Planetary Society Statement on Alan Stern's Resignation from NASA

For Immediate Release
March 26, 2008

Contact
Mat Kaplan
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +1-626-793-5100

The Planetary Society issues the following statement on Alan Stern’s resignation from NASA:

"We are sorry to learn of Alan Stern’s resignation from his position as NASA Associate Administrator for Science. During his tenure, Alan made significant changes that have helped restore the importance of science in NASA’s mission. This was especially true in the 2009 budget proposal, which included two overdue Earth science missions and an outer planets flagship mission. He also worked to un-do the separation that had occurred between science and exploration in previous years, and redirected the Mars program to focus on Mars sample return."

"We appreciated these initiatives and complimented Dr. Stern in our recent congressional statement. At the same time, he was working under extraordinarily difficult budget constraints, dealing with many issues beyond his control. We wish him the best in his future work."

Louis Friedman, Executive Director of The Planetary Society

About The Planetary Society

With a global community of more than 2 million space enthusiasts, The Planetary Society is the world’s largest and most influential space advocacy organization. Founded in 1980 by Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray, and Louis Friedman and today led by CEO Bill Nye, we empower the public to take a meaningful role in advancing space exploration through advocacy, education outreach, scientific innovation, and global collaboration. Together with our members and supporters, we’re on a mission to explore worlds, find life off Earth, and protect our planet from dangerous asteroids. To learn more, visit www.planetary.org.

###