Paul Sean Hill | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Paul S. Hill, Flight Director | |
| Born | (1962-06-23)June 23, 1962 (age 63) |
| Education | BS and MS, Aerospace Engineering,Texas A&M University |
| Occupation | Engineer |
| Employer | NASA |
| Known for | Flight Director |
| Title | Director of Mission Operations |
| Spouse | Pam Gerber Hill |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Branch | United States Air Force |
| Rank |  Captain |
Paul Sean Hill (born June 23, 1962)[1] is the former Director of Mission Operations at theNASALyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.[2][3] He was formerly aFlight Director in theMission Control Center forSpace Shuttle andInternational Space Station missions under the call sign "Atlas".[1][2][4]
Paul Sean Hill was born inOrlando, Florida to Lawrence Edwin Hill and Sonya Kaye Robinson.[1] Hill's father, Larry, joinedNASA in 1959 at theRedstone Arsenal (now known as theMarshall Space Flight Center) inHuntsville, Alabama, and worked on every crewed space program fromProject Mercury through theInternational Space Station era.[5] While growing up, Hill migrated from Titusville, Florida to Dallas and Irving, Texas; Marathon and Sugarloaf, Florida; Lexington Park, Maryland; Pensacola, Florida; and back to Irving.
Hill attended nine schools in Florida (Coquina (1st grade), Sue Moore (4th), and Sugarloaf (5th) Elementary Schools, Ferry Pass Middle School (7th and 8th), andBooker T. Washington High School (9th and 10th)); Texas (Jefferson Davis (1st and 2nd) and Farine (2nd - 4th) Elementary Schools); and Maryland (Leonardtown Elementary (6th)) before graduating fromIrving High School (11th and 12th) in Irving, Texas.[4]
A third generation "Aggie", Hill attendedTexas A&M University. He earned aBachelor of Science degree in 1984 and aMaster of Science degree in 1985, both inAerospace Engineering. He was a member of theTexas A&M University Corps of Cadets and had an Air Force Scholarship. He worked inmilitary satellite operations in theAir Force following his university training, attaining the rank ofCaptain.[1][2][4][5][6] During his service in the Air Force, Hill commanded mobile satellite communications crews providing missile launch and nuclear detonation detection, and was responsible for all facets of covert deployment planning for that system. He was also an undergraduateaerodynamics and aircraft performance instructor.[1]
After four years in the Air Force, Hill started work atJohnson Space Center in 1990 as aSpace Shuttle andSpace Station operations engineer. At that time, he was planning was underway forSpace Station Freedom, which evolved into theInternational Space Station. Hill worked as a Flight Control Engineer for Barrios Technology Incorporated from 1990 to 1991, forRockwell Space Operations Company from 1991 to 1993, and for NASA Johnson Space Center from 1993 to 1996.[1][2][4][5] Hill led development of International Space Station assembly operations and integrated systems procedures. He participated in every formal Space Station design review, three extensive spacecraft redesign activities, and wrote many of the initial Space Station activation procedures. He served as Joint Operations Panel Chairman.[1]
Hill's responsibilities soon expanded, eventually leading to his appointment as a Space Shuttle and ISS Flight Director in 1996, a position in which he served until 2005. In this post, he was responsible for the safe conduct of crewed space flight missions. Hill led the flight control team in flight preparation and execution fromMission Control, and supported over twenty Shuttle and International Space Station missions as a Flight Director.[1][4] Each NASA Flight Director chooses a call-sign to represent his or her team; Hill chose "Atlas" as the call-sign for his flight control team.[1]
Hill led an independent assessment of theChandra X-ray Observatory’s flight readiness forNASA Headquarters.[1] In September 2002, Hill served as anaquanaut on the joint NASA-NOAANEEMO 4 expedition (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations), an exploration research mission held inAquarius, the world's onlyundersea research laboratory, four miles off shore fromKey Largo. Hill and his crewmates spent five dayssaturation diving from the Aquarius habitat as aspace analogue for working and training under extreme environmental conditions. The mission was delayed due toHurricane Isadore, forcing National Undersea Research Center managers to shorten it to an underwater duration of five days. Then, three days into their underwater mission, the crew members were told thatTropical Storm Lili was headed in their direction and to prepare for an early departure from Aquarius. Fortunately, Lili degenerated to the point where it was no longer a threat, so the crew was able to remain the full five days.[1][7]
Hill led theColumbia accident investigation team responsible for detecting and locating early debris during re-entry; obtaining and analyzing all data collected by government agency sensors during entry; and coordinating radar testing with theAir Force Research Laboratory. He also led the team that developed on-orbit inspection and repair techniques for the Space Shuttle and was the lead Flight Director for its return to flight on missionSTS-114.[1][2][4][5] Interviewed in July 2004, Hill said, "Flying the Shuttle is a really dangerous business. But that is not a bad thing. That doesn't mean we should stop flying in space. You can make some changes to make parts of this dangerous endeavor safer, but in the end it's still dangerous."[5]
Hill served as Deputy Manager of theEVA Office at Johnson Space Center from 2005 to 2006, as Manager of Shuttle Operations in the Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) from 2006 to 2007, and as Deputy Director of Mission Operations during 2007. In December 2007, he became Director of Mission Operations, in which position he is responsible for Mission Operations support for crewed space flights.[2] Interviewed in January 2011 about the downsizing of the Mission Operations Directorate as the Shuttle program ends, Hill said, "I could not be more proud to be part of this great MOD team and the people that comprise this national treasure... The risk of fully eliminating it keeps me awake at night, both for the technical capability and the human impact to these people who are carrying the load for the cause."[8]
In 2024, Hill headed up the agency's Independent Review Board (IRB) that assessed why the heat shield on theOrion spacecraft lost so much material during the 2022 uncrewed Artemis I test flight.[9]
Hill is married to the former Pam Gerber. They have two daughters who are fourth-generation Aggies.[1][4] Hill enjoys skiing, traveling with his family, and playing and coaching soccer.[5]
This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration.
