HAMPTON, Va. — “The vision is, when we go back to the moon, we go to stay,” says Ken Reightler, Lockheed Martin vice president for NASA Program Integration.

Reightler, a former astronaut who has logged over 325 hours in space, will speak at the first of four lectures celebrating 50 years of NASA history. He will reflect on past milestones of the space program, starting with its early beginnings at NASA Langley, through the successful moon landings and on to current day operations of the space shuttle and the International Space Station. In his discussion, Reightler also will include the future of manned spaceflight — to live and work on the moon.

The colloquium lecture, called “NASA Human Spaceflight: Past, Present and Future,” will take place on Tuesday Oct. 7, at 2 p.m. in the Reid Conference Center at NASA Langley.

Media who wish to interview Reightler at a news briefing at 1:15 p.m. Tuesday should contact Emily Outen at 864-7022 or at emily.s.outen@nasa.gov by noon for credentials and entry to NASA Langley.

Reightler will present the same lecture for the general public on Tuesday evening at 7:30 p.m. at the Virginia Air & Space Center on Settlers Landing Road in Hampton. The evening talk is FREE and no reservations are required.

As vice president of the NASA Program Integration for the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Reightler is responsible for ensuring that all NASA activities Lockheed Martin is supporting are well integrated from an organizational and technological perspective. Prior to joining Lockheed Martin, Reightler spent eight years as an astronaut with NASA and piloted two shuttle missions. He also held various technical and management positions, including Chief of the Astronaut Office’s Space Station and Mission Support Branches.

Before joining NASA, Reightler served as Chief Flight Instructor at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland. His military career, spanning 22 years, includes experience in naval aviation, both land- and carrier-based, where he logged over 5,000 hours of flying time in over 60 different types of aircraft. Reightler retired from active duty as a captain in the U.S. Navy.

For more information on NASA Langley’s Colloquium and Sigma Series lectures, visit:

http://shemesh.larc.nasa.gov/Lectures/colloq/colloqsigma.htm