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For release: 12/03/02
Release #: 02-302
Jody A. Singer, newly appointed manager of the Shuttle's Reusable Solid Rocket Motor Project Office, is the first woman to lead a Shuttle Project Office at the Marshall Center. Sandy C. Coleman will replace Singer as deputy manager of the Space Shuttle Projects Office.
Photo: Singer (left), Coleman (right) (NASA/MSFC)
Jody A. Singer has been named manager of the Space Shuttle Reusable Solid Rocket Motor Project at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. She is the first woman to lead a Shuttle Project Office at the Marshall Center.
Sandra C. Coleman will replace Singer as deputy manager of the Space Shuttle Projects Office. For the past three years, Coleman has served as chief operating officer and implementation manager of the National Space Science and Technology Center in Huntsville.
"The appointment of these highly qualified managers reflects the Marshall Center’s commitment to continued safe flight of the Space Shuttle," said Alex McCool, manager of the Space Shuttle Projects Office.
Singer will oversee the work of more than 1,000 government and contractor employees involved in design and production of the Reusable Solid Rocket Motors. The motors, the propulsion element of each solid rocket booster, are recovered at sea after each Shuttle launch and refurbished for use on future missions.
Coleman will lead the work of several thousand engineers and technicians responsible for the flight safety, performance and hardware integrity of the Space Shuttle’s propulsion elements — including the Main Engines, Solid Rocket Boosters, Reusable Solid Rocket Motors and External Tank. These propulsion elements boost the Shuttle into orbit during the first eight-and-a-half minutes of flight.
Formerly Jody Sandlin, Singer received her bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. She began her NASA career in 1985 in the Marshall Center’s Program Development Office. She joined the Space Shuttle Projects Office in 1987, where she was responsible for tracking and evaluating contractor hardware deliveries on the Space Shuttle Main Engine Project.
She was appointed program business manager for the Space Shuttle’s External Tank Project in 1990, and became the project’s assistant manager in 1996. She was appointed deputy of the External Tank Project in 1998, and in 2000 became assistant manager of the Space Shuttle Project Office.
Singer has been recognized with NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal, the Agency’s award for Improved Financial and Resource Management, and as a Space Flight Awareness Honoree. She also participated in NASA Fellowships at the Simmons College Graduate School of Management in Boston, and at Pennsylvania State University in State College, Pa. NASA Fellowship participants are chosen for their leadership, management ability, work experience and achievements.
Coleman joined NASA in 1965, working in Marshall’s Saturn program office, supporting the effort that launched Americans to the Moon. In 1969, she became a member of the Space Shuttle Task Team and served in three of the four main project offices — External Tank Project, Solid Rocket Booster Project and Reusable Solid Rocket Motor Project.
In the Shuttle Projects Office, she served as business manager, assistant project manager and deputy project manager of the reusable motor project office. In that role, Coleman became the first woman from Marshall to monitor and verify flight-readiness for a Space Shuttle launch from the Main Firing Room “hot seat.” In 1997, she was appointed deputy chief financial officer for resources at the Marshall Center.
In 1999, Coleman joined Marshall’s Science Directorate to manage the operations at the National Space Science and Technology Center during its critical start-up period. The center unites government, industry and academia to further science and engineering research.
Formerly Sandra Cooley, Coleman earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and her master’s degree in industrial engineering from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa — a degree that resulted from Coleman being one of the first women selected for Marshall’s highly competitive full-time graduate study program.
She has received numerous awards, including NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal, Exceptional Service Medal and the Silver Snoopy, awarded by astronauts to recognize outstanding contributions to human space flight missions.
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