Joseph T. Bielitzki, DVM, has been named to the newly created position of chief veterinary officer for NASA. Veteran astronaut Kathryn C. Thornton will leave NASA on Aug. 1 to join the faculty of the University of Virginia.
Former NSA Director, Lt. General William E. Odom (US Army -Ret.), has joined the board of directors of V-One Corp. Odom is currently director of National Security Studies for Hudson Institute and adjunct professor at Yale University.
Sen. Trent Lott is projected to beat his Mississippi colleague, Sen. Thad Cochran, in a special GOP election Wednesday for the post of Senate Majority Leader, being vacated by Sen. Bob Dole. Several defense advocates in the Senate say the promotion of Lott, who is now Majority Whip, would be good news for the Pentagon. Lott, who also chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee's strategic forces panel, "understands the issues and will be able to push our bill through on the floor," a SASC aide remarks.
Ronald N. Hoge, who most recently served as president of the Aerospace Equipment Systems Division of AlliedSignal, has been elected president and chief executive officer. He succeeds MagneTek's founder, Andrew G. Galef, who continues as chairman of the board.
The House Appropriations Committee, noting that many of the military's passenger aircraft aren't equipped with flight data recorders and navigation aids like the Global Positioning System, urges the Defense Dept. to "move quickly" with its plan for accelerated installation of such systems. The committee provided the requested additional $170.6 million for accelerated installation on aircraft like the CT-43 that crashed in Croatia on April 3, taking the lives of Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown and 34 others.
Work on the fiscal '97 defense authorization bill is slated to begin in the Senate tomorrow afternoon, but two of its leading proponents might have their minds elsewhere. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) and SASC Air Land Subcommittee Chairman John Warner (R-Va.) both have primaries to win. While Thurmond should topple his challenger, Warner's race is expected to be very close. Thurmond's aides say he will try to return from South Carolina as soon as possible tomorrow to get back to the Hill in time for the debate.
Europe's Airbus Industrie consortium is 21 jetliners ahead of rival Boeing in new orders booked through the first four months of 1996, after taking cancellations into account, a remarkable comeback from a market- share battering in 1995, Merrill Lynch aerospace analyst Byron Callan told investors last week.
Robert R. Moore, who most recently served as senior vice president - production operations at Sikorsky, was appointed executive vice president - aircraft products. Moore succeeds Hansel E. Tookes, who was recently appointed president - government engine business at Pratt&Whitney, Florida.
The House Appropriations Committee provides $50 million for Force XXI, the Army's top priority unfunded project, but adds a word of caution about Training and Doctrine Command's attempt to design the division of the early 21st century. While it endorses the Army's approach of using a streamlined acquisition process, the committee is concerned that technologies proven in Force XXI exercises may not be successful when fielded.
Robert L. Carberry, former corporate vice president, new technology for Blockbuster/Viacom Group and corporate vice president, managing executive for Blockbuster Technology Holding Corp., has been appointed chairman, president and chief executive officer of Harris Computer Systems Co.
LT. GEN. HOWELL M. ESTES III has been nominated for promotion to general and assignment as commander of NORAD, U.S. Space Command and Air Force Space Command, replacing Gen. Joseph W. Ashy, who is retiring. Estes is now director for operations, Joint Staff, at the Pentagon.
Boeing engineers on the International Space Station project believe they can meet the flight dates for two pressurized node structures that showed troublesome anomalies during pressure testing last month, although modifications may be needed to reinforce the critical Station components.
C. Fredrik Groth has been named group vice president in charge of the company's commercial aircraft-maintenance and modification activities which operate under the trade-style Pemco World Air Services.
Srinivasan Shankar was named vice president of turbine services marketing. Prior to joining the company, Shankar was business center manager at Turbine Components Corp., Branford, Conn.
Roger Wright has been named president of Menasco Aerospace, a unit of Coltec Aerospace Canada Ltd. He succeeds Pablo Prieto, who retains his responsibility as a Coltec Industries group president.
The Senate Intelligence Committee has been holding up full Senate consideration of the Senate Armed Services Committee's defense authorization legislation for weeks. Last Thursday, SASC had a chance to get even. In a closed markup, SASC outlined and changed the portions of the intelligence authorization bill it doesn't agree with. The changes, mostly on intelligence community reform proposals, "directly reflect our final proposal to the Senate Intelligence Committee," said SASC Chairman Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.).
Dean T. DuCray, vice president and chief financial officer of York International Corporation in York, Pa., was elected a member of the board of directors for Precision Castparts Corp.
Paul T. Tucker has been named vice president, business development. He comes to CSC after serving as president and chief executive officer of Knight-Ridder Financial.
Ben Medley has joined Tracor Aerospace, Inc., as vice president of operations. Edward C. Rizzotti has been named vice president and general manager of the Cross Systems Division for Tracor Aerospace, Inc.
Goldin says NASA may try to act as anchor tenant for a new type of commercial remote sensing spacecraft, which uses laser radar (lidar) to measure wind direction and speed. Although first demonstrated on the Space Shuttle in 1984, Goldin says, earlier designs for a lidar satellite were deemed too expensive at a billion dollars a pop. Now the U.S. space agency has had feelers from "a couple of companies" that want to use the NASA technology in a commercial platform, with the government as the main customer.
William C. Hoover has been elected a corporate vice president of Litton Industries Inc. He will continue as president of Litton subsidiary PRC, Inc. Leonard Pomata was named president of PRC. He served most recently as senior vice president and general manager of PRC's system integration business unit.
