Two CCST Council Members on Panel to Assess Future of Human Space Flight Program

CCST Chair Charles Kennel, former director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, and CCST Council Member Wanda Austin, president and CEO of the Aerospace Corporation, have been named members of NASA’s Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee.

“I am honored to be part of this committee to help NASA through the critical transition of the human space flight program that it is in the process of accomplishing,” said Kennel, who is currently senior strategist at UCSD’s Sustainability Solutions Institute. Additionally he recently served as a member of the NASA Advisory Council and from 1994 to 1996, was associate administrator for NASA, directing Mission to Planet Earth, the world’s largest earth science program. He has been Chair of the CCST Council since 2008.

Wanda Austin, who has been a Council member since 2008, directs the Aerospace Corporation, an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to the objective application of science and technology toward the solution of critical issues affecting the nation’s space program. She was previously senior vice president of the company’s National Systems Group, which supports the national security space and intelligence community in the acquisition, launch and orbital operation of advanced technology space systems and their ground data stations. She has also served as general manager of the Military Satellite Communications (MILSATCOM) Division.

During the course of the review, the panel will examine ongoing and planned NASA development activities and potential alternatives in order to present options for advancing a safe, innovative, affordable and sustainable human space flight program following the space shuttle’s retirement next year. The committee will present its results by August in time to support an administration decision on the way forward.