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Alan Stern

Alan Stern
Alan stern.jpg
Born Sol Alan Stern
(1957-11-22) November 22, 1957 (age 59)
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Nationality American
Fields Astrophysics
Aerospace engineering
Planetary science
Institutions NASA
Southwest Research Institute
Alma mater University of Texas, Austin
University of Colorado, Boulder

Sol Alan Stern (born November 22, 1957) is an American engineer and planetary scientist. He is the principal investigator of the New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Chief Scientist at Moon Express.

Stern has been involved in 24 suborbital, orbital, and planetary space missions, including eight for which he was the mission principal investigator. One of his projects was the Southwest Ultraviolet Imaging System, an instrument which flew on two space shuttle missions, STS-85 in 1997 and STS-93 in 1999.

Stern has also developed eight scientific instruments for planetary and near-space research missions and has been a guest observer on numerous NASA satellite observatories, including the International Ultraviolet Explorer, the Hubble Space Telescope, the International Infrared Observer and the Extreme Ultraviolet Observer. Stern was Executive Director of the Southwest Research Institute's Space Science and Engineering Division until becoming Associate Administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in 2007. He resigned from that position after nearly a year. In early 2009 Stern's name was mentioned as a potential contender for the position of NASA administrator under President Obama's administration. Stern has stated, however, that he is not interested in the position at this time given his desire to spend time with his family.

Stern was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Joel and Leonard Stern. He graduated from St. Mark's School of Texas in 1975. He then attended the University of Texas, Austin, where he received his bachelor's degrees in physics & astronomy and his master's degrees in aerospace engineering and planetary atmospheres. He earned a doctorate in astrophysics and planetary science from the University of Colorado, Boulder.


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