Jerroll Wayne Littles | |
|---|---|
 Official NASA portrait of J. Wayne Littles | |
| Born | July 14, 1939 Moultrie, Georgia, U.S. |
| Occupation | NASA executive |
| Title | Director of the Marshall Space Flight Center |
Jerrol Wayne Littles (born July 14, 1939) was the eighth director of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center located in Huntsville, Alabama. He served as director from February 3, 1996, to January 3, 1998.
Littles was born in Moultrie, Georgia, in 1939. [1]
Prior to his appointment as Center Director, Littles served as NASA Associate Administrator for the Office of Space Flight (1994-1996). Littles began his NASA career in 1967 when he worked as an engineer in Marshall's former Propulsion and Vehicle Engineering Directorate. He worked in various capacities at the Marshall Center, including Science Engineering Director (1988-1989) and Center Deputy Director (1989-1994) before transferring to NASA Headquarters in 1994, as Chief Engineer. Littles was involved in the redesign of the space shuttle solid rocket booster, blamed for the Challenger disaster in 1986. [4] Littles was also a witness for the Rogers Commission, which investigated the challenger Disaster [5]
During his two years as Center Director, Dr. Littles' administration was responsible for the space lab mission, the space science projects, alternative light-weight launch vehicles, and their engine development. He retired from NASA in 1998.
Littles is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Marshall Space Flight Center, located in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the U.S. government's civilian rocketry and spacecraft propulsion research center. As the largest NASA center, MSFC's first mission was developing the Saturn launch vehicles for the Apollo program. Marshall has been the lead center for the Space Shuttle main propulsion and external tank; payloads and related crew training; International Space Station (ISS) design and assembly; computers, networks, and information management; and the Space Launch System. Located on the Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville, MSFC is named in honor of General of the Army George C. Marshall.
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