Government Service

Government is where the action was for the early years of the space business and it remains the place where many of the world’s top spacecraft builders and managers do their work.

Abbey

George Abbey -- As director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) from 1996-2001, Abbey was one of the most powerful figures in the U.S. space agency, overseeing the management of NASA’s largest space center and its two biggest programs — space shuttle and the international space station. If Abbey was responsible for taking the space station from the drawing board to orbit, he was also responsible for a projected $5 billion overrun that took NASA by surprise and prompted the Bush Administration in 2000 to dramatically scale back U.S. contributions. While Abbey’s legendary loyalty to the astronaut corps earned him praise in certain quarters, others saw his protection of JSC as an impediment to progress.

Roger Bonnet -- Bonnet is so closely identified with Europe’s space science program that some people might think he invented it. And in a way, he did. During his 18 years as director of science at the European Space Agency — he stepped down in 2001 — Bonnet constructed a program notable for its openness and democracy. He also managed to craft a superb and widely praised space science program at a time of flat budgets, with 13 satellite launches achieved on his watch. There also were several close calls with satellites that had trouble in orbit, and one major launch failure.

Jorg Feustel-Buechl -- For more than a decade Feustel-Buechl has run Europe’s human space flight programs through thick and thin from the ill fated Hermes program to the development and production of the Automated Transfer Vehicle. Feustel-Buechl’s is recognized as the driving force behind European participation in the international space station. As one reader from the Netherlands put it, “thanks to his perseverance and tenacity, the programme made its way in Europe against all odds.”

Tomifumi Godai -- As program manager for Japan’s H-2 rocket, first launched in 1994, Godai gave his country the crucial ability to launch all of its own satellites. The H-2 was the first rocket designed and built entirely by the Japanese. Later as executive vice president of the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA), now known as the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Godai also helped guide development of the H2-A, a follow on designed to lower the high cost of the H-2. While both rockets experienced launch mishaps -- like most launch vehicles in the world -- Godai played a crucial role in giving Japan a critical national capability.

Scott Blake Harris -- From 1994-1996, Harris served as the first chief of the International Bureau at the Federal communications Commission negotiating international satellite communications policies and licensing. Harris also served as general counsel at the U.S. Commerce Department’s Export Administration, where he undertook the first major rewrite of export control regulations in 25 years.

Liu Jiyuan -- As administrator of the China Aerospace Corp. a government organization that oversees China's space program and president of the China National Space Agency, Liu presided over the development of China into a world class space power. The country has slowly developed its own weather satellites, communication satellites and launch vehicles. In fact, the Long March launch vehicle emerged in the early 1990s as a player in the global commercial launch market. As U.S. sanctions cut into China’s launch business, Liu harshly criticized the United States. The launch of China’s first astronaut last year vaulted the country to a whole new status, joining Russia and the United States as the only three countries capable of launching their own citizens into space.

Gil Klinger -- This National Security Council staff member has played a strong role in the formulation of national space policy, most recently doing crucial legwork on the space exploration vision unveiled by U.S. President George W. Bush in January.

Yuri Koptev -- Koptev took control of his nations’ sprawling space infrastructure during the crucial period between the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the Russian Republic’s economy. As general director of then newly created Russian Aviation and Space Agency, Koptev made the most of shoestring budgets to deliver critical hardware for the international space station.

Tilman Mohr -- As the long-time director general of Eumetsat, which operates Europe’s geostationary and polar-orbiting meteorological satellites, Mohr has overseen the development of Europe’s top-flight weather satellite organization. During his tenure Eumetsat has improved its capabilities dramatically — at one point Europe even loaned the United States a satellite to fill a gap in coverage. Under Mohr’s guidance, Eumetsat is branching out into other environment-related areas, including taking a role in Europe’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES), a new environmental monitoring program. He also spearheaded a deal with the United States to jointly build a new generation of polar-orbiting satellites. Eumetsat over the years has been one of the few constants in satellite investment. Its budget, which for 2004 totals 326 million euros ($418 million) is rarely a subject of controversy or political infighting. Under Mohr’s leadership, Eumetsat in 2003 approved satellite programs whose total cost will be about 430 million euros, including a small share of the U.S.-European Jason 2 ocean altimetry system.

O'Keefe

Sean O’Keefe -- A self-described bean counter, O’Keefe’s main goal when he took the reins at NASA in 2001 was to restore credibility to the space agency’s cost estimates and bring the international space station’s skyrocketing price tag back under control. O’Keefe’s role changed dramatically following the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia. His unequivocal embrace of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board’s final report set the stage for the new space vision proposed by President George W. Bush in January 2004 and the broad reorganization of the space agency that followed.

Antonio Rodota -- When the head of Alenia Aerospazio’s space division was made director general of the European Space Agency in 1997, he inherited an agency with an unclear future and a staff in near open rebellion against management. By the end of his six years at the helm, morale was restored and the agency’s involvement in new space-based applications programs such as satellite navigation and telecommunications seemed assured. Rodota admitted on his way out that securing approval of the Galileo satellite navigation system took much longer than he expected, but he can also count among his accomplishments progress in eliminating duplication of effort between ESA and Europe’s national space agencies.

Patricia Grace Smith -- As the associate administrator for commercial space transportation at the Federal Aviation Administration since 1997, Smith is praised by those who know her for her steady hand regulating the commercial space launch industry. Smith has laid the regulatory groundwork for reusable launch vehicle firms and in 2004 issued the first license for a crewed suborbital rocket launch.

Tom Stafford -- A distinguished veteran of the NASA Gemini program and the Apollo Soyuz mission, Lt. Gen. Stafford has never strayed far from NASA. After the Apollo-Soyuz Test Program, Stafford returned to the Air Force briefly before retiring and joining the private sector.  He has been called upon a number of times for his advice. Tapped by U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle in 1990 to lead an effort to advise Bush on implementing his space exploration vision, Stafford and a team of 40 full time and 150 part time professionals spent the next year developing a 30-year roadmap for the U.S. space program. He also chaired the NASA Advisory Council’s task force on the shuttle-Mir program and today co-chairs a task force with Richard Covey overseeing NASA’s efforts to return the space shuttle fleet to flight status.

Edward Stone -- Running the Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 1991 to 2000, Stone deftly managed the transition to the so-called faster, better, cheaper satellite programs. His legacy includes satellites large and small, including such successes as the Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Pathfinder, Cassini, Stardust and Deep Space 1 missions, but also the embarrassing loss of the Mars ’98 missions. Stone also was a member of the commission that advised the transformation at National Reconnaissance Office that resulted in the Future Imagery Architecture program.

Edward Weiler -- Weiler’s leadership, along with then Mars Czar Scott Hubbard, brought the Mars exploration program back from the humiliating back-to-back failures of the Mars ’98 mission to a follow-the-water strategy that’s paying out rich returns. Only one mission developed on his watch, Contour, and it failed. Weiler’s tenure included more than a dozen successful missions. Fans attribute this track record to Weiler’s insistence on disciplined program management and holding people to accountable. And, he wasn’t afraid to cancel programs either, as he did with the Champollion comet chasing mission and the Mars 2001 lander.

Next page: Visionaries, Innovators and Angels