Cepollina, Frank - Biography

Mr. Frank Cepollina serves as Deputy Associate Director of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Development Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. He is responsible for carrying out the on-orbit servicing that keeps Hubble in peak condition throughout its 20-year mission. He also leads the development of all the new science instruments and replacement hardware that allow Hubble to stay on the cutting edge of technology throughout its long life.

Mr. Cepollina believes that preserving and upgrading precious space assets is the best, most cost-effective way to do business in space. In December 1993, he led the repair of Hubble Space TelescopeÑthe most difficult on-orbit repair mission ever attempted. In February 1997, he and his team conducted the HST Second Servicing Mission, which fit Hubble with two advanced, next-generation instruments. He led a successful demonstration of new Hubble technology aboard STS-95 ("the John Glenn Mission") in October-November 1998. In December 1999, he headed Hubble Servicing Mission 3A, which restored and improved Hubble's science capabilities. In March 2002, he led his team in the successful Hubble Servicing Mission 3B. This upgrade mission fitted Hubble with a powerful new camera , smaller, more efficient solar arrays, and an cooling system that restored the telescope's infrared vision.

Mr. Cepollina graduated from University of Santa Clara in 1959 with a B.S. in mechanical engineering. He worked for four years for the Aerojet General Corporation and the Defense Intelligence Agency before joining NASA in 1963. He helped develop the OSO and OAO spacecraft, and he led development of the Explorer Platform, which enables the exchange of scientific payloads in orbit.

In 1970, he led an effort to establish the architecture for NASA's first serviceable Multimission Modular Spacecraft. This concept led to modular spacecraft and subsystems for such missions as HST, Solar Maximum, Landsat, GRO, UARS, TOPEX, Explorer Platform, and missions for other agencies. In 1982, Mr. Cepollina became Project Manager for the Solar Maximum Repair Mission, NASA's first repair mission to use the Space Shuttle. He then led the development effort for the Explorer Platform, a concept that enables the exchange of scientific payloads in orbit.

His involvement with Hubble dates back to the mid-1970s, when he contributed to the telescopeÕs modular instrument design, as well as its scientific command and control subsystem. Later, as Satellite Servicing Project Manager, he directed the design of the generic servicing platforms and instrument carriers that would be used on Hubble and many other NASA spacecraft. He has been involved in designing HubbleÕs astronaut interfaces and power tools since the inception of the Shuttle Program.

Mr. Cepollina's work has led to important medical, manufacturing, and educational spinoffs. These include: a Hubble instrumentÕs charge coupled device (CCDs) now used for breast cancer detection; an intelligent, programmable, hand-held power tool developed for servicing HST now finding manufacturing applications; highly sophisticated, precision Hubble-type optics being employed to produce smaller, denser, faster computer chips; and free, interactive, educational software.

In 1985, Mr. Cepollina received a NASA Exceptional Achievement Award for leading the Solar Max Repair Mission. For his outstanding leadership of the Hubble Space Telescope First Servicing Mission, which corrected Hubble's vision, he was awarded a NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, as well as the prestigious 1994 National Space Club Eagle Manned Mission Success Award. In April of 1995, he received the University of Santa Clara Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award and was inducted into Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society as an Eminent Engineer. In October of 1997, Mr. Cepollina was presented with the James J. Kerley Award, the top NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Award for innovation and exceptional contributions to NASAÕs technology transfer and commercialization efforts.

In 1997, Mr. Cepollina was named a finalist for the Design News Engineer of the Year Award. In April 1998, he received the distinguished Federal Laboratory Consortium Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer. In February 2000, he was awarded Goddard Space Flight CenterÕs highest honor for mission success, the Robert C. Baumann Memorial Award. In 1999, he and his team received the Aviation Week & Space Technology Laurels Award for Outstanding Achievement. In 2000, the President of the United States of America conferred upon Mr. Cepollina the rank of Meritorious Executive in Senior Executive Service for his sustained, superior accomplishments in managing NASA programs. He and the entire Hubble Space Telescope Team won the prestigious 2001 Space Foundation Space Achievement Award. Most recently, he was named to the exclusive National Inventors Hall of Fame, which includes other pioneers such as Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and Henry Ford.

Awareness Award, and several NASA/GSFC Performance and Group Achievement Awards