Charles F. Bolden, Jr. is a retired USMC major general, and served as an independent defense and aerospace consultant. Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in 1980, Mr. Bolden qualified as a space shuttle pilot astronaut in 1981 and subsequently flew four missions in space. As pilot of the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1990, Mr. Bolden and crew successfully deployed the Hubble Space Telescope. On his third mission in 1992, he commanded the Space Shuttle Atlantis on the first Space Laboratory (SPACELAB) mission dedicated to NASA's "Mission to Planet Earth". Immediately following this mission, Mr. Bolden was appointed Assistant Deputy Administrator for the NASA. He held this post until assigned as commander of STS-60, the 1994, the first joint U.S./Russian Space Shuttle mission. Upon completion of this fourth mission, Major General Bolden left the space program and returned to the operating forces of the U.S. Marine Corps as the Deputy Commandant of Midshipmen at the Naval Academy. His final active duty assignment was as Commanding General, Third Marine Aircraft Wing, headquartered at MCAS Miramar, San Diego, California. Mr. Bolden served on the NRC Committee on the Navy's Needs in Space for Providing Future Capabilities (2003-2004).