GORDON NAMED DIRECTOR KSC PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Joseph "Joe" Gordon, Jr. has been named as the new NASA director of Public Affairs for Kennedy Space Center, effective Dec. 10. 1998. He succeeds Hugh Harris who retired from NASA in April 1998.

Gordon is responsible for leading the center's public affairs efforts, including media and community relations; aerospace education; tours and briefings of distinguished visitors; guest activities for launches, landings and special events; and the KSC Visitor Complex.

Gordon came to NASA from the Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses, Office of the Deputy Secretary of Defense, where he served as the civilian director of public affairs for one of the Department's most sensitive issues. He assumed those responsibilities in September 1997, following his retirement from the U.S. Marine Corps after more than 29 years of service.

Gordon joined the Marine Corps in 1968 with the Platoon Leader Class Program.

Commissioned a second lieutenant in 1971, he held a variety of assignments to include command and staff positions, while serving numerous tours of duty with Fleet Marine Forces, Atlantic and Pacific, in the United States and overseas. He also served a command tour as a battalion inspector-instructor training Marine Reserves for active duty with Fleet Marine Forces.

Assigned to Marine Corps Headquarters in 1990, he served as the executive assistant to the deputy Chief of Staff for Installations and Logistics and later as the deputy director of Marine Corps Public Affairs.

Reporting to the Pentagon in 1994, he was named director for management and executive assistant in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, where he planned and led program activities in community relations, public communications and defense information.

Gordon is a graduate of Edinboro State University in Pennsylvania, where he received a bachelor of arts degree in Political Science. He is married to the former Debbie West of Richmond, Va. Their daughter, Leah, attends Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Va.