Donald Savage/Douglas Isbell
Headquarters, Washington, DC              February 18, 1998
(Phone:  202/358-1547)

RELEASE:  98-31

HUNTRESS ANNOUNCES HIS DEPARTURE FROM NASA

    Dr. Wesley T. Huntress, Jr., NASA's Associate Administrator
for Space Science, has announced his departure from the Agency
in the near future.

    Huntress is responsible for NASA's programs in
astrophysics, planetary exploration and space physics.  "I have
served in this position for more than five years now," Huntress
said, "and it is simply time to move on."

    "Wes Huntress has presided over a revitalization of NASA's
Space Science enterprise," NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin
said.  "Five years ago, the Hubble Space Telescope had
problems, spacecraft costs were growing out of control, and
serious budgetary threats were clouding NASA's future in space
science.  But during his tenure, thanks in no small part to the
magnificent team he assembled at the field centers and NASA
Headquarters, the Space Science enterprise has become one of
NASA's crown jewels.

    "The Hubble Telescope has become the workhorse of cutting-
edge astronomy, and planetary exploration is now the province
of faster, better, cheaper missions such as Mars Pathfinder.
Through these efforts, even with constrained budgetary
possibilities in the years ahead, NASA will continue to be a
world leader in exploring the worlds beyond Earth.  Much of
this achievement is due to the wisdom and skill of Wes
Huntress.  We shall miss him."

    Huntress was named to head the Office of Space Science in
March 1993.  He began his career at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA, as a National Research Council
resident associate in the 1960s.  He joined JPL permanently in
1969 as a research scientist specializing in ion chemistry and
planetary atmospheres.  Huntress and his research group gained
international recognition for their pioneering studies of
chemical evolution in interstellar clouds, comets and planetary
atmospheres.

    NASA will begin a search for Huntress' replacement
immediately.

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