38 Facts About Alan Stern

Sol Alan Stern was born on November 22,1957 and is an American engineer and planetary scientist.

Alan Stern is the principal investigator of the New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Chief Scientist at Moon Express.

Alan Stern has 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.

Alan 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.

Alan Stern resigned from that position after nearly a year.

In early 2009 Alan Stern's name was mentioned as a potential contender for the position of NASA administrator under President Obama's administration.

Alan Stern stated that he was not interested in the position then.

Alan Stern was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to Jewish parents Joel and Leonard Alan Stern.

Alan Stern graduated from St Mark's School of Texas in 1975.

Alan Stern earned a doctorate in astrophysics and planetary science from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

From 1983 to 1991, Alan Stern held positions at the University of Colorado in the Center for Space and Geoscience Policy, the office of the vice president for Research, and the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy.

Alan Stern's research has focused on studies of our solar system's Kuiper belt and Oort cloud, comets, the satellites of the outer planets, Pluto, and the search for evidence of planetary systems around other stars.

Alan Stern has worked on spacecraft rendezvous theory, terrestrial polar mesospheric clouds, galactic astrophysics, and studies of tenuous satellite atmospheres, including the atmosphere of the Moon.

In 2007, Alan Stern was listed among Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in The World.

In 2015, Alan Stern was the recipient of Smithsonian Magazine's American Ingenuity Award in the Physical Sciences category.

On October 7,2016, Alan Stern was inducted into the Colorado Space Hall of Fame.

On June 14,2007, in an address to the Smithsonian Institution for their "Exploring the Solar System Lecture Series", Alan Stern commented on the New Horizons mission:.

Alan Stern is currently active as a consultant for private sector space efforts and has stated:.

In December 2008, Alan Stern joined Blue Origin, a company that was founded by Amazon.

Alan Stern has stated that its objective is to develop a new vertical-take-off, vertical-landing vehicle known as New Shepard that is designed to take a small number of astronauts on a sub-orbital journey into space and reduce the cost of space transportation.

Alan Stern is located in Kent, Washington and has flight tested some hardware.

Alan Stern has extensive experience in instrument development, with a strong concentration in ultraviolet technologies.

Alan Stern is a principal investigator in NASA's UV sounding rocket program, and was the project scientist on a Shuttle-deployable SPARTAN astronomical satellite.

Alan Stern was a member of the New Millennium Deep Space 1 mission science team, and is a Co-investigator on both the ESA SPICAM Mars UV spectrometer launched on Mars Express, and the Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph installed in 2009.

Alan Stern is the PI of the SWUIS ultraviolet imager, which has flown two Shuttle missions, and the SWUIS-A airborne astronomical facility.

Alan Stern has served on various NASA committees, including the Lunar Exploration Science Working Group and the Discovery Program Science Working Group, the Solar System Exploration Subcommittee, the New Millennium Science Working Group, and the Sounding Rocket Working Group.

Alan Stern was appointed NASA's Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, essentially NASA's top-ranking official for science, in April 2007.

Alan Stern's style was characterised as "hard-charging" as he pursued a reform-minded agenda.

Alan Stern "made headlines for trying to keep agency missions on schedule and under budget" but faced "internal battles over funding".

Alan Stern was credited with making "significant changes that have helped restore the importance of science in NASA's mission".

On March 26,2008, it was announced that Alan Stern had resigned his position the previous day, effective April 11.

Alan Stern was replaced by Ed Weiler, who was to serve his second stint in the position.

Alan Stern left to avoid cutting healthy programs and basic research in order to cover cost overruns.

Alan Stern believed that cost overruns in the Mars program should be accommodated from within the Mars program, and not taken from other NASA programs.

On November 23,2008, in an op-ed in The New York Times, Alan Stern criticized NASA's inability to keep its spending under control.

Since leaving NASA, Alan Stern has made constructive criticisms of the budgetary process and has advocated for revamping its public appeal.

Alan Stern has become particularly involved in the debate surrounding the 2006 definition of planet by the IAU.

Alan Stern has argued that location should not matter and only geophysical attributes should be taken into account in the definition of a planet, and proposes the term satellite planet for a planet-sized object orbiting another planet.