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For release: 02/15/02
Release #: 02-033
Susan Turner, Jeff Sexton named to top positions in NASA's Space Launch Initiative
Susan Turner and Jeff Sexton have been named to top positions supporting NASA's Space Launch Initiative at the Marshall Center. Turner is the new deputy manager for Flight Demonstration and Experiments Integration. Sexton will be project manager of the X-37 technology demonstrator.
Photo: Susan Turner, Jeff Sexton (NASA/MSFC)
Susan Turner and Jeff Sexton have been named to top positions supporting NASA's Space Launch Initiative -- an effort to develop and flight test key technologies for the next generation reusable launch vehicle -- at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Turner is the new deputy manager for Flight Demonstration and Experiments Integration. Sexton will be the project manager of the X-37 technology demonstrator, a reusable spaceplane.
NASA's Space Launch Initiative (SLI) is designing space transportation systems that can fulfill civil and defense mission requirements, while developing the technologies needed to build and operate a second-generation reusable launch vehicle.
The Flight Demonstration and Experiments Integration Office is a technology component within the Second Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle Program, part of the Space Launch Initiative. Before a safer, more reliable and cost-effective new launch system can be built; selected hardware and software technologies must first be flight-tested.
Turner, a member of the Marshall team since 1986, was most recently project manager on the X-37. In 1998, she was named assistant director of Marshall's Propulsion Laboratory, where she led strategic planning efforts. In 1992, she was named chief of the Propulsion System Design Branch and led design efforts for the National Launch System and future reusable launch vehicles. She has a wide range of experience, including work on the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Motor, the Inertial Upper Stage, and the International Space Station.
Prior to joining NASA, Turner worked for the Directed Energy Directorate of the U.S. Army Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville.
A native of Huntsville, Turner holds a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Auburn University and a master's in engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. She is completing her dissertation for a doctorate in industrial and systems engineering, and engineering management.
Sexton, who joined NASA in 1986, most recently served as Non-Advocate Review manager in the Second Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle Program's Integration and Risk Management Office. Prior to that, he directed the management of the Small Payload Access to Space Experiment (SPASE) Project, and was deputy manager of the X-34 Project.
Sexton also has served as Program Robotics Analysis and Integration manager and Robotic Workstation project manager within the International Space Station at Johnson Space Center in Houston. At Marshall, he was Fastrac Engine operations and maintenance test team leader and Hubble Space Telescope Deployment and Repair Mission lead test engineer for the Neutral Buoyancy.
A native of Austin, Ind., Sexton holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. He now lives in Huntsville.
Marshall Center is a key leader in NASA's efforts in development of space transportation and propulsion systems and technologies.
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