Mark Hess
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                            April 28, 
1994
(Phone: 202/358-1776)


RELEASE:   94-66

NASA ANNOUNCES SPACE FLIGHT PERSONNEL CHANGES

   Associate Administrator for Space Flight Jeremiah Pearson today 
announced key personnel changes in the Office of Space Flight (OSF), 
NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

   Effective immediately, Tom Utsman, currently Deputy Associate 
Administrator (Space Shuttle), OSF, will return to the Kennedy Space 
Center (KSC), Fla., to become Special Assistant to the Associate 
Administrator, OSF.  Bryan O'Connor, OSF Deputy Associate 
Administrator will replace Utsman and also serve as Space Shuttle 
Program Director.

   Effective May 9, Richard Wisniewski, who retired from NASA in 1990 
after a government career spanning 35 years, is returning to NASA to 
replace Brian O'Connor as Deputy Associate Administrator, OSF.

   Pearson also announced that Michael Mann, Deputy Associate 
Administrator (Management), OSF, has been named Deputy Associate 
Administrator (Management) for NASA Headquarter's Office of Mission 
to Planet Earth.  Wisniewski also will serve as Acting Deputy 
Associate Administrator (Management), OSF.

   As Space Shuttle Program Director, O'Connor will assume 
responsibility for the management of the Space Shuttle Program.  
O'Connor, a former NASA astronaut, served as commander of the first 
Spacelab Life Sciences mission, STS-40, in June 1991, and as pilot on 
mission 61-B in November 1985.  During the period following the 
Challenger accident, O'Connor served as Assistant to the Shuttle 
Program Manager from March 1986 until February 1988.

   O'Connor helped guide the effort that led to the resumption of 
Shuttle flights in September 1988.  He is a distinguished Marine 
Corps pilot and graduate of the U.S. Navy Test Pilot School.  He also 
is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and earned a Masters of 
Science degree in Aeronautical Systems from the University of West 
Florida. O'Connor served as an astronaut from 1980 to 1991.
                                       
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   Utsman will be returning to KSC where he held a number of key 
positions, including Deputy Director from August 1985 until his 
assignment to NASA Headquarters in January 1990.

   Utsman's first assignment at NASA Headquarters was Deputy 
Associate Administrator for Space Flight (Management) which he held 
for approximately 6 months prior to being named Deputy Associate 
Administrator in June 1990.  He was named Space Shuttle Director in 
June 1992.

   Utsman began his career in 1963 as a facilities design engineer 
for the Apollo Program.  He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in 
Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan and a Masters 
degree in Management from Florida State University.

   Wisniewski currently is Director, Program Analysis Group, General 
Research Corp., Vienna, Va.  His last position at NASA was as the 
Deputy Associate Administrator (Institutions), OSF.  The Deputy 
Associate Administrator, OSF,  is responsible for resources, policy 
and plans, human resources and management of the four Space Flight 
installations, Kennedy Space Center, Fla.; Johnson Space Center, 
Houston; Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., and Stennis  
Space Center, Miss.

   Wisniewski began his career at the Lewis Research Center, 
Cleveland, Ohio, as an aeronautical research engineer.  He was staff 
scientist for the OSF during the Apollo Program, Director of Advanced 
Concepts in the former Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology  
and Deputy Associate Administrator for the Center Operations in the 
former Office of Management, Washington, D.C. Wisniewski has a 
Bachelor of Science degree in physics from John Carroll University.

   Mann was named Deputy Associate Administrate (Management), OSF, in 
July 1993.  Prior to that, he served as Director, Resource 
Management, responsible for managing the OSF's budget.  Before 
joining the OSF, he spent 9 years in NASA's Comptrollers Office in a 
variety of cost analysis and resources management positions including 
Deputy Director, Resources Analysis Division.  In that position Mann 
had oversight responsibility for all NASA programs and played a key 
role in the development of NASA program control and financial 
management policies. 

   A U.S. Army veteran, Mann is a graduate of the Virginia 
Polytechnic Institute with an MBA in Operations Research.

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