Yoon Young-bin, the first head of the Korea Aerospace Administration, and John Lee, a former NASA head, were appointed.

On the 24th, President Yoon Seok-yeol appointed Professor Yoon Young-bin of the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Seoul National University as the first Administrator of the Korea Aerospace Administration. President Yoon appointed John Lee, a former high-ranking executive at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), as head of the Aerospace Mission Directorate (Class 1).

Seong Tae-yoon, Director of the Presidential Office’s Policy Office, made this announcement at a briefing held this afternoon at the Presidential Office Building in Yongsan, Seoul.

Noh Gyeong-won, head of the Research and Development Policy Department of the Ministry of Science and ICT, was appointed as Deputy Director of the Aerospace Administration.

Director Seong said of Yoon Young-bin, the first director of the Korea Aerospace Administration, “He has been a professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Seoul National University since 1996 and has led the Rocket Propulsion Laboratory.” He added, “He has been conducting research on liquid rockets and gas turbine engines for over 40 years, and has been involved in the development of Naroho and the Korean model. “He is Korea’s leading researcher in the space propulsion field who has contributed to the successful promotion of launch vehicle development, lunar exploration, and phase 1 projects,” he said.

Director Seong described John Lee, the head of the Aerospace Mission Division, as “an expert in the space field who started working at NASA in 1992 and has been managing NASA’s major space programs for 29 years.”

Director Seong said of Deputy Director Noh Kyung-won, “He has played a midwife role in the launch of the Korea Aerospace Administration,” adding, “He is a top expert with both an understanding of technology and administrative expertise. He emphasized, “The designation of the head of the Research and Development Policy Office as the deputy director of the Korea Aerospace Administration is to ensure that the space agency can get on a stable track early.”

Director Seong said that while conducting this appointment, President Yoon asked, “As we have appointed the best experts in the industry to key positions, please make thorough preparations so that the Korea Aerospace Administration can be launched successfully and lead our country’s aerospace industry well.”

The Aerospace Administration will open on the 27th of next month.