Carolyn Leach Huntoon (born August 25, 1940) is an American scientist and former government official. She was the director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, a position which she held from 1994 to 1996, and was the first woman in the role. She was an assistant secretary at the Department of Energy from 1999 to 2001.
She joined NASA in 1970,[6] and as head of the Endocrine Laboratory, which was then part of the Lunar Receiving Laboratory, performed pre- and post-flight testing of astronauts on the Project Apollo missions. During Project Skylab, some of the experiments she had developed as a postdoctoral researcher were performed on the space station.[5] She married Harrison Hibbert Huntoon; they had a daughter named Sally Ann.[1][2]
Huntoon was appointed to the selection panel for NASA Astronaut Group 8, the first astronaut selection that included women.[5] The selection of six women as astronauts in 1978 doubled the number of women in technical positions at the Johnson Space Center. As the most senior woman already there, Huntoon became a role model and chaperone to the newcomers. She was involved in the center's preparations to cater for women as astronauts and became the point of contact for those with issues with the women astronauts.[8] She went on to serve on subsequent astronaut selection panels until 1994,[1] but expressed regret that fewer women were chosen than she would have liked, the Astronaut Office remaining largely male-dominated into the 21st century.[5]
As Associate Director of the Space and Life Sciences Directorate from 1984 to 1987, Huntoon had to deal with the fallout from the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. She provided continuity at a turbulent time. She became the Director of the Space and Life Sciences Directorate in 1987. She was now in charge of over 1,200 scientists, engineers and medical doctors, and responsible for the development of flight equipment for habitation in space, including food and medical supplies, and life science studies of the effects of space flight on humans.[1] In 1994, she became the director of the Johnson Space Center. She was the first woman to direct any NASA center.[6] As such, she was in charge of a work force of 15,000 supporting 13 successful Space Shuttle missions, and the development of what became the International Space Station. From 1996 to 1998 she served as the NASA representative in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in Washington, DC.[1]
Government career
With other directors of the Johnson Space Center in 2002
1 2 3 4 5 Huntoon, Carolyn L. (June 5, 2002). "Oral History Transcript – Carolyn L. Huntoon" (Interview). Interviewed by Rebecca Wright. Barrington, Rhode Island: NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
↑ Huntoon, Carolyn L. (April 21, 2008). "Oral History Transcript – Carolyn L. Huntoon" (Interview). Interviewed by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal. Houston, Texas: NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
Leesville is a city in, and the parish seat of, Vernon Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,649 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Fort Johnson South micropolitan area and is additionally served by the Leesville Airport. The city is home to the Fort Johnson U.S. Army installation.
The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight in Houston, Texas, where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late US president and Texas native, Lyndon B. Johnson, by an act of the United States Senate on February 19, 1973.
Peggy Annette Whitson is an American biochemistry researcher, and astronaut working for Axiom Space. She retired from NASA in 2018, after serving as Chief Astronaut. Over all her missions, Whitson has a total of 665 days in space, more than any other American or woman.
Margaret Rhea Seddon is an American surgeon and retired NASA astronaut. After being selected as part of the first group of astronauts to include women in 1978, she flew on three Space Shuttle flights: as a mission specialist on STS-51-D and STS-40, and as a payload commander for STS-58, accumulating over 722 hours in space. On these flights, she built repair tools for a US Navy satellite and performed medical experiments.
Bonnie Jeanne Dunbar is an American engineer and retired NASA astronaut. She flew on five Space Shuttle missions between 1985 and 1998, including two dockings with the Mir space station.
Linda Maxine Godwin is an American scientist and retired NASA astronaut. Godwin joined NASA in 1980 and became an astronaut in July 1986. She retired in 2010. During her career, Godwin completed four space flights and logged over 38 days in space. Godwin also served as the assistant to the director for exploration, Flight Crew Operations Directorate at the Johnson Space Center. Since retiring from NASA, she accepted the position of professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Missouri.
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Kathryn Ryan Cordell Thornton is an American scientist and a former NASA astronaut with over 975 hours in space, including 21 hours of extravehicular activity. She was the associate dean for graduate programs at the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science, currently a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.
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Glynn Stephen Lunney was an American NASA engineer. An employee of NASA since its creation in 1958, Lunney was a flight director during the Gemini and Apollo programs, and was on duty during historic events such as the Apollo 11 lunar ascent and the pivotal hours of the Apollo 13 crisis. At the end of the Apollo program, he became manager of the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, the first collaboration in spaceflight between the United States and the Soviet Union. Later, he served as manager of the Space Shuttle program before leaving NASA in 1985 and later becoming a vice president of the United Space Alliance.
Karen LuJean Nyberg is an American mechanical engineer and retired NASA astronaut. Nyberg became the 50th woman in space on her first mission in 2008. Nyberg holds a Ph.D in mechanical engineering. She started her space career in 1991 and spent a total of 180 days in space in 2008 and 2013 as a mission specialist on STS-124 and a flight engineer on Soyuz TMA-09M.
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Leesville High School is a school located in Leesville, Louisiana, United States. The 9-12 school is a part of the Vernon Parish School Board.
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Evelyn Rodriguez Miralles is a Venezuelan-American engineer that served as the chief principal engineer with CACI International at NASA Johnson Space Center Houston Texas. Her work at the virtual reality laboratory at NASA furthered human spaceflight by training United States astronauts to perform spacewalks and working outside a spacecraft in micro-gravity. Miralles is currently the Associate vice president for Strategic Information Initiatives and Technology at the University of Houston–Clear Lake.
Ivy Fay Hooks is an American mathematician and engineer who worked for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She joined NASA after graduating from the University of Houston with a master's degree in mathematics and physics in 1965. Her first assignment was with the Apollo program, where she worked on the modeling of lighting on the Moon and the dynamics of the launch escape system, among other projects. She then went on to play an important role in the design and development of the Space Shuttle, being one of only two women engineers assigned to the original design team for the orbiter.
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