|  Chuck
Dovale
Senior ELV Launch Director
Launch Services Program
Kennedy Space Center
Charles (Chuck) P. Dovale is the Senior ELV Launch Director
at NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida. He
is responsible for the management of ELV launch countdowns
as well as launch campaign policy planning, implementation,
and management.
Dovale joined NASA in 1982 as a summer/winter stay-in-school
student in the Financial Management Directorate. He served
in that role for approximately 2 years while going to school.
Dovale accrued engineering courses at Brevard Community College
while in the program which allowed him to join the Cooperative
Education Program (Co-op) in August 1984. Dovale was assigned
to the ELV Directorate as a co-op student.
Dovale served as an Instrumentation and Telemetry student
engineer for approximately 5 years while completing his engineering
degree as part of the co-op program. Dovale graduated in May
1989 and became a fulltime employee of NASA and the ELV Directorate.
Chuck continued his duties as instrumentation and telemetry
engineer as well as becoming the power and RF lead. The stable
of NASA/KSC ELV's continued to grow to include programs such
as Scout, Pegasus, Titan II, and Titan IV. Chuck served as
the lead systems engineer during the transition of the Scout
program from Langley Research Center (LaRC) to KSC. The Scout
program was a very successful program, which afforded NASA
the opportunity to launch a host of small satellites to orbit.
The Scout paved the way for a new launch vehicle for small
satellites, the Pegasus. Chuck was the lead engineer and interface
between KSC and the Pegasus manufacturer, Orbital Sciences
Corp. Representing NASA/KSC/ELV as liaison to the Pegasus
program was a major accomplishment in the education and growth
of Dovale as a future manager at KSC.
Dovale became the Avionics Branch Chief in August 1994 where
he led a branch of systems engineers though vital ELV missions
such as Mars 96, Cassini, Landsat, and Mars 98. During this
time, Dovale performed additional on-console duties as the
Assistant Launch Manager. Serving as the backup to the Launch
Director, Chuck utilized his launch operations knowledge and
skills during the final launch campaign of several ELV missions.
These unique challenges afforded Chuck the opportunity to
formally serve as the Alternate Launch Director from 1999
to 2000. He was named Senior Launch Director in early 2000
and has been performing in that role ever since. He was the
Launch Director for important ELV missions such as Landsat-7,
Mars Odyssey, IMAGE, and Kodiak Star.
Born on Long Island, New York, he moved to Florida in 1981
where he graduated from Cocoa High School in 1982. He received
a bachelor of science in engineering in 1989 from the University
of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida.
Chuck and his wife, Laura, live in Cocoa with their two daughters,
Paige 6, and Kaley 4.
Chuck enjoys spending time with his family, as well as playing
softball, playing guitar, and keeping fit.
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