Ken Munechika

Ken Kenji Munechika (June 18, 1935 – June 10, 2022) was an American aerospace engineer and U.S. Air Force colonel. He was the seventh director of NASA's Ames Research Center from 1994 to 1996 and the first director of Moffett Federal Airfield.

Early life and education Munechika was born in Pākalā, a village on the south shore of the island of Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi, in 1935. He earned a doctorate in educational administration from the University of Southern California. He later trained as a professor of aerospace studies.

Career Munechika served in the U.S. Air Force for more than thirty years, including two decades in aerospace. Munechika was recommended by Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii to Daniel Goldin, the administrator of NASA. Under his leadership, Ames developed the NASA Astrobiology Institute, the Lunar Prospector mission, attained control of the Moffett Naval Air Station, and implemented zero-base review. In 1994, the Ames-Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base became an independent NASA center, later named the Armstrong Flight Research Center.

He stated that "since aeronautics and space are for everybody, I want Ames to look like America and the community we represent... where everyone feels empowered, included, valued, and respected." He and his wife Grace S. Munechika had three sons.