[meteorite-list] Physicist And Former Astronaut John Grunsfeld To Head NASA Science Directorate

[Ron Baalke]

Dec. 19, 2011

David Weaver 
Headquarters, Washington 
202-358-1600 
david.s.weaver at nasa.gov 


RELEASE: 11-396

PHYSICIST AND FORMER ASTRONAUT JOHN GRUNSFELD TO HEAD NASA SCIENCE DIRECTORATE

WASHINGTON -- NASA has named physicist and former astronaut John 
Grunsfeld as the new associate administrator for the Science Mission 
Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington. Grunsfeld 
will take the reins of the office effective Jan. 4, 2012. He succeeds 
Ed Weiler, who retired from NASA on Sept. 30. 

Grunsfeld currently serves as the deputy director of the Space 
Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which manages the science 
program for the Hubble Space Telescope and is a partner in the 
forthcoming James Webb Space Telescope. His background includes 
research in high energy astrophysics, cosmic ray physics and in the 
emerging field of exoplanet studies with specific interest in future 
astronomical instrumentation. 

A veteran of five space shuttle flights, Grunsfeld visited Hubble 
three times as an astronaut, performing a total of eight spacewalks 
to service and upgrade the observatory. 

"John's understanding of the critical connection between scientific 
research and the human exploration of space makes him an ideal choice 
for this job," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "I look 
forward to working with him to take the agency's science programs to 
even greater heights and make more of the ground-breaking discoveries 
about Earth and our universe for which NASA is known." 

Grunsfeld graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 
1980 with a bachelor's degree in physics. Returning to his native 
Chicago, he earned a master's degree and, in 1988, a doctorate in 
physics from the University of Chicago using a cosmic ray experiment 
on space shuttle Challenger for his doctoral thesis. From Chicago, he 
joined the faculty of the California Institute of Technology as a 
Senior Research Fellow in Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy. 

Grunsfeld joined NASA's Astronaut Office in 1992. He logged over 58 
days in space on five shuttle missions, including 58 hours and 30 
minutes of spacewalk time. He first flew to space aboard Endeavour in 
March 1995 on a mission that studied the far ultraviolet spectra of 
faint astronomical objects using the Astro Observatory. His second 
flight was aboard Atlantis in January 1997. The mission docked with 
the Russian space station Mir and exchanged U.S. astronauts living 
aboard the outpost. Grunsfeld then flew three shuttle missions - 
aboard Discovery in December 1999, Columbia in March 2002 and 
Atlantis in May 2009 -- that successfully serviced and upgraded the 
Hubble Space Telescope. He served as the payload commander on the 
2002 mission and lead spacewalker in charge of Hubble activities on 
the 2009 flight. In 2004 and 2005, he served as the commander and 
science officer on the backup crew for Expedition 13 to the 
International Space Station. 

"It is an honor and a privilege to be offered the opportunity to lead 
NASA's Science Mission Directorate during this exciting time in the 
agency's history," Grunsfeld said. "Science at NASA is all about 
exploring the endless frontier of the Earth and space. I look forward 
to working with the NASA team to help enable new discoveries in our 
quest to understand our home planet and unravel the mysteries of the 
universe." 

For Grunsfeld's NASA astronaut biography, visit: 

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/grunsfel.html 

For more information about NASA's Science Mission Directorate, visit: 

http://nasascience.nasa.gov 

-end-