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News
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
Houston, Texas 77058
AC 713 483-5111
Mission Operations Names Two New Flight Directors
Two new flight directors have been named within the Mission Operations Directorate at Johnson Space Center.
The two, both veteran flight controllers, are Jeffrey W. Bantle and Philip L. Engelauf.
During Space Shuttle missions, flight directors lead the large cadre of operators within the Mission Control Center who are responsible for monitoring spacecraft systems and operations. Flight Directors have overall responsibility for the conduct of the mission and for real-time decision making as flight events unfold.
Bantle, Head of the Guidance and Control Systems Section in the Systems Division, has served as Guidance, Navigation and Control Officer (GNC) in Mission Control for several Shuttle missions.
He was born in Marinette, WI, in September 1958 and graduated from Marinette High School in 1976 before going on to earn a B.A. in math and physics from Ripon College in Ripon, WI, in 1980. He later earned a master's in aeronautical engineering from George Washington University, Washington, D.C., while working in supersonic aircraft studies at NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA before coming to Houston in September 1982.
Bantle worked for Ford Aerospace in the Guidance and Control Systems Section for two years, then became a NASA employee in 1984. Bantle was named Section Head in 1988. His console experience in the Mission Control Center began with the sixth Space Shuttle flight in 1983.
Engelauf, born in Riverside, CA, in October 1956, is a 1974 graduate of Rubidoux High School and a 1978 graduate of the California Institute of Technology, where he earned a B.S. in engineering and applied sciences.
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