Astronauts Elected to Scholarship Foundation Board

Kennedy Space Center, FL – The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF) is proud to announce its 2009-2010 Board of Directors and Board of Trustees.

Apollo 15 astronaut Colonel Al Worden is once again chair the Board of Directors for a fifth consecutive year. Joining him in this venture is Space Shuttle astronaut Robert “Hoot” Gibson as Vice Chairman. Attorney Michael Neukamm will once again serve as Treasurer/Secretary and Linn LeBlanc will continue to serve as Executive Director.

Additional 2009 – 2010 Board of Directors include: ASF founders, Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter and Mercury and Shuttle astronaut John Glenn; Gemini and Apollo astronauts Richard Gordon and James Lovell; Apollo astronauts Walter Cunningham, Charles Duke and Edgar Mitchell; Skylab and Shuttle astronaut Owen Garriott; Shuttle astronauts Charles Bolden, Dan Brandenstein, Robert Crippen, Rick Hauck and Jeff Hoffman; Astronaut Scholar alumni Larry Bradley and Lisa Schott; and Dr. Al Miller.

Chairing the 2009-2010 Board of Trustees is Laura Shepard-Churchley, daughter of Mercury and Apollo astronaut Alan Shepard. Serving alongside her are: Gemini and Apollo astronauts Gene Cernan and Thomas Stafford; Actors, LeVar Burton, Bill Dana and Tom Hanks; Mercury astronaut widows Suzi Cooper, Jo Schirra and Bobbie Slayton; journalist, Walter Cronkite; and philanthropists Henri Landwirth, James Long and Don Ricci.

Both boards will help direct the Foundation in pursuing 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 $2.8 million in scholarships. The members will serve a one-year term, until May 2010, 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 nineteen $10,000 scholarships annually. For more information, log on to www.AstronautScholarship.org or call 321-455-7012.