For Release: Jan. 17, 1995

Jerry Berg
Marshall Space Flight Center
Huntsville, Ala.

(Phone: 205 544-6528)

RELEASE NO: 95-3

ANDERSON GIVEN NEW RESPONSIBILITIES AT NASA CENTER

Sherwood H. Anderson, a manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., has been selected to head the United States Microgravity Payload missions, in which a variety of research investigations are carried aboard the Space Shuttle. In addition, Anderson was named manager of Shuttle Middeck Missions at the Center.

The U. S. Microgravity Payload missions are a complement of experiments using the Shuttle's cargo bay and are dedicated to sophisticated scientific investigations in the very low gravity conditions of space, or "microgravity."

Anderson is a manager in the Payload Projects Office at Marshall. That organization plays a key role in the development of science payloads to be flown aboard the Shuttle. The office is responsible for providing technical and programmatic monitoring of development activities and for providing selected hardware.

Anderson graduated from high school in Longmont, Colo., in 1960, and earned a bachelor of science degree in engineering physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1965. After joining the Marshall Center in 1965 and serving initially as a systems test engineer in the Quality Laboratory, he participated in the development and testing of early Apollo launch vehicles, Skylab and the Space Shuttle.

Anderson was assigned to NASA's European Office in Bremen, Germany, from 1980 through 1982 to support the development and delivery of the Spacelab system. On returning to Marshall, he was assigned to the Payload Projects Office to support the Spacelab 3 and Astro 1 missions. In January 1988, he was named Assistant Mission Manager for the U. S. Microgravity Payload missions.

Anderson has received NASA's Silver Snoopy Award for his work with the Spacelab missions. Among other awards received by Anderson was a NASA Certificate of Appreciation.

Anderson is married to the former Susan McCartney of Huntsville, Ala. They have one daughter, Katherine, who lives in Huntsville, and a son, Robert, in Carlstadt, New Jersey. He is the son of Mrs. Aurelia C. Anderson, who until recently was a resident of Longmont, Colo., and the late Harold V. Anderson.