RSS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 24, 2004
Contact: Linn LeBlanc
321-455-7011
Retirement Celebration for Howard Benedict: Astronaut Scholarship Foundation Executive Director and Veteran Space Reporter
Kennedy Space Center, FL — Known to some as the "dean" of space reporting and most recently as the Executive Director of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, Howard Benedict is retiring. Benedict will be honored on Tuesday, July 27, 2004 during a private Retirement Celebration at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
In the early years of the U.S. space program, Benedict introduced generations to space exploration, covering more than 2,000 missile and rocket launches as the senior aerospace writer for The Associated Press. He covered the first 65 U.S. human space flights from Alan Shepard's Mercury mission in 1961 to the 34th Space Shuttle mission in 1990 for 31 of the 37 years he worked for the wire service.
Since 1992, Benedict has been inspiring a new generation by providing educational opportunities for college engineering and science students offered through the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, an organization of more than 40 former astronauts, has awarded nearly $2 million in scholarships to date, and is located in the Astronaut Hall of Fame in Titusville, Fla.
Numerous astronauts are scheduled to attend Benedict's Retirement Celebration Program including Captain Jim Lovell, retiring Chairman of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation and Gemini VII, Gemini XII, Apollo VIII and Apollo XIII Astronaut. During the ceremony, Benedict and Lovell will be awarded with the Omega Speed Master watch, the first and only watch worn on the Moon.
Linn LeBlanc has been elected executive director of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation to succeed Benedict. LeBlanc has served as the Foundation's Associate Director since 2001.