Patti Grace Smith

Patti Grace Smith (November 10, 1947 – June 5, 2016) was a United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) official whose regulatory work helped make personal space travel a possibility.

Early life

Patricia Grace Jones was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, on Nov. 10, 1947. Her father, after retiring from the Air Force, managed the canteen at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Tuskegee. Her mother, Wilhelmina, worked as a clerk at the hospital.

As a black teenager Smith was not able to attend the all-white Tuskegee High School, leading to a lawsuit in 1963 against the governor, George C. Wallace. She later attributed her negotiating skills to the experience she had during the struggle for integration.^[1]

Smith graduated from Tuskegee Institute with a bachelor's degree in English in 1969 and went into broadcasting.^[1]

Government career

Smith began her government career in the Federal Communications Commission, working on satellite communications. She then went to work for the Defense Communications Agency and later the Department of Transportation. At the latter she was chief of staff of the Office of Commercial Space Transportation. That office was moved to the FAA in 1995, where she had the title of associate administrator.^[1]

In 1998, Smith was appointed to head the FAA’s newly created Office of Commercial Space Transportation, a position she held until 2008.^[2] Under her administration, the FAA licensed the Mojave Air & Space Port, the first commercial spaceport in the United States. Here SpaceShipOne was launched in 2004.^[1] Smith was present to watch the launch, which was made possible through the policies developed by her office.^[2]

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