HOUSTON, April 30, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA has selected three new flight directors to manage International Space Station (ISS) operations. Amit Kshatriya, Jeffery Radigan and Zebulon Scoville join a select group of human spaceflight leaders in the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

NASA's flight directors lead teams of flight controllers, support personnel and engineering experts from around the world. They also are involved in cargo and crew vehicle integration with the station 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 are among the next-generation of flight directors who will help carry out future of human exploration missions. They will oversee U.S. commercial cargo spacecraft and American commercial crew transports as they arrive at and depart from the space station. They will help ensure the crews of the orbiting laboratory have what they need to conduct scientific research that is providing real benefits to people on Earth and allowing NASA to be better prepared for long-duration exploration in deep space as it develops the Orion spacecraft and its Space Launch System heavy-lift vehicle. The trio also will assist crew members as they demonstrate cutting-edge technologies aboard the space station that will help take the agency deeper into our solar system than ever before.

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. Before selecting Kshatriya, Radigan and Scoville, 83 people had served as NASA flight directors throughout the more than 50 years of human spaceflight.

The newly selected flight director class is:

Amit Kshatriya
Kshatriya started his career at Johnson as an instructor for the space station robotics system responsible for training multiple space shuttle and station crews. After completing training for the robotics flight control position, Kshatriya served as the lead robotics officer for SpaceX's Dragon demonstration mission in Decmeber 2010 and was responsible for planning and executing the first ISS robotic capture of a commercial vehicle. Kshatriya then became the Chief Training Officer (CTO), a position responsible for the overall integrated training of the flight control team and specifically served as the lead CTO for the fourth Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle mission in August 2013. Prior to selection as a flight director, Kshatriya was selected as the Robotics Operations Group lead, managing all operational, technical, and personnel aspects of the station's robotics system. Kshatriya originally is from the Houston area and earned a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from the California Institute of Technology followed by a master's degree in mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin.

Jeffery (Jeff) Radigan
Radigan began his career at Johnson as a member of the station flight control team assigned to the electrical power system. After completing his flight control certification, Radigan gained extensive experience serving as the electrical power system operations lead in various roles, including the first station battery replacement that occurred during the STS-127 mission of space shuttle Endeavour in 2009. Radigan transitioned to a Mission Operations program integration role where his responsibilities included coordinating a multitude of technical and operational positions and representing those positions to external programs. Radigan worked extensively on the verification of the first commercial vehicle to the space station and has participated in the operations work for commercial crew transportation. In addition to his program integration duties, Radigan serves as an operations safety engineer, which includes co-chairing the Safety review panels and reviewing and approving hazard reports. Radigan originally is from Sylvania, Ohio, and earned a bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from Ohio State University.

Zebulon (Zeb) Scoville
Scoville began his career at Johnson as both an Instructor and flight controller for the Extravehicular Activity (EVA) operations team and has experience in both space shuttle and space station operations. Scoville has supported 16 shuttle and numerous space station increment missions and was the lead spacewalk, or EVA, officer for shuttle missions STS-123, STS-128, and STS-131. Scoville also was instrumental in supporting shuttle thermal protection system inspection and repair technique development after the loss of space shuttle Columbia in 2003. Scoville was selected as the group lead in 2009 and was responsible for all operational, technical, and personnel aspects of the EVA Task Group. Most recently, Scoville was instrumental in his support of the Asteroid Redirect Mission analysis and was the primary author for the initial EVA feasibility study for this exploration concept. Scoville is originally from Middlesex, Vt., and earned a bachelor's in mechanical engineering and a master's in astronautical engineering from Stanford University.

Photos of the new flight directors are available online at:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/14094635043/

For information about the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

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SOURCE NASA