Program manager for NASA's space shuttle program to step down

WASHINGTON (AFP) Apr 20, 2003
The head of NASA's space shuttle program is to leave the space agency for a job in private industry, the New York Times reported Sunday.

Shuttle program manager Ron Dittemore plans to return to work in private industry, the Times quoted officials at the Johnson Space Center in Houston Texas as saying.

Dittemore, 51, was appointed shuttle flight director in 1985. By 1993, he was a deputy manager of the shuttle program, before taking the top job in 1999.

His briefings in the days after the February 1 breakup of the shuttle Columbia drew praise for their candor and professionalism.

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