Posted: Tue, Nov 8, 2005, 7:03 AM ET (1203 GMT)
NASA announced Monday that former astronaut Michael Coats will be the next director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Coats, selected as an astronaut in 1978, flew on three shuttle missions, STS-41D in 1984, STS-29 in 1989, and STS-39 in 1991. he left NASA for the private sector in 1991 and had been serving as vice president of Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver at the time he was named JSC director. Coats replaces Jefferson Howell, who is leaving JSC to take a position at the University of Texas.
