NASA’s Associate Administrator for Space Flight,
William F. Readdy, today named James W. Kennedy as Deputy
Center Director at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Fla.,
and David A. King, as Deputy Center Director at NASA’s
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., effective
November 3.

Kennedy currently serves as Deputy Center Director at
Marshall, while King is Director of Shuttle Processing at
KSC. The announcement represents an exchange of senior
managers between two of NASA’s human space flight centers.

The appointments reflect Administrator Sean O’Keefe’s ‘One
NASA’ approach to program management, which focuses on
enhanced coordination, collaboration and communication among
all agency facilities to reach common goals. “These key
personnel moves epitomize the concept of One NASA,” said
Administrator O’Keefe. “They also further the good
partnership between Marshall and the Kennedy Space Center
and promote executive mobility within the agency.”

At Marshall, Kennedy shares management responsibilities with
Center Director Art Stephenson for managing one of NASA’s
largest field centers that employs more than 2,700 civil
servants and more than 23,000 contractor personnel. He began
his NASA experience as a cooperative education student.
Kennedy transferred from KSC to Marshall in 1969 and has
held a variety of positions that included Deputy Director
and Acting Director for the former Science and Engineering
Directorate as well as being named Marshall’s Director of
Engineering.

Kennedy served in several key positions in NASA’s Space
Shuttle program, ultimately serving as project manager of
the Solid Rocket Booster Project Office. Additionally, he
was assigned to the Advanced Space Transportation Project,
where he served as project manager of the DC-XA and the X-
34.

As the Director of Shuttle Processing at KSC, King currently
manages and coordinates all Space Shuttle processing and
launch operations, overseeing the work of approximately
5,400 civil service and contractor employees. He coordinates
all pre-launch preparations, as well as Shuttle landing
operations. As the senior member of the Shuttle launch team
during the 3-day countdown, King ultimately makes the final
determination to launch.

King began his NASA career in 1983 as a main propulsion
system engineer. He later served as flow director for the
Space Shuttle Discovery and then as the acting Deputy
Director of the Installation Operations Directorate. He was
appointed Deputy Director of Shuttle Processing in 1996,
Launch Director in 1997, and Director of Shuttle Processing
in 1999.

In addition to those duties, King reassumed the
responsibilities as Shuttle Launch Director from July 1999
until the position was filled in August 2000. He served as
Launch Director for six Shuttle launches, including missions
to the Mir space station, the International Space Station,
and the repair of the Hubble Space Telescope.

“I’m pleased that Jim Kennedy and Dave King will serve as
key players on our space flight team in the Human
Exploration and Development of Space Enterprise while
leading the way in demonstrating ‘One NASA’ for our field
activities,” said Readdy.