1. Donna Lee Shirley is a former manager of Mars Exploration at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
12 Facts About Donna Shirley
1. 2.
Donna Shirley was the only girl at her high school not to take home economics.
3.
Donna Shirley began taking flying lessons at age 15 and soloed at the Pauls Valley airport the next year.
4.
Donna Shirley graduated from University of Oklahoma with a BS in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering in 1965, and from the University of Southern California with a MS in Aerospace Engineering.
5.
Donna Shirley worked at the Jet Propulsion Lab from 1966 to 1998.
6.
Donna Shirley was a member of the team that designed a heat shield for a space vehicle that was destined to enter Mars' atmosphere.
7.
Donna Shirley served as mission analyst and later program manager for the Mariner 10 mission to Venus and Mercury.
8.
Donna Shirley led a research team studying a Mars rover.
9.
Donna Shirley was Mars Exploration Program manager, and led teams for Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner rover.
10.
Donna Shirley officially retired as manager of the Mars Exploration Program on August 21,1998.
11.
Donna Shirley was an associate dean of engineering for three years at the University of Oklahoma between 2000 and 2003.
12.
Donna Shirley then went on to be the founding director of the Science Fiction Museum in Seattle.