NASA Administrator Michael Griffin today named veteran space shuttle commander Scott J. Horowitz as associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. He will lead the agency's efforts to develop the new spacecraft that will return astronauts to the moon, travel to Mars and other destinations in the solar system.

Griffin also appointed longtime NASA engineer Doug Cooke as deputy associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate.

Under America's Vision for Space Exploration, announced by President Bush in 2004, NASA will retire the space shuttle by 2010 and begin a new era of human space exploration. The Exploration Systems Mission Directorate will lead NASA's efforts to implement the presidential directive to establish a human presence on the moon and to prepare for later missions to Mars.

Prior to today's appointment, Horowitz, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, served as pilot or commander on four shuttle missions, and he was director of exploration and space transportation at ATK, the company that produces the space shuttle's solid rocket motors. He also worked as NASA's acting deputy associate administrator for safety and mission assurance.

Horowitz was an Air Force test pilot, F-15 fighter pilot and master flight instructor. He has worked as a scientist at Lockheed-Georgia Co. and as a college professor in California and in Germany. He holds doctorate and master's degrees in aerospace engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta and a bachelor's degree in engineering from California State University at Northridge.

Cooke, who served most recently as acting associate administrator for exploration systems, has been instrumental in developing NASA's next generation spacecraft concepts. During his 32-year career at the agency, he led the aerodynamic flight test program for space shuttle re-entry, served as vehicle manager, then deputy program manager for the International Space Station Program.

Cooke also was a lead Shuttle Program Office manager in returning the space shuttle to flight after the 1986 loss of Challenger, and he served as NASA's technical adviser to the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. He holds a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.

Both Horowitz and Cooke will be based at NASA headquarters in Washington.

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