[meteorite-list] NASA Appoints Genesis Mishap Investigation Board Leader

[Ron Baalke]

Donald Savage
Headquarters, Washington                  September 10, 2004
(Phone: 202/358-1727)

RELEASE: 04-295

NASA APPOINTS GENESIS MISHAP INVESTIGATION BOARD LEADER

     NASA's Associate Administrator for Science Al Diaz 
announced today, Dr. Michael Ryschkewitsch, Director of the 
Applied Engineering and Technology Directorate at NASA's 
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, Md., would 
lead the Genesis Mishap Investigation Board (MIB).

The MIB will gather information; analyze the facts; identify 
the proximate cause(s), root cause(s) and contributing 
factors relating to the Genesis mission; and recommend 
appropriate actions to prevent a future similar mishap. The 
Genesis sample return capsule failed to deploy its 
parachutes, as it descended through Earth's atmosphere 
September 8.

The MIB will include experts from NASA, other government 
agencies and external consultants. The Board's investigation 
report is due to NASA Headquarters in mid-November. NASA will 
release the names of additional MIB members as soon as 
available. The Board's initial meeting is next week.

Prior to his current assignment, Ryschkewitsch was Deputy 
Director of the GSFC Applied Engineering and Technology 
Directorate. He also served as the center's Deputy Director 
of the Systems, Technology and Advanced Concepts Directorate.

He has a bachelor's degree and Ph.D. in physics from Duke 
University, Durham, N.C. Prior to joining NASA, he served as 
a postdoctoral fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor of 
Physics at the University of Delaware. He joined GSFC in 1982 
as a cryogenics engineer. He served as Head of the Cryogenic 
Systems Development Section and Assistant Branch Head for the 
Electromechanical Systems Branch. He was selected as 
Associate Chief of the Space Technology Division in 1990.

He led the GSFC team that worked with Ball Aerospace to 
develop the concept for the Corrective Optics Space Telescope 
Axial Replacement (COSTAR), used in the repair of the Hubble 
Space Telescope. In 1992, he was selected to form, then 
became Chief, of the Engineering Directorate Systems 
Engineering Office.

He is a past recipient of the Robert Baumann Award for 
Mission Success. In 2004 he received the NASA Engineering and 
Safety Center Leadership Award.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., 
manages the Genesis mission for NASA's Science Mission 
Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, 
Denver, developed and operated the spacecraft. JPL is a 
division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. 

News and information about Genesis is available on the 
Internet at:

www.nasa.gov/genesis

Detailed background information about the mission is 
available on the Internet, at:

http://genesismission.jpl.nasa.gov


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