12.07.

04

Keith Henry
Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.
(Phone: 757/864-6120)
RELEASE: 04-076

NASA NAMES DEPUTY FOR ENGINEERING AND SAFETY CENTER

The NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) has named Richard "Rick"
Gilbrech as its new deputy director. Gilbrech was formerly a NESC
principal engineer and, before that, was assistant director of NASA
Stennis Space Center (SSC), Miss.

The NESC, an independent organization formed in November 2003 in the

wake of the Space Shuttle Columbia accident, coordinates and conducts
robust engineering testing and safety assessments to support critical
NASA projects and programs.

While serving as a NESC principal engineer, Gilbrech led assessments

of the CALIPSO satellite propulsion system and the Space Shuttle
reaction jet driver. As the NESC deputy, he helps lead a staff of 30
at its headquarters at NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.,
and an extended staff of engineering specialists distributed
throughout the Agency.

Image to right: Richard Gilbrech, Deputy Director of the NASA

Engineering and Safty Center. Credit: NASA
+ High resolution JPG (345K)
+ Biography

Gilbrech began his career with NASA at SSC in 1991 starting in

Propulsion Test Technology. At Stennis, he served as project manager
for the X-30 National Aerospace Plane project and, later, as project
manager for the X-33 project. From 1998 to 2000, he served as chief
of the Propulsion Test Engineering Directorate until departing for a
six-month detail at Johnson Space Center (JSC) as technical assistant
to the Space Shuttle Program Manager. He returned to SSC and was
selected as deputy director of Propulsion Test. In 2003 he became
manager of SSC's Program Integration Office responsible for managing
NASA's rocket propulsion test facilities located at SSC and at
multiple sites around the country.

Gilbrech received a B.S. degree in Aerospace Engineering from

Mississippi State University followed by a M.S. and Ph.D. in
Aeronautics from the California Institute of Technology.

Significant awards include a NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal in

2002 and being named a Space Flight Awareness Launch Honoree in 1999.

Gilbrech considers Holly Grove, Ark., his hometown. He is married to

Shelly Martin and has 2 children, Ryan, age 14, and Brandon, age 8.

He replaces Paul Munafo, who has taken a new safety-related position,

assistant director for safety and engineering, at NASA Marshall Space
Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.

For more information about NESC on the Internet, visit:

http://nesc.nasa.gov

-end-