Roy W. Malone Jr. selected to lead Shuttle-Ares Transition Office

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Roy W. Malone Jr. has been selected to lead the Shuttle-Ares Transition Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Named to the position in August, Malone is responsible for transition and retirement activities at the Marshall Center associated with the end of the Space Shuttle Program and cancellation of the Constellation Program. The shuttle program ended after 135 space shuttle launches when space shuttle Atlantis completed the final mission in July. The Constellation Program included the Ares I launch vehicle and Ares V cargo launch vehicle, which were being designed and developed by engineers at Marshall

Malone’s primary duty is managing the identification and disposition of Marshall-related facilities, hardware, records and artifacts associated with the 30-year Space Shuttle Program, and records and associated property of the Ares Projects Office.

“I look forward to completing this important job for the center — on schedule in two years and within the budget allocation,” Malone said.

Some shuttle hardware will be transferred over to the Space Launch System, the heavy-lift rocket program that will replace Constellation. Engineers at the Marshall Center are leading design and development of the system for NASA. The rocket will carry the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, cargo, equipment and science experiments to space that will expand human presence beyond low-Earth orbit and enable new missions of exploration across the solar system.

“We’re working closely with the Space Launch System organization to ensure we’re fully aware of its plans and requirements and determine the shuttle hardware that program needs,” said Malone. For example, space shuttle RS-25 engines will be used on the Space Launch System rocket core stage and J-2X engines, developed for Constellation’s Ares I, will be on the upper stage.

Selected shuttle hardware and property is being identified for donation to qualified U.S. institutions and public museums and libraries that are in the best position to preserve these items as artifacts and tell the shuttle story. Some artifacts will be used in NASA education programs and at visitor centers to stand as proof of the program’s three decades of discoveries and technology accomplishments.

Until named to his current position, Malone served since 2006 as director of Marshall’s Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate, responsible for planning and directing safety, reliability and quality engineering and assurance operations for the center. He was deputy director of that organization from 2002 to 2006.

In 2005, he was appointed to the Senior Executive Service, the personnel system covering top managerial positions in approximately 75 federal agencies.

Malone began his NASA career at Marshall in 1994 and has served in numerous management positions. He helped create and implement the NASA Engineering and Safety Center, chartered in 2004 as an independent technical resource for NASA managers and employees.

Before joining NASA, he was a senior quality engineer with PRC Inc. of Huntsville, from 1991 to 1994, providing quality assurance engineering services for Marshall’s Safety and Mission Assurance Program.

Malone was on active duty with the U.S. Navy from 1980 to 1991, serving on three U.S. Navy destroyers. Other assignments included two years at the Pentagon in Washington, where he served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff and in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. During 10 years in the Naval Reserve, he completed assignments with the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion in Huntsville; the Naval Tactical Training Group Atlantic in Virginia Beach, Va.; and the U.S. Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Va. He retired from the reserve as a commander in September 2000.

Malone earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta in 1980. In 2001, he completed the Program for Management Development course at Harvard Business School in Cambridge, Mass. He has authored numerous technical papers and magazine articles on leadership.

During his NASA career, Malone has received numerous awards, including the Presidential Rank Meritorious Executive in the Senior Executive Service — the second highest honor for career federal employees — in 2010; and the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal in 2008 for outstanding strategic management during the reorganization of Marshall’s Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate while maintaining the rigor for shuttle flight safety;

Malone and his wife, the former June Spenner of Hoyleton, Ill., have a son and daughter and reside in Huntsville.