posted 07-10-2019 08:17 PM               

I am grateful for Bill's leadership. He has provided the strategic vision for some of NASA's most important efforts, including the International Space Station, Commercial Crew Program, the lunar Gateway, Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. We, as a nation, are thankful for his service in advancing America's priorities and expanding the limits of science, technology and exploration.

Former astronaut Ken Bowersox has been named to succeed Gerstenmaier as the acting associate administrator of HEO, effective immediately.

In honoring Gerstenmaier with the 2010 National Space Trophy, the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement Foundation summarized his career as follows:

From Akron Ohio, Gerstenmaier began his NASA career in 1977 at the Lewis (now Glenn) Research Center in Cleveland, performing aeronautical research. He was involved with the wind tunnel tests that were used to develop the calibration curves for the air data probes used during entry on the space shuttle.

Gerstenmaier moved to Houston in 1980 to work at the Johnson Space Center (JSC). He served as a Propulsion Officer in the Mission Control Center during the early Space Shuttle program. Beginning in 1988, Gerstenmaier headed the Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle (OMV) Operations Office.

Subsequently, he headed Space Shuttle/Space Station Freedom Assembly Operations Office and served as Chief, Projects and Facilities Branch, Flight Design and Dynamics Division.

Gerstenmaier also served as Shuttle/Mir Program Operations Manager from 1995 to 1997. During this time, he acted as the primary liaison to the Russian Space Agency for operational issues and negotiated all protocols used in support of operations during the Shuttle/Mir missions. In 1997, the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement (RNASA) Foundation honored him with a Stellar Award in the Mid-Career category for his work on the Phase 1 Mir program.

In 1998, Gerstenmaier became manager of Space Shuttle Program Integration, where he had responsibility for the overall management, integration, and operations. In December 2000, he was named deputy manager of the International Space Station Program. He was named International Space Station program manager in 2002. He became NASA Associate Administrator for Space Operations in 2005.

posted 12-19-2019 11:38 AM               

Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA former associate administrator for human operations and exploration, has resigned from the agency. Last day was Dec. 6.

posted 02-11-2020 11:59 AM               

SpaceX is only a couple of months away from its first attempt at launching astronauts and the company has brought in one of the foremost experts in human spaceflight to help it do so successfully.

William Gerstenmaier, the former leader of NASA’s human spaceflight program, has now begun working at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, people familiar with his hiring told CNBC. In his new role Gerstenmaier is reporting to SpaceX vice president of mission assurance Hans Koenigsmann, those people said, as the company prepares to begin launching astronauts.