Posted: Tue, May 20, 2003, 7:27 PM ET (2327 GMT)
The director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center will be reassigned next month to NASA's education program, the space agency announced Tuesday. Art Stephenson, head of NASA Marshall since 1998, will leave the post on June 15 to become a special assistant to the NASA associate administrator for education. He will remain in that position until his retirement from the agency in January of next year. No reason for the reassignment was given in the NASA press release announcing the move. In the statement Stephenson did say that as NASA prepares "to implement a comprehensive 'Return to Flight' effort, I felt the timing for this move is in the best interest of the agency, Marshall, and me, personally." The announcement evoked comparisons to 2001, when NASA abruptly reassigned Johnson Space Center director George Abbey to a special assistant post.

Related Links:

•  NASA press release
•  AP article