Cosmic Trilogy

George H. Diller is a NASA Public Affairs information specialist at the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He has worked in the Cape Canaveral public affairs arena for 36 years.

Diller is the lead information specialist for NASA's expendable launch vehicle fleet and the planetary, astrophysics and Earth resources spacecraft they carry. These have included NASA's probes launched to asteroids and comets, the moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury and Pluto. He also was the lead for the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope and the five maintenance and repair missions. Diller supports the NASA launches occurring at Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Diller also is the principal information specialist for tracking, data and telemetry for launches from Kennedy. He serves as the primary liaison with the NASA-KSC Weather Office, the USAF 45th Weather Squadron and the NOAA National Weather Service. He also serves as the NASA Public Affairs member of the KSC hurricane ride-out team.

He has served as a launch commentator on NASA Television for the launch countdown of both expendable launch vehicles and the space shuttle, including STS-135, the final space shuttle mission with the launch of Atlantis. He was the launch commentator for STS-31 with Discovery for the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope and all five of the subsequent telescope servicing missions. Among the expendable launch vehicles, Diller’s commentaries included the countdown for the Atlas V rocket carrying the Mars Science Laboratory with the Curiosity rover.

Diller received the Aviation Week Harry Kolcum Award for aerospace communications professionals in 2004, was selected as the NASA Public Affairs Employee of the Year for 2005, and received the astronaut's Silver Snoopy award in 2007.

He is a native Floridian, having grown up in Sarasota, St. Petersburg and Clearwater. He holds degrees in communications and business administration from the University of South Florida in Tampa. Prior to joining NASA, he worked 11 years in radio broadcasting at stations in Clearwater, Tampa and Orlando and had among his responsibilities covering the Kennedy Space Center.

Diller is the current treasurer of the American Meteorological Society's Cape Canaveral Chapter. He also is past treasurer of the Florida Lighthouse Association and the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation, having served both organizations for eight years.

George Diller has lived in Titusville, Florida, since October 1978, moving there from the Tampa Bay area immediately prior to starting work at the Kennedy Space Center.

Hugh W. Harris was appointed Director, Public Affairs Office, at NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center by Center Director Robert L. Crippen in May 1992.

As Director of Public Affairs, he guides the Center’s educational programs, media activities, special guest tours and briefings, and the operation of the visitors center, Spaceport USA, NASA’s largest public visitor center.

Harris began his NASA career in 1963 as an information specialist at the Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, and was promoted to Chief of the Public Information Office for Lewis in 1968. He transferred to KSC in 1975 where he was responsible for planning and administering an information program designed to keep the public informed, through the news media, of the activities, results and significance of aerospace programs conducted at the Kennedy Space Center.

In addition to managing the news center, he provided the broadcast commentary for approximately 100 manned and expendable space vehicle launches. In 1985, he became Deputy Director, Public Affairs Office, participating in the management of all KSC public affairs and education awareness activities, as well as NASA-wide planning in these functional areas.

Born in December 1932, he graduated from Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1956. He served in the U.S. Army as an information specialist from 1952-1954. Prior to joining NASA, Harris worked as a radio newscaster, a reporter with a metropolitan daily and a magazine writer for a major energy company.

Significant awards presented to Harris include the NASA Equal Opportunity Medal in 1979, and Exceptional Service Medals in 1985 and 1988. He was also honored by the Spacecoast Chapter of Federally Employed Women with its Distinguished Service Award for 1978-79.

Harris and his wife, Cora, reside in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Harris retired from NASA on April 3, 1998.