James J. Avitabile
James J. Avitabile, an air force officer from East Haven, Connecticut, graduated from the University of Connecticut and obtained an MBA from Western New England College. He entered the United States Air Force in 1959. During his career, Lieutenant Colonel Avitabile served as an Atlas E operations launch officer and as an astronaut mission operations instructor at NASA's spacecraft simulator complex responsible for astronaut mission flight training at Cape Canaveral/Kennedy from 1965 to 1967. He also served in the Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) Program Office; as airborne test director for the E-3A Airborne Warnings and Control Systems (AWACS) Aircraft; and as activation director for the AWACS Operating Base. He was a member of the Cadre Office at NATO, responsible for the fielding of the NATO AWACS system and was a program director responsible for the acquisition of Air Force Command and Control Systems. Upon retiring from the Air Force, Lt. Col. Avitabile worked for General Electric, where he directed military and commercial space programs.
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