William F . Readdy William Francis Readdy is a former Associate Administrator of the Office of Space Flight , at NASA Headquarters . He was born January 24 , 1952 , in Quonset Point , Rhode Island , and is married to Colleen Nevius . They have two sons and a daughter . He graduated from McLean High School , McLean , Virginia , in 1970 and received a bachelor of science degree in aerospace engineering ( with honors ) from the U . S . Naval Academy in 1974 . He ' s a distinguished graduate of the U . S . Naval Test Pilot School 1980 . Readdy is a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots , the Explorers Club , and the Royal Astronautical Society and is an Associate Fellow of the AIAA . He also belongs to the Association of Space Explorers . Readdy currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Challenger Center for Space Science Education as Treasurer . Readdy is also currently a member of the Board of Directors of Astrobotic Technology , a Carnegie Mellon University spinoff company that is competing for the " Google Lunar X Prize " . Special honors . Recipient of the Legion of Merit , the Distinguished Flying Cross , the NASA Distinguished Service Medal , two NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal s , two NASA Exceptional Service Medal s , three NASA Space Flight Medal s , the Meritorious Service Medal , the Navy Commendation Medal , Navy Achievement Medal , Navy Expeditionary Medal , two National Defense Service Medal s , the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal , Armed Forces Reserve Medal , and various unit and service awards . U . S . Naval Test Pilot School Instructor of the Year ( 1984 ) . NASA Space Flight Safety Award . Federation Aeronautique Internationale awards include : the Kamarov Diploma ( STS - 51 ) , the De la Vaulx Medal ( STS - 79 ) and a World Record Certificate ( STS - 79 ) . Experience . Readdy graduated from Annapolis in 1974 , and earned his wings as a Naval Aviator . Following fleet training in the A - 6 " Intruder " at NAS Oceana , Virginia , he joined Attack Squadron Eighty - five aboard the deployed to the North Atlantic and Mediterranean from 1976 until 1980 . Upon completion of the Naval Test Pilot School , he served as project test pilot on a variety of programs at Strike Aircraft Test Directorate . Following a tour as a test pilot instructor , he reported in 1984 to the , on Caribbean and Mediterranean deployments . In 1986 Readdy transferred into the Naval Reserve to join NASA and served as an instructor pilot and unit commander until his naval retirement in August 2000 . He has logged 7 , 000 flying hours in over 60 types of fixed wing and helicopter s and over 550 carrier landings . Readdy joined NASA ' s Johnson Space Center in October 1986 as a research pilot at Ellington Field , Houston , Texas , where he served as program manager for the highly - modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft . He was selected as an astronaut in the 1987 Group . He served in numerous support roles including : Training Officer ; Safety Officer ; Operations Development Branch Chief ; NASA Director of Operations , Star City , Russia ; Stafford Task Force ; and the first manager of Space Shuttle Program Development charged with upgrading the Space Shuttle . Readdy served as Associate Administrator , NASA HQ Office of Space Flight that has oversight for the Marshall , Kennedy , Stennis and Johnson Space Center s as well as programmatic oversight for International Space Station , Space Shuttle , Space Communications and Space Launch Vehicles . Readdy is a veteran pilot astronaut with three space flights , STS - 42 ( January 22 – 30 , 1992 ) , STS - 51 ( September 12 – 22 , 1993 ) and , most recently , STS - 79 ( September 16 – 26 , 1996 ) . Readdy has logged over 672 hours in space .