Charles B. Mars
Former Director, ISO-9000 Project Office
Charles B. Mars is the ISO-9000 Project Manager at NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center. He was appointed to this position in December 1996.
He is responsible for the ISO third party certification of KSC. Simply stated, ISO 9000 is an internal series of quality standards. Published in 1987, it has been adopted by over 80 nations and has become an important element of many local businesses’ total quality management programs. In effect, ISO 9000 describes what KSC needs for an effective quality system. It does not tell us how to develop our system, nor does it replace existing product, safety, environmental, or regulatory standards. ISO 9000 requires that we document our systems and then implement the documentation.
Mr. Mars graduated from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, with a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering in 1958. He spent 4 ½ years with Martin Orlando designing ground support equipment for the LaCrosse and Pershing missile systems before coming to NASA in 1963. His hardware experience covers Mercury, Gemini, Command and Service Module and the Lunar Module, Skylab, Shuttle Vandenberg activation and the Space Station programs. Mr. Mars has held the positions of lead power and Sequential Engineer, Power and Sequential systems Supervisor, Chief Project Engineer for Launch Operations, Chief of the Shuttle Project Office, Activation Chief for Vandenberg representing both KSC and the Shuttle Level Two Program Office, Manager of Operations and Logistics for the Space Station Program office in Reston, Virginia, Director of Mission Assurance at KSC, and Deputy Director of Safety and Mission Assurance.
Mr. Mars and his wife, Barbara, have raised eight children, and they reside in Titusville, Florida.
February 1997
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Biographies - Former Employees
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