NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

For release: 07/10/03
Release #: 03-114

Dr. Ann Whitaker dives into space research with gusto

Dr. Ann Whitaker has crawled, dove and soared for space research. In the '60s, she worked on the tractor crawler that carried Saturn rockets to their launch pad. In the '70s, she helped NASA learn how to conduct research in space by diving in a huge water tank simulating the near-weightlessness of space. In the '70s and '80s, she was a payload specialist candidate — a scientist-astronaut who performs experiments in space. Although she never flew on the Space Shuttle, her materials experiments did, and these pioneering experiments provided data used to design the International Space Station. Today, Whitaker is head of the Science Directorate at the Marshall Center and leads a team of 700 researchers.

Photo: Dr. Ann Whitaker, right, diving as part of pioneering space research (NASA/MSFC)

Dr. Ann Whitaker has crawled, dove and soared for space research. In the '60s, she worked on the tractor crawler that carried Saturn rockets to their launch pad. In the '70s, she helped NASA learn how to conduct research in space by diving in a huge water tank simulating the near-weightlessness of space. In the '70s and '80s, she was a payload specialist candidate — a scientist-astronaut who performs experiments in space. Although she never flew on the Space Shuttle, her materials experiments did, and these pioneering experiments provided data used to design the International Space Station. Today, Whitaker is head of the Science Directorate at the Marshall Center and leads a team of 700 researchers.

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Profile: Ann Whitaker
Ann Whitaker heads Marshall Science Directorate
Space Station Science Ops News
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