Michael Ryschkewitsch
Encyclopedia
Michael Ryschkewitsch is the Chief Engineer of the United States
National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
. He joined the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
in 1982 to work as a cryogenics
engineer on the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) mission. He worked on a number of other projects, including the first servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope
. He later served as the chairperson of the Genesis spacecraft
mishap investigation board, and discovered a test that Lockheed Martin
had skipped that would have prevented the mishap.
Ryschkewitsch was eventually promoted to Deputy Director of Goddard Space Flight Center in 2005, and then to Chief Engineer of NASA in 2007. He was the third person in a row to go from Deputy Director of Goddard Space Flight Center to Chief Engineer of NASA, after Rex Geveden
and Christopher Scolese
; the first two were also then promoted to Associate Administrator of NASA.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Education & Career
Michael Ryschkewitsch earned a B.S. in physics from the University of Florida, Gainesville, and a Ph.D. from Duke UniversityDuke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
. He joined the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Goddard Space Flight Center
The Goddard Space Flight Center is a major NASA space research laboratory established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center. GSFC employs approximately 10,000 civil servants and contractors, and is located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, USA. GSFC,...
in 1982 to work as a cryogenics
Cryogenics
In physics, cryogenics is the study of the production of very low temperature and the behavior of materials at those temperatures. A person who studies elements under extremely cold temperature is called a cryogenicist. Rather than the relative temperature scales of Celsius and Fahrenheit,...
engineer on the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) mission. He worked on a number of other projects, including the first servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope
Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by a Space Shuttle in 1990 and remains in operation. A 2.4 meter aperture telescope in low Earth orbit, Hubble's four main instruments observe in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared...
. He later served as the chairperson of the Genesis spacecraft
Genesis (spacecraft)
The Genesis spacecraft was a NASA sample return probe which collected a sample of solar wind and returned it to Earth for analysis. It was the first NASA sample return mission to return material since the Apollo Program, and the first to return material from beyond the orbit of the Moon...
mishap investigation board, and discovered a test that Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....
had skipped that would have prevented the mishap.
Ryschkewitsch was eventually promoted to Deputy Director of Goddard Space Flight Center in 2005, and then to Chief Engineer of NASA in 2007. He was the third person in a row to go from Deputy Director of Goddard Space Flight Center to Chief Engineer of NASA, after Rex Geveden
Rex Geveden
Rex Geveden is the president of Teledyne Brown Engineering in Huntsville, Alabama. Previously he was the Associate Administrator of NASA. He was selected for that position by NASA chief Michael Griffin on August 17, 2005, after having served in an acting capacity since June of that year. Griffin...
and Christopher Scolese
Christopher Scolese
Christopher Scolese is the Associate Administrator of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration and served as that agency's acting Administrator during the period following Michael D. Griffin's resignation, effective January 20, 2009, until Charles F...
; the first two were also then promoted to Associate Administrator of NASA.