JSC DIRECTOR GEORGE ABBEY TO RECEIVE GILRUTH AWARD



June 15, 1998



Pam Alloway
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
(Phone: 281/483-5111)

<h4>Release: J98-20</h4> <h3>JSC Director George Abbey to Receive 
Gilruth Award</h3> 

JSC Director George W.S. Abbey has been named the 1998 winner of the 
Robert R. Gilruth Award in recognition of his accomplishments and 
dedication to human spaceflight. He will be recognized at a June 18 
luncheon.



The North Galveston County Chamber of Commerce annually presents the 
Gilruth award to an individual who has distinguished himself or 
herself in the areas of flight operations management, engineering, 
science, and dedication to the advanced of human spaceflight. 
Recipients are recognized for their long-term leadership, management, 
and accomplishment within an area of spaceflight.



Abbey, who has been the director of JSC since January 1996, was a 
pilot in the U.S. Air Force before being detailed to JSC in April 
1967. In January 1967 he became technical assistant to the manager in 
the Apollo Spacecraft Program, the first of several NASA management 
positions.



Abbey served as Director of Flight Operations and Director of the 
Flight Crew Operations organization at JSC before his March 1988 
appointment as Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Flight at 
NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. In July 1990, Abbey was 
appointed Deputy for Operations for the Synthesis Group in which he 
and others defined technologies and strategies to return to the Moon 
and land on Mars. In July 1991 he was appointed Senior Director for 
Civil Space Policy on the National Space Council in the Executive 
Office of the President. He served in this capacity until April 1992, 
when he was appointed as Special Assistant to the Administrator of 
NASA.



In January 1994, Abbey was appointed Deputy Director of JSC. He was 
named Acting Director of the center in August 1994, and selected as 
Director of JSC in January 1996.

	
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