NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said Friday he has named Simon P. “Pete” Worden as the next director of Ames Research Center at Moffet Field, Calif. Worden is a retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general and a research professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
During his Air Force service, Worden held director- and deputy-director-level positions with the Air Force Space Command, where he was responsible for developing new programs, including next generation launch concepts.
He also was commander of the 50th Space Wing of the Air Force Space Command, and served as second deputy for technology with the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization, where he received the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal for directing the 1994 Clementine lunar probe mission.
Ames is located in California’s Silicon Valley at the core of the research cluster of high-tech companies, universities and laboratories that define the region’s character. With more than $3 billion in capital equipment, 2,500 researchers on staff and approximately $600 million in its annual budget, Ames has a significant economic impact in the region.
Worden holds a bachelor’s degree in astronomy from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a doctorate in astronomy from the University of Arizona.
