By KRWG News
Las Cruces – Gov. Susana Martinez has appointed seven members of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority's board of directors, including a former astronaut who commanded a 1994 space shuttle mission.
Sid Gutierrez piloted the shuttle Columbia in 1991 and commanded Endeavor on a 1994 flight. He now works at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque.
The board chairman will be Richard Holdridge of Deming, a retired Air Force officer who worked with satellite program acquisition and oversaw Department of Defense satellite programs.
Other members include accountant and financial planner Irvin Diamond of Albuquerque; Jerry Stagner, president of Citizens Bank in Truth or Consequences; Albuquerque attorney David Buchholtz; Las Cruces marketing consultant Scott Krahling; and Benjamin Woods, senior vice president for external relations and chief of staff at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.