Mark Hess/Ed Campion
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                                               
June 8, 1992
(Phone:  202/453-8536)


Release:  92-83

Shuttle Management Reorganization Announced

   NASA Associate Administrator for Space Flight, Jeremiah W. 
Pearson, III, today announced that Thomas Utsman, currently 
Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Space Flight, will 
become the Program Director for the Space Shuttle.  He will be 
given responsibility for directing long-range Shuttle planning, 
Space Shuttle continuous improvement activities and overseeing 
efforts to reduce Shuttle operations costs while maintaining 
safety.

   Program Manager, Space Shuttle, Leonard Nicholson will 
remain at the Johnson Space Center (JSC), Houston, where he 
will oversee the day to day management of the Space Shuttle 
program and the integration of the Shuttle and Space Station 
Freedom.  Management of vehicle integration and launch 
processing will continue to be the responsibility of 
Nicholson's deputy, Brewster H. Shaw, at the Kennedy Space 
Center, Fla. (KSC). 

   "One of the main challenges for the Shuttle Manager's office 
in the coming years will be to oversee the integration of the 
Shuttle and Space Station Freedom," said Pearson.  "In light of 
that, it will be more efficient for the Shuttle Manager to be 
at JSC where personnel reside who are responsible for the 
mission operations for both Shuttle and station, as well as 
engineering and design support for both programs."  Freedom 
will be carried up in 18 separate stages aboard the Space 
Shuttle and assembled in space.  Assembly of the orbiting 
international research center will begin in late 1995.  

   Previously, the relocation of the Shuttle Program Director 
from NASA Headquarters to KSC required the transfer of some 
program management functions and would have involved the 
relocation of approximately 20 people.  Under this revised 
organization, a limited set of functions will be transfered to 
support the Program Manager in the areas of configuration and 
data requirements, ground operations and project integration 
support and will involve approximately 10 people being 
relocated to KSC.

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