Douglas Isbell
Headquarters, Washington, DC                       August 5, 1997
(Phone:  202/358-1547)

RELEASE:  97-169

PARKER NAMED NEW DIRECTOR OF JPL MANAGEMENT OFFICE

     Dr. Robert Parker has been selected as the new director of 
the NASA Management Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), 
Pasadena, CA, NASA's Associate Administrator for Space Science, 
Dr. Wesley T. Huntress Jr., announced today.

     Currently director of Space Operations and Utilization in the 
Office of Space Flight at NASA Headquarters, Parker, 60, is a 
former astronaut who flew aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-35 in 
December 1990 and STS-9 in November 1983.  He was selected as a 
NASA astronaut in 1967, serving as a member of the support crew 
for Apollo 15 and Apollo 17, and as the program scientist for the 
Skylab Program DirectorÕs Office.  Subsequent to his flight 
career, Parker served in several senior management positions in 
the Office of Space Flight.

     The director of the JPL NASA Management Office provides on-
site oversight of the NASA contract with JPL, and leadership in 
negotiations of NASA contract requirements with JPL and the 
California Institute of Technology, the organization that operates 
JPL.  The director also enables management and technical support 
for NASA field centers and Headquarters offices that have work 
performed at JPL.

     "Dr. Parker is a perfect fit for this post," Huntress said.  
"His experience as a scientist and science manager is vital to 
interacting with JPL and Caltech, and his experience in the Office 
of Space Flight will help bring NASA's robotic and human space 
flight programs even closer together." 

     "I'm extremely pleased to be able to be a part of the 
exciting projects at this outstanding institution," said Parker, 
who will serve as director for a nominal three-year term.

     Born in New York City, Parker received an undergraduate 
degree in astronomy from Amherst College in 1958 and a doctorate 
in astronomy from the California Institute of Technology in 1962.  
Before joining NASA, Parker was an assistant/associate professor 
of astronomy at the University of Wisconsin in Madison from 1963 
to 1967.

     Parker is the author of more than a dozen technical papers on 
astrophysics, and has received three major NASA medals, including 
the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal in 1974.  He is married to 
the former Judy Woodruff of San Marino, CA, and has five children 
and seven grandchildren.

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