Willis H. Shapley

Willis Harlow Shapley (March 2, 1917 – October 24, 2005) was an American civil servant best known as the third-ranking administrator for NASA during the Apollo program.

Biography Shapley was born March 2, 1917, in Pasadena, California. He attended Harvard University before transferring to University of Chicago, from which he graduated with a B.A. degree in 1938 and where he continued to perform research and other graduate work until 1942.

In 1942, Shapley began federal government service with the Bureau of the Budget (now the Office of Management and Budget) where he worked as an examiner.

NASA Shapley's first involvement in the space program was in helping to craft the March 1958 memo that led to the creation of NASA. In addition, he set policies for the handling of lunar samples and Apollo-related scientific research. In 1987 he came out of retirement at the request of NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher, rejoining NASA to assist in the investigation into the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, reviewing the agency's performance leading up to and following the disaster.