Two former Apollo astronauts joined 22 other experts in the first
meeting of the newly restructured NASA Advisory Council, a group of
eminent U.S. citizens organized to provide guidance and policy advice
to the administrator of America’s space agency.
The NASA Advisory Council will be chaired by former Senator and Apollo
astronaut Harrison H. “Jack” Schmitt. Former Apollo 11 astronaut Neil
Armstrong joins Schmitt as one of the distinguished experts on the
council, along with Gen. Lester L. Lyles, USAF (Ret.), former
commander, Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force
Base, Ohio, and Dr. Charles F. Kennel, director, Scripps Institute of
Oceanography.
The NASA Advisory Council was restructured to meet agency needs as it
implements the Vision for Space Exploration, outlined by President
Bush two years ago to take astronauts back to the moon and on to Mars
and other destinations in the solar system. A number of
previously-chartered standing committees are incorporated into the
restructured council.
The NASA Advisory Council will include subject matter experts in five
key areas: exploration, science, aeronautics, human capital, and
audit and finance, and also include three ex-officio members from the
National Research Council’s Space Studies Board, Aeronautics and
Space Engineering Board, and the Institute of Medicine.
“I am looking forward to working closely with NASA Administrator
Michael Griffin and NASA senior management as they address the
exciting challenges facing the agency as it prepares for its next 50
years,” Schmitt said. “These challenges include returning the space
shuttle safely to flight, completing the International Space Station,
developing a new crew exploration vehicle and returning humans to the
surface of the moon and then on to Mars.”
Senator Schmitt will be joined on the NASA Advisory Council by the
following distinguished experts:
–Lt. Gen. James A. Abrahamson, USAF (Ret.)
Aerospace Consultant
–Dr. Juan J. Alonso, Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics
Stanford University
–Neil Armstrong
Apollo 11 Astronaut
–Dr. Raymond S. Colladay, Chair
Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, National Research Council
–Dr. Lennard A. Fisk, Chair
Space Studies Board, National Research Council
–Robert M. Hanisee
Trust Company of the West
–Capt. Frederick H. Hauck, USN (Ret.)
Former Space Shuttle Astronaut
–Dr. Wesley T. Huntress, Jr., Director
Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington
–Hon. Kay Coles James, Consultant
Former Director, Office of Personnel Management
–Dr. Stephen I. Katz, Director
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
National Institutes of Health
–Dr. Charles F. Kennel, Director
Scripps Institute of Oceanography
–Dr. Gerald L. Kulcinski, Associate Dean, Research
University of Wisconsin-Madison
–Dr. Eugene H. Levy, Professor of Physics & Astronomy
Rice University
–Dr. John M. Logsdon, Director
Space Policy Institute, George Washington University
–Dr. David Longnecker, Chair
Committee on Aerospace Medicine and the Medicine of Extreme
Environments, Institute of Medicine
–Gen. Lester L. Lyles, USAF (Ret.)
The Lyles Group
Former Commander, Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson AFB,
Ohio
–Wendell Maddox, President and Chief Executive Officer
ION Corporation
–Hon. Edward R. McPherson
Under Secretary of Education
–Dr. R. James Milgram, Professor
Department of Mathematics, Stanford University
–Hon. Michael Montelongo, Senior Vice President, Strategic Marketing
Sodexho Inc.
–Dr. Mark S. Robinson, Research Associate Professor
Department of Geological Sciences, Northwestern University
–Howard J. Stanislawski, Attorney
Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood, LLP
–Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson
Frederick P. Rose Director, Hayden Planetarium
American Museum of Natural History
The NASA Advisory Council meets today at the Rayburn House Office
Building, Washington, in room 2318 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST;
and on Wednesday at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, in room 562
from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The meetings are open to the public.
