Two former Apollo astronauts have joined 22 other experts in the first meeting of the newly restructured NASA Advisory Council, a group of eminent U.S. citizens organized to provide guidance and policy advice to the administrator of America's space agency.
The NASA Advisory Council will be chaired by former Senator and Apollo astronaut Harrison H. "Jack" Schmitt. Former Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong joins Schmitt as one of the distinguished experts on the council, along with Gen. Lester L. Lyles, USAF (Ret.), former commander, Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and Dr. Charles F. Kennel, director, Scripps Institute of Oceanography.
The NASA Advisory Council was restructured to meet agency needs as it implements the Vision for Space Exploration, outlined by President Bush two years ago to take astronauts back to the moon and on to Mars, and other destinations in the solar system. A number of previously-chartered standing committees are incorporated into the restructured council.
The NASA Advisory Council will include subject matter experts in five key areas: exploration, science, aeronautics, human capital, and audit and finance, and also include three ex-officio members from the National Research Council's Space Studies Board, Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, and the Institute of Medicine.
"I am looking forward to working closely with NASA Administrator Michael Griffin and NASA senior management as they address the exciting challenges facing the agency as it prepares for its next 50 years," Schmitt said.
"These challenges include returning the space shuttle safely to flight, completing the International Space Station, developing a new crew exploration vehicle and returning humans to the surface of the moon and then on to Mars."
Senator Schmitt will be joined on the NASA Advisory Council by the following distinguished experts:
–Lt. Gen. James A. Abrahamson, USAF (Ret.)
Aerospace Consultant
–Dr. Juan J. Alonso, Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics
Stanford University
–Neil Armstrong
Apollo 11 Astronaut
–Dr. Raymond S. Colladay, Chair
Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, National Research Council
–Dr. Lennard A. Fisk, Chair
Space Studies Board, National Research Council
–Robert M. Hanisee
Trust Company of the West
–Capt. Frederick H. Hauck, USN (Ret.)
Former Space Shuttle Astronaut
–Dr. Wesley T. Huntress, Jr., Director
Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington
–Hon. Kay Coles James, Consultant
Former Director, Office of Personnel Management
–Dr. Stephen I. Katz, Director
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
National Institutes of Health
–Dr. Charles F. Kennel, Director
Scripps Institute of Oceanography
–Dr. Gerald L. Kulcinski, Associate Dean, Research
University of Wisconsin-Madison
–Dr. Eugene H. Levy, Professor of Physics & Astronomy
Rice University
–Dr. John M. Logsdon, Director
Space Policy Institute, George Washington University
–Dr. David Longnecker, Chair
Committee on Aerospace Medicine and the Medicine of Extreme
Environments, Institute of Medicine
–Gen. Lester L. Lyles, USAF (Ret.)
The Lyles Group
Former Commander, Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio
–Wendell Maddox, President and Chief Executive Officer
ION Corporation
–Hon. Edward R. McPherson
Under Secretary of Education
–Dr. R. James Milgram, Professor
Department of Mathematics, Stanford University
–Hon. Michael Montelongo, Senior Vice President, Strategic Marketing
Sodexho Inc.
–Dr. Mark S. Robinson, Research Associate Professor
Department of Geological Sciences, Northwestern University
–Howard J. Stanislawski, Attorney
Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood, LLP
–Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson
Frederick P. Rose Director, Hayden Planetarium
American Museum of Natural History
The NASA Advisory Council met Monday at the Rayburn House Office Building, Washington; and will meet again on Wednesday at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, in room 562 from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The meetings are open to the public.
