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Joseph P. "Joe" Allen, Ph.D. has made numerous contributions to the world of space, from both the government and private sector perspectives. After being selected by NASA as a scientist-astronaut in 1967, Allen served as mission controller for two Apollo missions and the inaugural flight of the Space Shuttle program - STS-1/Columbia. He later blasted into space on two different missions. During his NASA career, he also served Assistant Administrator for Legislative Affairs at headquarters in Washington D.C. and as Director of Astronaut Training and Operations at the Johnson Space Center.
After retiring from NASA in 1985, he began his educational and business career. Allen served as a guest research associate at Brookhaven National Laboratory and a member of the physics faculty at the University of Washington in Seattle. Today, he is the Chairman of the Board of Veridian Corporation, an advanced information technology company that serves the information, space, aeronautics, transportation and life sciences sectors. The company employs 5,000 people at more than 45 locations throughout the world. In addition to his commitments with Veridian, Allen is the Chairman of Challenger Center for Space Science Education, a charitable organization hosting space science education projects in North America and England.
Allen, who was a Fulbright scholar, holds a master's and doctorate degree in physics from Yale University. He authored the book Entering Space: An Astronaut's Odyssey, a personal account of his spaceflight experience, and has been published many times in various physics and space research journals.
Born in 1937 in Indiana, Allen resides in Washington,
D.C. with his wife, Bonnie. He has two grown children. He is also an inductee
into the U.S. National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma.