NASA at 50: Interviews with NASA's Senior Leadership (NASA History Series)

These interviews capture refections from top decision-makers as the space agency was completing its first 50 years. Based on oral histories, the book offers insights from those responsible for moving NASA through a deep transition - from the end of the Space Shuttle Program, the centerpiece of human spaceflight for three decades, to the goals of the new policy known as the Vision for Space Exploration. Abstract: These interviews capture refections from top decision-makers as the space agency was completing its first 50 years. Based on oral histories, the book offers insights from those responsible for moving NASA through a deep transition - from the end of the Space Shuttle Program, the centerpiece of human spaceflight for three decades, to the goals of the new policy known as the Vision for Space Exploration Content: Michael Griffin (administrator) -- Shana Dale (deputy administrator) -- Rex Geveden (associate administrator) -- Charles Scales (associate deputy administrator) -- Bryan O'connor (safety and mission assurance) -- Christopher Scolese (chief engineer/associate administrator) -- Scott Pace (program analysis and evaluation) -- William Gerstenmaier (space operations) -- Scott Horowitz (exploration systems) -- Alan Stern (science) -- Jaiwon Shin (aeronautics research) -- Michael F. O'brien (external relations) -- Robert Cobb (inspector general) -- J T Jezierski (deputy chief of staff) -- S. Pete Worden (Ames Research Center) -- Kevin L. Petersen (Dryden Flight Research Center) -- Woodrow Whitlow (Glenn Research Center) -- Edward J. Weiler (Goddard Space Flight Center) -- Charles Elachi (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) -- Michael L. Coats (Johnson Space Center) -- William (Bill) W. Parsons (Kennedy Space Center) -- Lesa B. Roe (Langley Research Center) -- David A. King (Marshall Space Flight Center) -- Richard J. Gilbrech (Stennis Space Center). NASA SP 2012-4114. Rebecca Wright, Sandra Johnson, Steven J. Dick, editors. Provides a snapshot of the thinking of NASA senior leadership on the occasion of its 50th anniversary and in the midst closing year of the presidency of GeorgW. Bush, only a month before the presidential election and in the midst of a worldwide economic crisis, while the Agency was implementing a new Vision for Space Exploration intended to return humans to the Moon, to proceed onward to Mars, and to study the cosmos beyond. This volume is the result of conversations recorded during 2007 and 2008.