Following the naming of the two members for the US president-elect Barack Obama's NASA transition team, three more persons were appointed yesterday. The new members include two former NASA officials and an adviser from Virgin Galactic. The names that were selected could be a hint to Obama's space views, which may somewhat shift towards the private administration of space flight. The three new names added to the list are Alan Ladwig, Ed Heffernan and George Whitesides, and complete the team previously comprised of Lori Beth Garver and Roderick Young.

Alan Ladwig was an associate administrator at NASA for policy and plans during U.S. President Bill Clinton's administration. He has a vast experience of over 30 years in the field of senior management, accumulated at NASA, some commercial space and media companies, and non-profit organizations. The most recent position he occupied was at Whitney, Bradley & Brown Consulting Inc. in Reston, Virginia, as Manager of Space Systems Consultancy until November 14th.

 

Lori Beth Garver, 47, is a former Associate Administrator of Policy and Plans (replacing Ladwig in 1999) and spokesperson for NASA, as well as a former democratic space policy advisor. Before that, she was involved in projects related to commercial spaceflight. She was also a lead space policy advisor for the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.

 

Ed Heffernan and Roderick Young both had important positions under the ninth and longest-tenured NASA Administrator Dan Goldin, the former as a chief of staff and the latter as a one-time press secretary. Heffernan was unemployed when he was appointed for Obama's team, after having left vice presidency of government relations for Seattle's Safeco. George Whitesides is currently the National Space Society's executive director and Virgin Galactic's senior adviser, but he is on the verge of quitting both jobs.