Astronaut Steve Lindsey, a five-time shuttle veteran with more than 1500 hours in space is leaving NASA effective Friday, July 15. Lindsey is a retired colonel in the U.S. Air Force; he is leaving NASA to work in the aerospace industry. Lindsey has been a central figure within the corps, serving as head of the astronaut office from September 2006 until October of 2009.
In this capacity Lindsey was directly responsible selecting and training astronauts as well as crew operations in relation to both the shuttle and station programs. Lindsey also was in charge of spacecraft development. The current head of the astronaut office, Peggy Whitson, addressed Lindsey’s accomplishments in a press release announcing his departure from the space agency.
“Steve’s a consummate leader and has been a great role model within the corps,” Whitson said. “His calm demeanor and steady presence has been invaluable to not only his shuttle mission crews but also our office as a whole. I know he will be a great asset to the next team privileged to work with him.”
Lindsey commanded the final flight of the space shuttle Discovery, STS-133, which launched in February of 2011. He also led the STS-121 mission in 2006, as well as STS-104 in 2001. Lindsey served as the pilot on STS-95 and STS-87.
Lindsey’s departure is the latest of what has been a steady stream of astronauts to leave the space agency. Mark Kelly, Marsha Ivins, Dom Gorie, Jose Hernandez and numerous others have either already left NASA or have announced their intentions to do so.
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