Michael Vanhooser Named Deputy Manager of Shuttle-Ares Transition Office at NASA’s Marshall Center

Michael Vanhooser has been named deputy manager of the Shuttle-Ares Transition Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Appointed to the position in August, he assists in the management of tasks associated with the end of the Space Shuttle Program and cancellation of the Constellation Program.

Vanhooser helps oversee the identification and disposition of Marshall-related facilities, hardware, records and artifacts associated with the 30-year Space Shuttle Program, which ended when shuttle Atlantis completed the final mission in July. He also helps manage closeout of Ares Projects records and assets, necessitated by the cancellation of the Constellation Program in 2010. That program included the Ares I launch vehicle and Ares V cargo launch vehicle, which were being designed and developed by engineers at Marshall.

“As we close out the Shuttle Program it is very important that we do so in a manner that helps to make the new program successful,” Vanhooser said. “We’re working closely with the new Space Launch System organization to ensure we’re fully aware of its plans and requirements and determine the shuttle hardware that program needs.”

Space Launch System is the heavy-lift rocket program that has replaced the Ares program. Engineers at the Marshall Center are leading design and development of the system for NASA. The rocket will carry the Orion spacecraft, crew, 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.

Vanhooser is also assisting with the identification of selected shuttle hardware and property 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 space 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.

A NASA employee since 1975, Vanhooser has held numerous managerial positions at the Marshall Center. He was deputy manager of the Shuttle Transition Project Office from October 2008 until appointment to his current position and was technical assistant to the Shuttle Propulsion Office from October 2006 to October 2008. Other assignments have included deputy director for business development in the Marshall Center Director’s Office from 2004 to 2006, where he provided strategic focus and strategies for center-wide new business initiatives. From 1999 to 2004, he was technical advisor for spaceflight experiments and payloads in space science, Earth science and optics disciplines in Marshall’s Science Directorate.

While assigned to the Marshall Center’s Flight Projects Office from 1994 to 1999, Vanhooser led an international team of engineers to develop a new welding technology known as the International Space Welding Experiment. During this period, he also served as project manager for the development of an International Space Station environmental monitoring system.

Vanhooser has received numerous awards during his NASA career, including the NASA Exceptional Service Medal in 2011 for significant and sustained performance resulting in substantial improvements to space-related endeavors. He was presented a Silver Snoopy Award by NASA astronauts in 1997, a special honor given to individuals for their professionalism, dedication and outstanding support that greatly enhanced space flight safety and mission; a NASA Director’s Commendation in 1998 for dedication, leadership and commitment for management of the International Space Welding Experiment; and numerous NASA and Marshall group achievement awards, appreciation certificates and special service awards.

The Gallatin, Tenn., native received a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering in 1980 from Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville. He was a 2006 recipient of the university’s Industrial and Systems Engineering Department Distinguished Alumnus Award. He also was a member of the university’s Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Department’s Advisory Board from 1998 to 2010.

He co-authored a case study on space welding technology utilization in 1998.

Vanhooser and his wife, the former Teresa Bowman of Johnson City, Tenn., reside in Madison, Ala.