John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA‘s science mission directorate, will retire from his post by the end of April.
The four-decade space agency veteran has managed over 100 space missions, including the Curiosity Mars rover landing, New Horizons Pluto flyby and the Deep Space Climate Observatory, Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 and Global Precipitation Measurement programs, NASA said Wednesday.
He was also the lead spacewalker in the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission in 2009 and is a five-time space shuttle astronaut and an inductee into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame.
“Widely known as the ‘Hubble Repairman,’ it was an honor to serve with him in the astronaut corps and watch him lead NASA’s science portfolio during a time of remarkable discovery,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.
The space agency added that the Geoff Yoder, the science mission directorate’s deputy administrator, will serve as interim associate administrator until a new successor is named.
