Two CCST Council Members on Panel to Assess Future of Human Space Flight Program

June 2, 2009

CCST Chair Charles Kennel, former director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, and CCST Council Member Wanda Austin, president and CEO of the Aerospace Corporation, have been named members of NASA's Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee.

"I am honored to be part of this committee to help NASA through the critical transition of the human space flight program that it is in the process of accomplishing," said Kennel, who is currently senior strategist at UCSD's Sustainability Solutions Institute. Additionally he recently served as a member of the NASA Advisory Council and from 1994 to 1996, was associate administrator for NASA, directing Mission to Planet Earth, the world's largest earth science program. He has been Chair of the CCST Council since 2008.

Wanda Austin, who has been a Council member since 2008, directs the Aerospace Corporation, an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to the objective application of science and technology toward the solution of critical issues affecting the nation's space program. She was previously senior vice president of the company's National Systems Group, which supports the national security space and intelligence community in the acquisition, launch and orbital operation of advanced technology space systems and their ground data stations. She has also served as general manager of the Military Satellite Communications (MILSATCOM) Division.

During the course of the review, the panel will examine ongoing and planned NASA development activities and potential alternatives in order to present options for advancing a safe, innovative, affordable and sustainable human space flight program following the space shuttle's retirement next year. The committee will present its results by August in time to support an administration decision on the way forward.

The recently concluded flight of space shuttle Atlantis, the crew of which featured Scripps alumna Megan McArthur, is one of the last planned for the space shuttle program. Future U.S. programs to send humans to the moon or Mars are under consideration.

Besides Kennel and Austin, panel members include:

• Norman Augustine (Chair), retired chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp., and former member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush
  
  
• Bohdan Bejmuk, chair, Constellation program Standing Review Board, and former manager of the Boeing Space Shuttle and Sea Launch programs
  
  
• Dr. Leroy Chiao, former astronaut, former International Space Station commander and engineering consultant
  
  
• Dr. Christopher Chyba, professor of Astrophysical Sciences and International Affairs, Princeton University, and member, President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology
  
  
• Dr. Edward Crawley, Ford Professor of Engineering at MIT and co-chair, NASA Exploration Technology Development Program Review Committee
  
  
• Jeffrey Greason, co-founder and CEO, XCOR Aerospace, and vice-chair, Personal Spaceflight Federation
  
  
• Retired Air Force Gen. Lester Lyles, chair, National Academies Committee on the Rationale and Goals of the U.S. Civil Space Program, former Air Force vice chief of staff and former commander of the Air Force Materiel Command
  
  
• Dr. Sally Ride, former astronaut, first American woman in space, CEO of Sally Ride Science and professor emerita at UCSD.

The committee will hold several public meetings at different U.S. locations. The first public meeting will take place June 17 from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. EDT at the Carnegie Institution, located at 1530 P Street NW in Washington D.C. Topics on the agenda include previous studies about U.S. human space flight, national space policy, international cooperation, evolved expendable launch vehicles, commercial human space flight capabilities and exploration technology planning.