22 Facts About Carolyn Huntoon

Carolyn Huntoon was the director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, a position which she held from 1994 to 1996, and was the first woman in the role.

Carolyn Huntoon was an assistant secretary at the Department of Energy from 1999 to 2001.

Carolyn Huntoon had four sisters, Frances, Mixon Lee, Gloria Hope and Martha Ann, and an older brother, Anthony Claude Leach Jr.

Carolyn Huntoon was educated at Leesville High School, from which she graduated with the class of 1958.

Carolyn Huntoon graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in August 1962, and qualified as a medical technologist at Ochsner Foundation Hospital.

Carolyn Huntoon attended the University of Texas at Houston for a year in 1963 and 1964, and then Baylor College of Medicine, where she earned her Master of Science in 1966, and PhD in 1968.

Carolyn Huntoon joined NASA in 1970, and as head of the Endocrine Laboratory, which was then part of the Lunar Receiving Laboratory, performed pre- and post-flight testing of astronauts on the Project Apollo missions.

Carolyn Huntoon married Harrison Hibbert Huntoon; they had a daughter named Sally Ann.

In 1974, Carolyn Huntoon became head of the Endocrine and Biochemistry Laboratories at the Johnson Space Center, as the Manned Spaceflight Center had been renamed in 1973.

Carolyn Huntoon became the chief of the Biomedical Laboratories Branch in 1977.

Carolyn Huntoon was a consultant to the US Navy for the Tektite habitat project in 1969 and 1970, the McGovern Allergy Clinic in Houston from 1972 to 1975, the Department of Physiology at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, from 1974 to 1976, and the American Society of Clinical Pathologists in Chicago from 1974 to 1978.

Carolyn Huntoon was an adjunct professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston from 1975 to 1987.

Carolyn Huntoon was appointed to the selection panel for NASA Astronaut Group 8, the first astronaut selection that included women.

Carolyn Huntoon was involved in the center's preparations to cater for women as astronauts and became the point of contact for those with issues with the women astronauts.

Carolyn Huntoon went on to serve on subsequent astronaut selection panels until 1994, but expressed regret that fewer women were chosen than she would have liked, the Astronaut Office remaining largely male-dominated into the 21st century.

Carolyn Huntoon became the Director of the Space and Life Sciences Directorate in 1987.

Carolyn Huntoon was now in charge of over 1,200 scientists, engineers and medical doctors, and responsible for the development of flight equipment for habitation in space, including food and medical supplies, and life science studies of the effects of space flight on humans.

Carolyn Huntoon was the first woman to direct any NASA center.

Carolyn Huntoon left NASA in 1998 to join George Washington University as an Executive in Residence in its Project Management Program.

Carolyn Huntoon was responsible for the management of the DOE's field offices at the Idaho National Laboratory, Savannah River, Hanford, Carlsbad, Ohio, and Rocky Flats.

Carolyn Huntoon retired in the summer of 2001 and moved to Barrington, Rhode Island.

In 1974, Carolyn Huntoon was awarded the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal in 1985, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal in 1989 and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal in 1992, and the Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive in 1994.