Bruce Buckingham
Small Business Outreach Coordinator
Procurement Office
Bruce Buckingham is currently on a one-year career development detail to the Small Business Program in the Procurement Office at the John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Fla. In this position, he serves as KSC's business outreach coordinator, identifying and assisting businesses that want to partner with NASA and its prime contractors.
Prior to this role, Buckingham served as news chief for KSC, a position he held for over ten years. He was managing editor of the official KSC newspaper, the Spaceport News, for more than fifteen years.
As one of NASA's primary spokesmen since 1985, Buckingham worked daily with local and national media to ensure that news outlets had accurate information regarding NASA's space activities. He also served as "the voice of NASA," providing live launch commentary for thirty space shuttle missions and a similar number of unmanned expendable launch vehicle missions launched from Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Buckingham was raised in the Melbourne/Palm Bay area on Florida's "Space Coast," in the shadow of NASA's early launch years and the Apollo moon missions. He graduated from Eau Gallie High School in Melbourne in 1973 and went on to receive his associate degree from Brevard Community College. He graduated from Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla., with a Bachelor of Science in psychology in 1978. He was accepted into the Master of Business Administration program at the Florida Institute of Technology in 1980.
In 1979, Buckingham joined the staff of Senator Bill Nelson (then a member of the House of Representatives) in his district office in Melbourne. Eventually, he moved to Washington, D.C., to serve as Nelson's senior legislative assistant on space-related issues.
During his 28-year government career, Buckingham has received numerous individual and group achievement awards, both from NASA and outside organizations. These include the 2004 Space Communicator Award from the Rotary National Committee for Space Achievement Foundation, honoring Buckingham's public information efforts following the shuttle Columbia accident.
September 2007
Biographies - Current Employees