"Leonard's broad operational experience in the U.S. space program, from Apollo to the space shuttle and International Space Station programs, reinforces our team's ability to help NASA design and build an innovative, yet affordable CEV at the lowest possible risk," said Doug Young, vice president of space systems for Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems sector and program manager for the Northrop Grumman-Boeing CEV team.

Earlier this year, NASA awarded a $28 million Phase 1 contract to the Northrop Grumman-Boeing team to perform trade studies for the development of a human-rated spacecraft. The CEV, a successor to the space shuttle, is expected to carry astronauts to the moon, Mars and beyond in coming decades. NASA plans to award a Phase 2 contract to design and build the CEV to a single contractor team in spring 2006.

Nicholson, a Boeing employee, will be responsible for coordinating the team's activities required to implement the overall CEV program. Keith Reiley, who had been acting deputy program manager, will now devote full attention to managing the team's spacecraft design activity and will serve as the lead for the Phase 1 contract effort.

"As the CEV deputy program manager, Leonard will use his experience to work seamlessly with the Northrop Grumman program leadership to support NASA's efforts to create a greater public understanding of the CEV as an important investment in the future of our country," said Chuck Allen, Boeing's Space Exploration Systems vice president and program manager.

Nicholson retired from NASA in 2000 and joined Boeing as a special assistant to the company's International Space Station program manager. In 2002, he was named International Space Station deputy program manager.

After 30 years in a variety of management and technical positions at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Nicholson was appointed in 1993 as director of engineering, where he was responsible for the technical oversight of the space-shuttle subsystems, technical support for shuttle anomaly resolution, development of initial concepts for the shuttle upgrades and technical support for the International Space Station subsystem development.

From 1989 to 1993, Nicholson was responsible for managing NASA's space- shuttle program. Under his leadership, NASA conducted 26 space-shuttle flights, including Magellan, Galileo and Ulysses planetary spacecraft deployments; Long Duration Exposure Facility retrieval; Hubble Space Telescope and Compton Gamma Ray Observatory deployment; Intelsat retrieval and upper stage replacement; four Spacelab missions; and four U.S. Department of Defense missions.

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