March 7, 1995

Brian Dunbar
Headquarters,
Washington, D.C.
(Phone:  202/358-0873)

Jan Ruff
Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD  20771
(Phone:  301/286-6255)

RELEASE:  95-073

GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER'S DEPUTY DIRECTOR RETIRES

		NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Deputy Director Tom Huber announced he will 
retire from NASA effective March 31, 1995, after more than 30 years with the Agency.

	Tom’s overwhelming dedication and commitment to the Goddard Space Flight Center is 
without measure, said Dr. John Klineberg, Director, Goddard Space Flight Center. 
He’s not 
only been a great asset to me as a deputy, but Tom also encouraged and inspired hundreds of 
people in a positive way.  He will be sorely missed.

		In making this announcement, Huber said, Goddard is the finest technical institution in the 
world!  The dedication and capability of the workforce is unsurpassed.  I will sorely miss 
Goddard, but mostly the people who  are like a second family to me.  I wish everyone successful 
happiness in the future.

	Prior to becoming Goddard’s Deputy Center Director, Huber was Director of Engineering 
from March 1990 to February 1994.   

	Huber began his career at Goddard as a controls engineer of the Orbiting Astronomical 
Observatory (OAO) satellite in 1964.  He served in progressively more responsible positions and 
became group leader in the Engineering Directorate’s Controls Branch and later controls 
manager for the Advanced Technology Satellite-F, an advanced communications satellite
launched in May 1974.   
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	He became associate division chief of the directorate’s System Division in 1974 and, 
later, served as head of the System and Operation Office in that division for seven years.  In 
1981, he was selected Chief of the Space Technology Division in the Engineering Directorate 
and was appointed Deputy Director of Engineering in March 1988.

	Huber received a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, 
Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1955.  He is the recipient of the NASA Exceptional Performance Award in 
1973, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Award in 1986 and received the NASA Distinguished 
Service Medal in 1994.

		During his tenure at Goddard, Huber was an aggressive advocate for employee 
development, particularly encouraging young people in the field of engineering and, as a strong 
supporter of education, Huber chaired the Center’s Education Council and established the 
Goddard Office of Education.  Huber lead the Center change to accept greater quantities of  smaller, cheaper and faster work.  In addition, he helped develop the (in-house) Small Explorers 
Program (SMEX), which is a significant grass roots program for the center and agency.

		To enrich the Goddard workplace, Huber was a champion of valuing and seeking diversity 
in the work environment and a patron of innovation in engineering as well as management.  A 
number of special advisory groups have flourished under his guidance.

		As GSFC deputy director, Huber has been responsible for assisting the director in planning, 
organizing and directing the day-to-day activities required to accomplish the missions assigned to 
one of NASA’s most diversified centers.  GSFC is engaged in extending the horizons of human 
knowledge not only about the solar system and the universe, but also about our Earth and its 
environment.

		The Goddard mission is being accomplished through scientific research centered in six 
space and Earth science laboratories and in the development and operation of several current and 
future space projects such as the Hubble Space Telescope, the Geostationary Operational 
Environmental Satellites, the Mission to Planet Earth spacecraft, and the Explorer program.  These 
orbiting spacecraft fall under the 24-hour-a-day surveillance of a worldwide ground and 
spaceborne communications network, the nerve center of which is located at Goddard.  A key 
element of that network is the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) with its orbiting 
satellites and associated ground tracking stations.

		GSFC, including the Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, employs more 
than 14,000 employees, of which approximately 10,000 are contract employees.  The annual 
budget is more than $2.5 billion.  

	In his retirement, Mr. Huber plans to travel, devote time to his family and be involved in 
community activities.


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