Richard G. Smith

Who is Richard G. Smith?

Richard G. Smith was director of NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center from September 26, 1979 to August 2, 1986. Born in Durham, N.C., in 1929, Smith was educated in Alabama schools. After graduation from Decatur High School, he attended Florence State College and Auburn University. He received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Auburn in 1951.

Smith became a member of the rocket research and development team at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, in June 1951. He transferred to NASA in July 1960 when the Development Operations Division of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency became the nucleus for the establishment of the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center.

Smith served in positions of increasing responsibility at the Marshall Center. He held various assignments in the former Guidance and Control Laboratory and in the Systems Engineering Office prior to being appointed deputy manager and later manager of the Saturn Program. In January 1974 Smith became director of science and engineering and served in that position until he was named deputy director of the Marshall Center in 1974.