CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Ron Dittemore will step down as NASA's shuttle program manager later this year after the Columbia Accident Investigation Board presents its final report and a successor is named, officials confirmed Wednesday.
"Replacing him is not going to be an easy task," said Michael Kostelnik, NASA's spaceflight chief in Washington, D.C. "To Ron's credit, he has given us, in the way he has chosen to make this announcement, a very graceful transition period to allow us to effectively replace him."
During a meeting with news media, Dittemore said the Columbia investigation and the effort to resume flying was at the right point where it made the most sense to begin looking for a new shuttle boss.
"I think that the coming months of return to flight activities and responding to recommendations, and implementing corrective actions, is going to be a very formative timeframe for the space shuttle program. And it would be very important to have new leadership in place, to have that foundation established," Dittemore said.
That will make it easier for the new director to resume flight operations and build up the flight rate back to the appropriate level.
"This is not something where I am going to step out of the program instantaneously," Dittemore said.
Dittemore, in his fourth year as director of the shuttle program, first approached senior NASA management last fall about giving up his post in early 2003.
"Jobs like these are difficult. When you first come into a job like the program manager for the space shuttle, you recognize you have a tremendous opportunity. You get to work with some of the most capable and creative people ever gathered together in one place for one common cause. But you also recognize you cannot do it forever," Dittemore said.
And then Columbia broke apart on re-entry Feb. 1, killing all seven astronauts who were aboard.
"As the events unfolded in February, certainly all personal plans had to take a back seat," Dittemore said.
During the first week following the tragedy, Dittemore was the singular spokesman for NASA, sharing hard data and tough emotions with the entire world during daily briefings until the Columbia board took over the investigation.
"Early on, when there were a lot of questions, Ron Dittemore was the voice of the program for the things that were happening, trying to put in context what we had experienced, trying to put in context how we were dealing with it," Kostelnik said.
Dittemore didn't say if he had any imminent job offers or if he would seek exemption from federal laws that regulate the kind of work government managers can accept in the private sector based on their previous employment.
"The last thing on my priority list is my personal opportunities. I've invested most of my career in the human spaceflight business. I feel passionately about it. I think it's the right thing for us as a nation to do. I think it offers many side benefits to our society, and I think it's our destiny to do these types of things," Dittemore said.
"I would hope that as I consider opportunities that those opportunities would remain in human spaceflight because that's where I feel emotionally attached and have that passion."
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