Anthony Lavoie

Please visit http://chandra.nasa.gov/lavoie.html for Tony's NASA bio. Tony Lavoie has been named director of the newly created Space Systems Programs/Projects Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Lavoie will lead the Marshall organization responsible for the execution of Space Systems Programs and Projects supporting NASA's science and exploration activities. The organization also will provide International Space Station support, including production of eight new racks to house experiments on board the Station, as well as design and production of a life support system to supply clean water and air for the Space Station crew. The Space Systems office — with roughly 180 civil service employees — also is responsible for Nodes 2 and 3 – Space Station connectors for international laboratories in space — and three Multipurpose Logistics Modules, or "moving vans," that will carry laboratory racks via the Space Shuttle to and from the Station. The organization also is in charge of the NASA Chandra X-ray Observatory Program Office, overseeing operations of the world's most powerful X-ray telescope, as well as pursuing advanced concepts such as space solar power and space elevators. The Space Systems office also manages Gravity Probe B — the current mission testing Einstein's theory of relativity. "I am very excited about assuming responsibilities to lead a new office of incredibly diverse activities, including a team managing some of the most important NASA missions to explore our Solar System — the Discovery and New Frontiers Program,"said Lavoie. "Our space systems team continues to do great work while at the same time is preparing to make a significant contribution to the Vision for Space Exploration — calling for NASA to return humans to the Moon, then travel to Mars and beyond. Change brings new possibilities, and we will help make those possibilities reality." Lavoie most recently served as director of the Flight Projects Directorate, responsible for project management, design, development, integration, testing, and operations of ground and flight systems for the International Space Station, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and other programs. He previously held positions, including deputy director of Flight Projects, manager of the Chandra X-ray Observatory, launched in July 1999, as well as chief engineer for the Tethered Satellite System Project and chief of telescope and science instruments for the Chandra Chief Engineer Office. In 2000, Lavoie received the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal for his work with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. He also received the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal in 1992 for his performance as lead for the Spacelab Instrument Pointing System on the Astro-1 Mission — the Space Shuttle-borne, astronomical observatory that combined observations from four telescopes to make simultaneous observations of 130 objects in space; and a Marshall Center Director's Commendation in 1986 for his contribution to the Spacelab 2 Mission — a microgravity science laboratory that carried hundreds of experiments inside the Space Shuttle's payload bay. Lavoie received a bachelor's degree in aeronautics and astronautics in 1981 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass.