NASA announced senior management changes today involving the agency’s John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Miss.
William (Bill) Parsons, director of Stennis Space Center, has accepted the position of deputy center director at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Parsons became Stennis director in September 2005.
Richard Gilbrech will take over as Stennis Space Center director. He has served as deputy director of the agency’s Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., and deputy director of NASA’s Engineering Safety Center. He started his career at Stennis in 1991 and later served as the director of the center’s Program Integration Office. He has worked at the agency’s Johnson Space Flight Center’s White Sands Facility, N.M.; Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.; and Glenn Research Center, Cleveland. He earned a bachelor’s in aerospace engineering from Mississippi State University, Starkville, Miss.; master’s and doctoral degrees from the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena.
“I have had a great experience at Langley,” Gilbrech said, “both in the NASA Engineering and Safety Center and as deputy center director and will miss the fine folks there. I am excited about this new opportunity and look forward to returning to the place where my NASA career began.”
Parsons joined NASA in 1990 after leaving the Marine Corps. He has served in several senior leadership positions within the human space flight program. After the Columbia tragedy, Parsons was selected to direct NASA’s return to flight efforts as space shuttle program manager, and he directed last summer’s successful flight of Discovery during STS-114. He led NASA’s recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina.
“Although it is with a heavy heart I leave Stennis Space Center and Mississippi,” Parsons said, “the opportunity to be able to serve this agency at the Kennedy Space Center and to bring my family together provides an opportunity to satisfy both professional and personal goals. I leave knowing Stennis is in great hands under Rick’s leadership.”
Related Multimedia:
+ https://www.nasa.gov/centers/stennis/news/newsreleases/2006/HQ-06-031-cptn.html
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