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NASA Names New Chief Engineer

By Staff Writer | July 23, 2007

      NASA Administrator Michael Griffin named Michael Ryschkewitsch as chief engineer.

      He succeeds Christopher Scolese, whom Griffin selected as associate administrator. (Please see Space & Missile Defense Report, Monday, July 16, 2007, page 4.)

      As chief engineer, Ryschkewitsch ensures the overall review and technical readiness of all NASA programs.

      The chief engineer assures that development efforts and missions operations are being planned and conducted on a sound engineering basis with proper controls and management of technical risks.

      Since October 2005, he was deputy center director at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

      Previously, he was director of the Applied Engineering and Technology directorate at Goddard.

      He joined the center in 1982 as a cryogenics engineer to work on the Cosmic Background Explorer mission. Between those jobs, Ryschkewitsch held several management positions and supported projects from the first servicing mission of the Hubble Space Telescope in 1993 to the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere mission launched in April.

      Ryschkewitsch took a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Florida, Gainesville, in 1973 and doctorate from Duke University, Durham, N.C., in 1978.