The man who directed NASA's shuttle program after the Columbia disaster is returning to Mississippi as director of Stennis Space Center, the space agency said.
Bill Parsons already is at Stennis, coordinating NASA's hurricane recovery efforts after damage to facilities in the region.
Parsons was serving as Stennis' director in his home state when Columbia broke apart during its reentry in February 2003. He took over the struggling shuttle program three months later.
