James H. Crocker, Vice President and General Manager of Civil Space at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, gave a seminar entitled "Exploration and Beyond" on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 at 11am, in the Clary Theatre, Student Success Center.

Abstract:  Mr. Crocker discussed future and current exploration missions including MAVEN (the next MARS Orbiter), OSIRIS-REx (a mission to retrieve a sample from an asteroid), INSIGHT (a MARS lander mission), as well as astrophysics missions from the Hubble Space Telescope to the James Webb Telescope.  He also talked about Lockheed Martin's development for NASA of the Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle, which will take human's further into space than they have ever gone before.

Bio:  Jim Crocker is Vice President & General Manager of Civil Space line for Lockheed Martin Corporation's Space Systems Company.  In this role he has executive responsibility for critical national space programs relating to human space flight and space science missions; including planetary, solar, astrophysical, and Earth remote sensing for civil government agencies.  Some of these major programs include: the Orion Multi-purpose Crew Vehicle, Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes, GOES-R weather satellites, Juno, GRAIL, MAVEN, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey, and OSIRIS-REx planetary missions, and the company's nuclear space power programs.

He began his career as a junior engineer working on Apollo 17 and designing electronics for the three crewed SkyLab missions.  This solidified his passion for space science and human space flight.  Crocker has led some of the world's most important projects in astronomy and astrophysics.  Notably, he is known for conceiving the idea and leading the team that developed COSTAR - the solution to the flawed optics of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).  He worked closely with the crew of the STS-61 Space Shuttle mission to develop on-orbit repair techniques and crew planning for the installation of COSTAR, which successfully restored Hubble's vision.  He also led the system design effort of the HST Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS).  The addition of this instrument in 2002 improved the performance of the telescope exponentially.

Mr. Crocker played a major role in the design and construction of the largest astronomical observatory in the world, the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Northern Chile and served as project manager for the construction of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), considered one of the most scientifically important projects in astrophysics.

He holds a Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, a Master of Science degree from the University of Alabama - Huntsville and a Master of Science degree in management from John Hopkins University.