate. NASA announced recently that the Soil Moisture Active-Passive mission (SMAP) is scheduled to launch December 2012.
NASA announces senior management changes
NASA officials in Washington have announced several senior management changes involving three agency field centers.
NASA Selects New Space Shuttle Program Manager
NASA announced Tuesday the selection of N. Wayne Hale Jr. as manager of the Space Shuttle Program. He has been deputy manager since July 2003 and succeeds Bill Parsons, who returned to NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi as its director.
NASA grounds shuttle fleet
NASA Wednesday ordered the nation's shuttle fleet grounded until scientists determine how much damage occurred during Discovery's Tuesday liftoff.
All in Place for Space Shuttle Return To Flight
NASA marked a major milestone for the Space Shuttle's Return to Flight, as the redesigned External Tank rolled out today from the barge that carried it to the agency's Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
The tank was taken to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for a final checkout. It will eventually be attached to the twin Solid Rocket Boosters and the Space Shuttle Discovery for its Return to Flight mission, STS-114.
NASA spacecraft ready to explore outer solar system
The first NASA spacecraft to image and map the dynamic interactions taking place where the hot solar wind slams into the cold expanse of space is ready for launch Oct. 19. The two-year mission will begin from the Kwajalein Atoll, a part of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
India to launch unmanned lunar mission this month
India will launch its first lunar mission on October 22 from southern India, a top official from the country's space agency said Monday.
NASA Selects Science Teams for Astrobiology Institute
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA has awarded five-year grants, averaging $7 million each, to 10 research teams from across the country, including two from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, to study the origins, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe.

News discussion:

Space & Earth science news