NASA's Ares Project Manager Resigns

Steve Cook, manager of NASA’s Ares Projects Office at Marshall Space Flight Center that is developing new rockets to replace the space shuttle system, announced today that he is leaving NASA. Beginning September 14, he will become Director of Space Technologies at Dynetics in Huntsville, AL. Teresa Vanhooser will be Acting Manager of the Ares Projects Office effective August 31.

Mr. Cook’s announcement comes on the same day that the initial test firing of the Ares 1 first stage was halted because of a problem with an Auxiliary Power Unit (APU). He said in a widely distributed email that he was certain the issue would be quickly resolved. He said that he had “wrestled with making this decision [to leave NASA] for the past year and the time has come for my transition.”