William S. Shipley has been appointed assistant laboratory director for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Office of Engineering and Review, JPL Director Dr. Lew Allen has announced.
Shipley, 56, succeeds Geoffrey Robillard, who recently retired. Shipley formerly was manager of JPL's Quality Assurance, Safety and Reliability Division.
The Office of Engineering and Review oversees such Laboratory functions as quality assurance, reliability engineering, software product assurance, systems safety, and occupational safety and environmental health.
The appointment is effective April 18.
A native of Washington, D.C., Shipley was graduated in physics from George Washington University. Joining JPL in 1955 as research engineer, he later fulfilled other supervisory and management duties before serving as manager of the Thermoelectric Outer Planet Spacecraft Advanced System Technology Project from 1968 to 1971.
Shipley was spacecraft development manager from 1971 to 1977 for JPL's Voyager mission to the outer planets. He then served four years as manager of the orbiter spacecraft for the Galileo mission to Jupiter before assuming duties in quality assurance, safety and reliability.
Among special assignments, Shipley in 1961 chaired NASA subcommittee to define unmanned program support for the Apollo manned lunar effort.
Shipley and his wife, Frances, reside in La Canada and are the parents of three grown sons.
818-354-5011