NASA'S Marshall Center Director David King Receives Presidential Rank Award -- Nation's Highest Honor for Federal Service

NASA'S Marshall Center Director David King Receives Presidential Rank
Award -- Nation's Highest Honor for Federal Service

08.05.05

Kim Newton
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
(Phone: 256.544.0034)

News release: 05-133

David A. King, director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in
Huntsville, Ala., has been awarded the Presidential Rank Award for
Distinguished Executives -- the highest honor attainable for government
work.

The Presidential Rank Award is given annually to a select group of senior
federal executives for outstanding leadership and service in some of the
most critical positions in federal government. Executives who have
consistently demonstrated strength, integrity and commitment to public
service in their careers are nominated for the award by members of their
agency. Review boards, made up of private citizens, refer a select few to
the President for approval.

King is one of only four NASA employees nationwide to be honored. He is one
of only 55 members of the Senior Executive Service, a corps of highly
qualified executives who fill top positions in the federal government, to be
selected for the Distinguished Executive award by the President. That rank
is awarded to just 1 percent of the more than 7,800 career members of the
Senior Executive Service.

"I am honored to receive the Presidential Rank Award, one I share with the
entire Marshall team," King said. "This award recognizes all the work
accomplished here at the Marshall Center and our commitment to excellence in
furthering NASA's mission and the Vision for Space Exploration." The Vision
for Space Exploration calls for the safe return of the Space Shuttle to
flight to complete the International Space Station, and human and robotic
exploration of the Solar System.

In 2001, King received the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious
Executives, recognizing high-performing senior career employees for
long-term accomplishments.

As director of the Marshall Center, King heads one of NASA's largest field
installations, with more than 6,200 civil service and contractor employees
and an annual budget of approximately $2 billion. Named to the position in
2003, he manages a broad range of propulsion, scientific and space
transportation activities contributing to the nation's space program.

Prior to his appointment as director, King served as deputy director of the
Marshall Center from 2002 until 2003. In that capacity, he played a key role
in NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia recovery operations based in Lufkin, Texas,
in 2003. He served as the senior on-site NASA official, directing efforts to
search for clues and recover debris from the Feb. 1, 2003, accident.

King joined NASA in 1983 as a main propulsion system engineer at the Kennedy
Space Center in Florida. He held numerous managerial and leadership
positions at Kennedy, including deputy director of Shuttle Processing in
1996; Shuttle launch director in 1997; and director of Shuttle Processing in
1999. King again assumed the responsibilities of Shuttle launch director in
1999, overseeing six Space Shuttle launches, including missions to the
Russian space station Mir, the International Space Station, and a repair
mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. In 2000, he was named director of
Space Shuttle processing, managing and coordinating all Shuttle processes
and launch operations at the Kennedy Center and overseeing the work of
approximately 5,400 civil service and contractor employees.

King, a native of Sumter, S. C., earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical
engineering from the University of South Carolina in Columbia in 1983 and a
master's degree in business administration from the Florida Institute of
Technology in Melbourne in 1991.

In 2000 and 2004, King was recognized with the NASA Outstanding Leadership
Medal for notable outstanding leadership affecting technical or
administrative Agency programs. He received, in 1996, the NASA Exceptional
Service Medal, an award granted for significant sustained performance and
characterized by unusual initiative or creative ability.

King and his wife, the former Lisa Bashaw of Columbus, Ohio, have two
daughters and reside in Madison.




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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info