Larry Simmons has been appointed as the deputy director of the Space and Earth Science Programs Directorate at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
As deputy director, Simmons will join in the directorate's responsibilities for all of the Laboratory's initial space flight project activities, except for missions to Mars. In addition, he will share in the responsibilities for all programmatic science activity, all flight instruments made at JPL and for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise flight missions.
"I have a personal interest in seeing our science program strengthened," said Simmons. "I'd also like to see us continue to find ways to implement more low-cost missions in the future. High return for low cost is certainly something we try to do here."
Simmons received his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of California, Los Angeles. He has been providing his managerial expertise at JPL since 1969 on the Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy Experiment, the Astrophysics and Microgravity Flight Experiments Office and the Wide Field/Planetary Camera II on the Hubble Space Telescope. In addition, Simmons continues as program manager for the Space Infrared Telescope Facility, the space-borne low-temperature telescope due for launch in 2001. He also recently served as manager of the Astrophysics Flight Projects Office.
Married for 40 years, Simmons and his wife, Brenda, have been residents of La Canada since 1969. They have two children and three grandchildren.
JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.