Denny Kross has been named director of the Space Transportation
Directorate at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Christopher Singer has been appointed deputy director for the directorate.
Kross succeeds Dr. John R. “Row” Rogacki, who is going to NASA
Headquarters in Washington, D.C., to serve as assistant to the administrator
of NASA’s Office of Aerospace Technology. Singer replaces Dennis E. Smith,
who was appointed in May to manage the new Second Generation Reusable Launch
Vehicle Project Office at the Marshall Center.
Under Kross’s leadership, the Space Transportation Directorate at
Marshall will continue to provide world-class propulsion and engineering
expertise to NASA’s Space Launch Initiative — the technology initiative
intended to lead to the creation of a second generation reusable launch
vehicle — as well as the Space Shuttle program. The Space Transportation
Directorate also leads NASA’s development of advanced space transportation
systems, in-space propulsion, a Mars ascent vehicle and advanced propulsion
research.
“In alliance with our partners and our customers, we will continue
to provide technical, engineering and scientific support in the areas of
research and technology development that are essential to revolutionizing
space transportation,” Kross says.
Prior to his appointment to the Space Transportation Directorate,
Kross served in Marshall’s Engineering Directorate as manager of the
engineering systems department. During his tenure there, he was responsible
for leading systems-related engineering services and support functions for a
variety of NASA programs and projects.
A native of Detroit, Mich., Kross is a 1963 graduate of the
University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he earned an undergraduate degree
in aerospace engineering. In 1968, he received a master’s degree in
engineering mechanics from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Kross came to NASA in 1967 from the Lockheed Missile and Space Co.
in Palo Alto, Calif. His first position at NASA was as a structural
dynamics researcher in the structures division of the former Propulsion and
Vehicle Engineering Laboratory. He subsequently held managerial positions
in the former Astronautics Laboratory and the Systems Dynamics Laboratory.
During his NASA tenure, Kross also has served in a number of senior
technical and managerial positions at NASA Headquarters and at Johnson Space
Center in Houston. From 1987-1988, he led the Space Station Performance
Evaluation division at NASA Headquarters.
He managed the International Space Station Vehicle Office at the
Johnson Center from 1995-1999 before returning to Huntsville to resume
leadership duties within the Engineering Directorate at Marshall.
Kross and his wife Linda reside in Huntsville.
Singer, a native of Nashville, Tenn., previously served NASA’s
Marshall Center as chief engineer for the Space Transportation Directorate.
A 1983 graduate of Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tenn., Singer
earned an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering.
He joined Marshall in 1983 as a rocket engine specialist in the
Structures and Propulsion Laboratory, and eight years later led the Liquid
Propulsion team responsible for designing, testing and flight of large,
liquid-propelled rocket engines such as the Space Shuttle Main Engine.
In 1992, Singer began a year-long term at NASA Headquarters in
Washington, D.C., where he was detailed to the Space Shuttle Support Office
as senior manager for the Space Shuttle Main Engine and External Tank.
In 1994, Singer returned to the Marshall Center as technical
assistant to the Space Shuttle Main Engine Project Manager. In that
capacity, he supervised development and implementation of safety
improvements and upgrades to the Shuttle propulsion components. Four years
later, he was appointed Space Shuttle Main Engine Chief for Requirements and
Integration, before taking the chief engineer position within the Space
Transportation Directorate in early 2000.
Singer, his wife Jody and their three children live in Decatur.
