Edward J. Weiler (born 1949) was the Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate of the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding th ...

until his retirement on September 30, 2011.

Career

Edward J. Weiler received his

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline said, Astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the h ...

from Northwestern University in 1976. Prior to joining NASA, Weiler was a member of the Princeton University research staff. He joined Princeton in 1976 and was based at the Goddard Space Flight Center as the director of science operations of the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory-3 (COPERNICUS). Weiler was hired by Nancy Grace Roman as a staff scientist at NASA Headquarters in 1978 and was promoted to the Chief of the Ultraviolet/Visible and Gravitational Astrophysics Division in 1979. He also served as the Chief Scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope from 1979 until 1998. Before his 1998 appointment as Associate Administrator, he served as the Director of the Astronomical Search for Origins Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He had served as the Associate Administrator for NASA's Space Science Enterprise from 1998 to 2004. In 2000, Weiler oversaw both the cancellation of a decade-long-considered mission last called the Pluto Kuiper Express and the initiation of a low-cost Pluto mission similar in structure to the

Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous ''Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous – Shoemaker'' (''NEAR Shoemaker''), renamed after its 1996 launch in honor of planetary scientist Eugene Shoemaker, was a robotic space probe designed by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laborator ...

in November of the year. The latter Pluto mission had a launch target window in 2006 and a $500 million budget originally; it ultimately developed successfully into the

New Horizons ''New Horizons'' is an Interplanetary spaceflight, interplanetary space probe that was launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research ...

craft to fly by and study Pluto and its moons and, if possible, multiple

Kuiper Belt The Kuiper belt () is a circumstellar disc in the outer Solar System, extending from the orbit of Neptune at 30 astronomical units (AU) to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. It is similar to the asteroid belt, but is far larger—20 times ...

objectives beyond. Weiler took over leadership of the Goddard Space Flight Center as its 10th Center Director on August 1, 2004. He was named Associate Administrator of the Science Mission Directorate on May 7, 2008, by Administrator Michael D. Griffin. He had been appointed as interim chief of the directorate on March 26 from his position of Center Director of

Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC empl ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Weiler, Edward J. 1949 births Planetary scientists Living people Princeton University faculty NASA astrophysicists American astronomers Goddard Space Flight Center people Northwestern University alumni Scientists from Chicago

Career

See also

References

External links