Retired After 30 Years Of Work, Jim Free Will Leave NASA On February 22
JAKARTA NASA Association administrator Jim Free will retire after decades of work at the US space agency. Free will leave the company effectively on Saturday, February 22.
Free joined NASA in 1990 as an engineer. Initially, Free worked on the Data Tracking and Relativity Satellite at the Goddard Space Aviation Center. After several years of work, Free was transferred to the Glenn Research Center.
Free's career increased rapidly as he was successfully transferred to the Johnson Space Center in 2008. A year later, Free returned to work at the Glenn Research Center as Directorate of Space Aviation Systems.
In 2016, Free began working at NASA Headquarters as Deputy Administrator of the Association for Technicals in the Directorate of Exploration and Human Operations Missions. After that, he took up the position of Associate Administrator by leading thousands of employees.
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"It is an honor to serve NASA and work with workers who face the most difficult engineering challenges, seeking new scientific knowledge in our universe and beyond," Free said, quoted from NASA's official blog.
Free has contributed to key missions such as fighting for new routes to return samples from Mars, supporting expedition crews conducting hundreds of experiments on the International Space Station (ISS), and securing public and private partnerships for VIPER missions.
Free will be replaced by Janet Petro as Temporary Administrator. After Free retired, Petro will lead ten directors at NASA's central facility and associate administrators of the mission directorate at NASA Headquarters.