Posted: Wed, Feb 13, 2002, 8:32 AM ET (1332 GMT)
NASA announced Tuesday that it has selected a new director for the Johnson Space Center as well as a new chief scientist for the agency. Retired Marine Corps Lieutenant General Jefferson D. Howell, Jr., will take over as director of JSC on April 1. Howell retired from the Marines in 1998 after serving as commander of Marine forces in the Pacific. He more recently worked as a senior vice president of SAIC on a spaceflight safety and quality assurance contract at JSC. Howell will succeed Roy Estess, the Stennis Space Center director who has been serving as acting JSC director since the ouster of former JSC director George Abbey a year ago. NASA also named NASA astronaut Shannon Lucid to the post of Chief Scientist for the space agency. Lucid flew on five shuttle missions, and is best known for her six-month stay on the Mir space station in 1996. Lucid replaces Kathie Olsen, who is leaving NASA to become the associate director of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy. Lucid will take over the new position after completing her capcom duties for the STS-109 shuttle mission next month.

Related Links:

•  NASA press release about Howell
•  NASA press release about Lucid