Michael Stofferahn has been appointed VP-North American sales for the Kaydon Bearings Div., Muskegon, Mich. He was VP and general manager of Rexnord Product Services.

Facing estimates of at least a 30% possibility the International Space Station will need to be abandoned prematurely, NASA isn't taking any chances that the commercial cargo and crew vehicles it is funding will worsen those odds by causing a mishap.

Greg Diognardi has been appointed Falcon 900 technical sales manager at StandardAero Business Aviation, Tempe, Ariz. He was regional sales manager for Landmark Aviation.

Philip King (see photo) has been appointed president of San Jose, Calif.-based Vision Systems International, succeeding Drew Brugal. King has held leadership positions at McDonnell Douglas and Boeing.

Hannele Malin has been appointed VP-internal auditing at Finnair, succeeding Erkki Lehtinen, who will retire. Malin was manager for government, risk and compliance services at Deloitte & Touche.

Gen. Jean-Paul Palomeros (see photo), chief of staff of the French air force, has become director of the European Air Group, based at RAF Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, for a two-year term. He succeeds Lt. Gen. Aarne Kreuzinger-Janik, commander of the German air force.

Bill Gerstenmaier (see photo), NASA associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, has received the Von Karman Lectureship in Astronautics award, given by the Washington-based American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics. He was recognized for his leadership in human spaceflight, culminating in the space shuttle and International Space Station programs.

Bernd Munzenmayer has become senior sales adviser for Pro Star Aviation, Londonderry, N.H., supporting new Sales Director Clark Gordon. Munzenmayer is a founder of Pro Star. Julie Weber has been promoted to VP from senior director of people for Southwest Airlines.