James Francis Reilly II (born March 18, 1954) is an American

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

, retired

NASA 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 t ...

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

, and honorary

United States Marshal The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, operating under the direction of the Attorney General, but serves as the enforcem ...

who served as the 17th Director of the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

from 2018 to 2021. He flew on three

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...

missions:

STS-89 STS-89 was a Space Shuttle mission to the ''Mir'' space station flown by Space Shuttle Space Shuttle Endeavour, '' Endeavour'', and launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 22 January 1998. Crew Crew notes STS-89 was originally schedule ...

STS-104 STS-104 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle ''Atlantis''. Its primary objectives were to install the ''Quest'' Joint Airlock and help perform maintenance on the International Space Statio ...

and

STS-117 STS-117 ( ISS assembly flight 13A) was a Space Shuttle mission flown by Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'', launched from pad 39A of the Kennedy Space Center on 8 June 2007. ''Atlantis'' lifted off from the launch pad at 19:38 EDT. Damage from a hail ...

Early life and education

Reilly was born at

Mountain Home Air Force Base Mountain Home Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) installation in the western United States. Located in southwestern Idaho in Elmore County, the base is southwest of Mountain Home, which is southeast of Boise via Interstate ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

. He graduated from

Lake Highlands High School Lake Highlands High School (LHHS) is a secondary school serving grades 9-12 in the Lake Highlands area of northeastern Dallas, Texas, United States, primarily serving the Lake Highlands community. The school is part of the Richardson Independent Sc ...

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

, in 1972. He has three degrees from the

University of Texas at Dallas The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD or UT Dallas) is a public research university in Richardson, Texas. It is one of the largest public universities in the Dallas area and the northernmost institution of the University of Texas system. It wa ...

, a bachelor of science degree in

geosciences Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres ...

in 1977, a master of science degree in geosciences in 1987 and a doctorate in geosciences in 1995.

Career

In graduate school, Reilly was selected to participate in the 1977–1978 scientific expedition to

Marie Byrd Land Marie Byrd Land (MBL) is an unclaimed region of Antarctica. With an area of , it is the largest unclaimed territory on Earth. It was named after the wife of American naval officer Richard E. Byrd, who explored the region in the early 20th centur ...

West Antarctica West Antarctica, or Lesser Antarctica, one of the two major regions of Antarctica, is the part of that continent that lies within the Western Hemisphere, and includes the Antarctic Peninsula. It is separated from East Antarctica by the Transant ...

, as a research scientist specializing in stable isotope

geochronology Geochronology is the science of determining the age of rocks, fossils, and sediments using signatures inherent in the rocks themselves. Absolute geochronology can be accomplished through radioactive isotopes, whereas relative geochronology is pr ...

. In 1979, he started work as an exploration

with Santa Fe Minerals Inc., in Dallas, Texas. From 1980 to the time he was selected for the astronaut program, Reilly was employed as an oil and gas exploration geologist for Enserch Exploration Inc., in Dallas, Texas, rising to the position of Chief Geologist of the Offshore Region. At the same time, he was involved in applying new imaging technology for industrial applications in deep water engineering projects and biological research. Reilly spent approximately 22 days in deep submergence vehicles operated by

Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI, FAU Harbor Branch) is a non-profit oceanographic institution operated by Florida Atlantic University in Fort Pierce, Florida, United States. Founded in 1971 as non-profit research organization, the i ...

and the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

. NASA selected Reilly for the astronaut program in December 1994. He reported to the

Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U ...

in March 1995 and completed a year of training and evaluation, and qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist. Initially, he was assigned to work technical issues for the Astronaut Office Computer Support Branch. Reilly flew on

in 1998 and

in 2001. He has logged over 517 hours in space, including three spacewalks totaling 16 hours and 30 minutes. He has worked both on the

ISS The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (J ...

and

Mir ''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...

space stations. Reilly was next assigned as the Astronaut Office lead on Shuttle training. In 2007 was a member of the crew of

. Concurrent with his crew assignment he is designated as Payloads and Procedures Operations lead for the Astronaut Office ISS Branch. From January 2010 to May 2014, Reilly worked as the

American Public University System American Public University System (APUS) is a Private university, private, For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit, distance education, online university system with its headquarters in Charles Town, West Virginia. It is c ...

's Dean of the School of Science and Technology. In January 2018, U.S. President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

nominated Reilly to be the director of the

U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and ...

. The

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

confirmed him in April 2018. After leaving government service in 2020, Reilly later joined defense contractor

Booz Allen Hamilton Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (informally Booz Allen) is the parent of Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., an American management and information technology consulting firm, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in Greater Washington, D.C., with 8 ...

the following year as an executive adviser.

Organizations

Officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve. Member, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Naval Reserve Association, Tailhook Association, Reserve Officers Association, Association of Space Explorers.

Special honors

Antarctic Service Medal, 1978. US Navy

ROTC The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...

scholarship, 1972. Seventh Honorary

U.S. Marshal The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, operating under the direction of the Attorney General, but serves as the enforceme ...

, 2001.

Criticism

After James Reilly was appointed by President Trump to lead the U.S. Geological Survey he then instructed his office to abandon the traditional practice of using climate models that stretch to the end of the century and instead to only use climate models projecting the impact of climate change through 2040. His statements on the

National Climate Assessment The National Climate Assessment (NCA) is a United States government interagency ongoing effort on climate change science conducted under the auspices of the Global Change Research Act of 1990. The NCA is a major product of the U.S. Global Change Re ...

focused on scientific uncertainties rather than directly stating concurrence with opinions expressed by some scientists.

References

External links

Spacefacts biography of James F. Reilly
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reilly, James Francis II 1954 births Living people University of Texas at Dallas alumni American astronauts United States Geological Survey personnel United States Navy officers People from Mesquite, Texas People from Mountain Home, Idaho Trump administration personnel United States Navy reservists Space Shuttle program astronauts Spacewalkers Mir crew members