PERSONAL
DATA: Born September
6, 1946, in Orange, California, but
considers Twentynine Palms, California to be
his hometown. Bryan and his wife Susan have two grown
sons, Thomas, and Kevin. The O'Connor family enjoys hiking,
gardening, scuba diving, music, and travel.
EDUCATION: Graduated from Twentynine Palms High
School, Twentynine Palms,
California, in
1964; received a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering
from the United
States Naval Academy in 1968
and a Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Systems
from the University of
West
Florida in 1970. He graduated
from the Naval Safety School at the
Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California in 1972
and from the Naval Test Pilot School, Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent
River, Maryland in 1976.
SPECIAL HONORS: Naval Safety School Top Graduate; Naval
Test Pilot School Distinguished Graduate Award; Defense
Superior Service Medal (2); Distinguished Flying Cross;
Navy Meritorious Service Medal; NASA Distinguished Service
Medal; NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal (2); NASA Exceptional
Service Medal (2); NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal;
NASA Silver Snoopy Award; AIAA System Effectiveness and
Safety Award; Aviation Week and Space Technology Laureate
(Space and Missiles).
EXPERIENCE: O'Connor began active duty with the United
States Marine Corps in June 1968. He received his Naval
Aviator's wings in June 1970, and served as an attack
pilot flying the A-4 Skyhawk and the AV-8A Harrier on
land and sea assignments in the United
States, Europe and
the Western Pacific.
From 1975 through 1979 O'Connor served as a test pilot
with the Naval Air Test Center at Patuxent
River, Maryland. During
this assignment, he participated in evaluations of various
conventional and Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing (VSTOL)
aircraft, including the A-4, OV-10, AV-8, and X-22 research
aircraft. Following this assignment he served as the Deputy
Program Manager (Acquisition) for the AV-8 program at
the Naval Air Systems Command in Washington, DC.
O'Connor was selected for the astronaut program in May
1980. After a one-year initial training program at NASA's
Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, O'Connor served
in a variety of functions in support of the first test
flights of the Space Shuttle, including simulator test
pilot for STS-1 and 2, safety/photo chase pilot for STS-3,
and support crew for STS-4. He was CAPCOM (spacecraft
communicator) for STS-5 through STS-9. He also served
as Aviation Safety Officer for the Astronaut Corps.
When the Challenger and its crew were lost in January,
1986 O'Connor was given a number of safety and management
assignments over the next three years as the Space Agency
recovered from the disaster. In the first days after the
accident, he organized the initial wreckage reassembley
activities at Cape Canaveral. Then
he established and managed the operation of the NASA Headquarters Action Center, the
link between NASA and the Presidential Blue Ribbon Accident
Investigation Panel (The Rogers Commission). In March
1986 he was assigned duties as Assistant (Operations)
to the Space Shuttle Program Manager, as well as first
Chairman of NASA's new Space Flight Safety Panel: jobs
he held until February 1988 and 1989 respectively. He
concurrently served as the astronaut representative on
the Space Shuttle System Safety Review Panel during its
extensive return to flight activities. He subsequently
served as Deputy Director of Flight Crew Operations from
February 1988 until August 1991.
O'Connor left NASA in August 1991 to become commanding
officer of the Marine Aviation Detachment, Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River. Within
a year he returned to NASA Headquarters in Washington, retiring
from the Marine Corps to become the Deputy Associate Administrator
for Space Flight. He was immediately assigned the task
of developing a comprehensive flight safety improvement
plan for the Space Shuttle, working closely with Congress
and the Administration for funding of the major upgrade
program. Then in late summer 1992, he was assigned as
leader of the negotiating team that traveled to Moscow to establish
the framework for what subsequently became the Shuttle/MIR
program.
In March 1993 O'Connor was assigned as Director, Space
Station Redesign. He and his 50 person team of engineers,
managers, and International Partners developed, then recommended
substantial vehicle and program restructure strategies
which amounted to $300 million in savings per year, thus
helping to save the program from cancellation by Congress.
In September, he was named Acting Space Station Program
Director. He held that position throughout the transition
from the Freedom Program to the new International Space
Station Program and the announcement of a permanent Program
Director in January 1994.
In April 1994, O'Connor was reassigned as Director, Space
Shuttle Program. As such, he was responsible for all aspects
of the $3.5 billion per year program, leading over 27,000
government and contractor personnel. By the time he left
NASA in March 1996, he had directed NASA's largest and
most visible program through twelve safe, successful missions,
including the first three flights to the Russian Space
Station, MIR. He planned and led an extensive program
restructure designed to save the taxpayers approximately
$1 billion over the five-year budget horizon. Of equal
importance he oversaw the introduction of several major
safety improvements developed to prevent another "Challenger".
O'Connor left NASA in February 1996 to become an aerospace
consultant. He also served on several advisory boards,
and consulted for several government and industry organizations
on matters dealing with aerospace safety. From 1999 through
2002 he served as Director of Engineering for Futron Corporation,
a Bethesda Maryland based company providing safety and
risk management consulting to DOD, DOE, the FAA, NASA
and industry.
FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: O'Connor has flown over 5,000 hours
in over 40 types of aircraft. O'Connor was pilot on STS-61B
in 1985. At the tine, this flight carried the heaviest
payload weight to orbit by the Space Shuttle and was the
first to deploy four satellites. Then in 1991, O'Connor
commanded STS-40, the first Space shuttle mission dedicated
totally to life science studies. With these two missions,
he has 386 hours in space covering nearly six million
miles in 253 orbits of the earth.
In June 2002, Mr. O'Connor rejoined NASA as Associate
Administrator, Office of Safety and Mission Assurance
(OSMA), at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) Headquarters in Washington DC. This
office has functional responsibility for the safety, reliability,
maintainability and quality assurance of all NASA programs.
June 2002
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