Dr. Jerroll Wayne Littles (born 1939) was the eighth Director of the NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

 Marshall Space Flight Center

Marshall Space Flight Center

The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center is the U.S. government's civilian rocketry and spacecraft propulsion research center. The largest center of NASA, MSFC's first mission was developing the Saturn launch vehicles for the Apollo moon program...

 located in Huntsville, Alabama

Huntsville, Alabama

Huntsville is a city located primarily in Madison County in the central part of the far northern region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Huntsville is the county seat of Madison County. The city extends west into neighboring Limestone County. Huntsville's population was 180,105 as of the 2010 Census....

. He served as Director from February 3, 1996 to January 3, 1998.

Education

• Attended Moultrie High School, graduating in 1957.
• Graduated from Georgia Tech in 1962 with a BME; Phi Eta Sigma
  Phi Eta Sigma
  Phi Eta Sigma is an American freshman honor society. Founded at the University of Illinois on March 22, 1923, is the oldest and largest freshman honor society and now has more than three hundred chapters throughout the United States and more than 1 million members.-Eligibility:Any first-year...
  
  , Pi Tau Sigma
  Pi Tau Sigma
  Pi Tau Sigma is an International Mechanical Engineering Honor Society. Pi Tau Sigma's core values are:*Integrity ,*Service , and...
  
  , Tau Beta Pi
  Tau Beta Pi
  The Tau Beta Pi Association is the oldest engineering honor society in the United States and the second oldest collegiate honor society in America. It honors engineering students who have shown a history of academic achievement as well as a commitment to personal and professional integrity...
  
   and Briaerean societies.
• Mechanical Engineering Masters degree from the University of Southern California
  University of Southern California
  The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
  
   in 1964.
• Doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin
  University of Texas at Austin
  The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
  
  , in 1969.
• Harvard University, Boston, MA, Advanced Management Program in 1990.

Early career

• Aerospace Engineer, North American, 1962
• worked in the propulsion area at Rocketdyne in Canoga Park, California, 1962-1964
• Research Engineer, Teledyne Brown Engineering Company, 1964

NASA career

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 booster rockets, blamed for the Challenger disaster

Space Shuttle Challenger disaster

The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred on January 28, 1986, when Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, leading to the deaths of its seven crew members. The spacecraft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of central Florida at 11:38 am EST...

in 1986.

During the two short 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.

External links

• NASA biography