Dwayne C.

Brown
Headquarters, Washington, DC May 7, 1998
(Phone: 202/358-1726)

RELEASE: 98-78

ARMSTRONG NAMED ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR FOR

AERONAUTICS AND SPACE TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGY

Lt. Gen. Spence M. (Sam) Armstrong (USAF, Ret.) has been

named to head NASA's Aeronautics and Space Transportation
Technology Enterprise at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC,
effective May 11, 1998, Administrator Daniel S. Goldin announced
today.

Armstrong's extensive career includes experience in flight

testing and astronautical engineering as well as command at five
different levels within the U.S. Air Force. He has served as
NASA's Associate Administrator for Human Resources and Education
since September 1991. (Stanley S. Kask Jr. will serve as acting
Associate Administrator for this office.) Prior to that
assignment, Armstrong served as director of program architecture
for the Synthesis Group, formed as a temporary organization from
1990-1991 to develop long-range program architectures for the U.S.
human space flight program.

As Associate Administrator, Armstrong will be responsible for

strategic planning, requirements definition and budgetary
formulation of NASA's aeronautics research and space
transportation technology activities. Armstrong's duties will
include overall responsibility for each of NASA's four
aeronautical research centers -- Ames, Moffett Field, CA; Dryden,
Edwards Air Force Base, CA; Langley, Hampton, VA; and Lewis,
Cleveland, OH.

"We are at a crucial time for NASA, the Nation and the world
in aerospace technology," Goldin said. "We have the traditional
aeronautics research and we have the technologies that are
emerging from the efforts in space transportation. NASA needs to
fully integrate the two to get the leverage and synergy needed if
we are to be the future aerospace leader. I've chosen Sam
Armstrong because he has the technical background and proven
track record as a leader. He has my complete backing to make this
happen through organizational changes within the enterprise and
through cooperation with other government agencies, the aerospace
industry and the international community."

Armstrong is a retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General and

command pilot with over 4,500 hours (including 100 missions over
North Vietnam in the F-105) flying time in 50 different aircraft.
He was Vice Commander of Air Force Systems Command from July 1987
to April 1990, and prior to that was Vice Commander in Chief,
Military Airlift Command.

From July 1983 to July 1985 he was Chief of the U.S. Military
Training Mission to Saudi Arabia. He also served as Commander,
Air Force Military Training Center, San Antonio, TX; Deputy Chief
of Staff for Technical Training, Air Training Command; Deputy
Director for Space and C3, DCS Research, Development, and
Acquisition, Headquarters USAF, the Pentagon; Assistant Deputy
Chief of Staff for Operations, Air Training Command; Commander,
80th Flying Training Wing, Sheppard Air Force Base, TX; Base
Commander and, later, Deputy for logistics, 12th Flying Training
Wing, Randolph AFB, TX.

He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD, with

a BS in engineering. Armstrong also received master's degrees in
both astronautical and instrumentation engineering from the
University of Michigan. He also attended Harvard University's
Senior Managers in Government Program; Columbia University's
Executive Program in Business Administration; the USAF Aerospace
Research Pilot School, Edwards Air Force Base, CA; and the Air War
College.

He is married to the former Beth Webb of Myrtle Beach, SC,

and they have two children and three grandchildren.

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