3 new flight directors selected for International Space Station missions

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - Three newNASA flight directors will manage International Space Station operations at Houston-based Johnson Space Center.

Amit Kshatriya, Jeffery Radigan, and Zebulon Scoville, who are all veteran employees at JSC, will lead teams of flight controllers, support personnel, and engineering experts in the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center.They also are involved in cargo and crew vehicle integration with the ISS and developing plans for future exploration missions.

"These new flight directors will help us transition the knowledge and experience gained from our human spaceflight programs into the next period of ISS operations," said chief flight director Norm Knight. "This includes the development of new technologies and techniques for our exploration and commercial endeavors."

Kshatriya, Radigan and Scoville will supervise U.S. commercial cargo spacecraft and American commercial crew transports as they arrive at and depart from the space station. They will also help ensure that crews of the orbiting laboratory have what they need to conduct scientific research and help better prepare NASA for long-duration exploration in deep space as part of the development of the Orion spacecraft and its Space Launch System heavy-lift vehicle.

The three flight directors will also assist crew members as they demonstrate emerging technologies aboard the space station that will help the agency accomplish more significant space exploration goals.

Following completion of training and certification, NASA will have 26 active flight directors supporting the space station, exploration, commercial spaceflights and new technology demonstration initiatives. BeforeKshatriya, Radigan, and Scoville were selected, 83 people had served as flight directors throughout the more than five decades of NASA-led human spaceflight.

Kshatriya started his career at JSC as an instructor for the space station robotics system responsible for training multiple space shuttle and station crews. He is from the Houston area and earned a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from the California Institute of Technology and a master's degree in mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin.

Radigan began his career at JSC as a member of the station flight control team assigned to the electrical power system. He is originally from Ohio, and earned bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from Ohio State University.

Scoville started his JSC career as both an instructor and flight controller for the Extravehicular Activity operations team and has experience in both space shuttle and space station operations. He is originally from Vermont and earned a bachelor's in mechanical engineering and a master's in astronautical engineering from Stanford University.

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3 new flight directors selected for International Space Station missions