IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 12, 2010
Contact: Kate Frakes
321-455-7015
Kate@AstronautScholarship.org
Astronauts Elected to Scholarship Foundation Board
Kennedy Space Center, FL — The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF) is proud to announce its 2010-2011 Board of Directors and Board of Trustees.
For a sixth consecutive year, Apollo 15 astronaut Al Worden will chair the Board of Directors. Joining him will be five-time Space Shuttle astronaut Robert "Hoot" Gibson as Vice Chairman. Attorney Michael Neukamm will again serve as Treasurer/Secretary and Linn LeBlanc will continue serving as the Foundation's Executive Director for the fifth year running.
Additional 2010-2011 Board of Directors include: ASF founders, Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter and Mercury and Space Shuttle astronaut, Senator John Glenn; Gemini and Apollo astronauts Richard Gordon and James Lovell; Apollo astronauts Walt Cunningham, Charles Duke and Edgar Mitchell; Skylab astronaut William Pogue; Skylab and Space Shuttle astronaut Owen Garriott; Space Shuttle astronauts Dan Brandenstein, Robert Crippen, Rick Hauck and Jeff Hoffman; Astronaut Scholar alumni Larry Bradley and Lisa Schott.
Chairing the 2010-2011 Board of Trustees is Laura Shepard-Churchley, daughter of Mercury and Apollo astronaut Alan Shepard. Serving alongside her are Gemini and Apollo astronauts Frank Borman, Gene Cernan and Thomas Stafford; celebrities LeVar Burton, Bill Dana, and Tom Hanks; Mercury astronaut widows Suzi Cooper, Jo Schirra, and Bobbie Slayton; and philanthropists Henri Landwirth, James Long, Don Ricci, and Dr. Al Miller.
Both groups will help direct the Foundation in a combined effort to further its mission of aiding the United States in retaining its world leadership in science and technology by providing scholarships to college students who exhibit motivation, imagination and exceptional performance in the science and engineering field of their major. To date, the Foundation has awarded $3 million in scholarships. The members will serve a one-year term, until May 2011, when new elections will take place.
The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization established in 1984 by the six surviving members of America's original Mercury astronauts. The Foundation funds twenty $10,000 scholarships annually. For more information, log on to www.AstronautScholarship.org or call 321-455-7012.