President of Boeing Space Systems to Retire

Aerospace industry veteran John A. McLuckey, who began his 39-year career as a clerk and became president of Boeing Co’s. $4-billion-a-year Space Systems division, said Thursday that he will retire April 1.

He will be succeeded by James F. Albaugh, president of the Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power unit of Boeing Space Systems.

Both men are former Rockwell International Corp. executives who came to Boeing when the Seattle-based aerospace and defense giant acquired Rockwell’s space and defense operations in December 1996.

McLuckey, 57, was a key player in Boeing’s transformation over the past 14 months as it first absorbed Rockwell’s space operations, then last summer acquired McDonnell Douglas Corp. and its far-flung space operations.

Seal Beach-based Boeing Space Systems was created to integrate all the space businesses in one command, headed by McLuckey.

He was not available for comment Thursday but had told associates at Boeing that he intends to spend more time with his family and pursue activities on behalf of a variety of industry, philanthropic and arts groups.

McLuckey was en route to Russia on Thursday to attend a meeting of the board of Sea Launch Co., an international joint venture that is building a ship-borne rocket launching system. Boeing owns a 40% stake in the company, whose other owners are aerospace firms from Russia, the Ukraine and Norway.

Other businesses within the Boeing Space Systems unit include the space shuttle, international space station and Delta rocket programs, as well as a number of rocket propulsion and missile defense programs.

McLuckey joined North American Aviation Inc., Rockwell’s predecessor, in 1959 as a clerk in the logistics department. He earned a degree in business administration from Cal State Fullerton in 1967 after attending evening classes for four years.

After Rockwell acquired North American in 1967, he moved through a number of divisions and was president of several before being named a senior vice president of the corporation and head of its aerospace and defense systems unit. He held that position when Rockwell announced in mid-1996 that it would sell those operations to Boeing.

Albaugh, who was named president of Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power last year, joined Rockwell in 1975 and worked under McLuckey at both the Autonetics Electronics Systems and Defense Systems units. He became vice president for production at Rocketdyne in 1994.

Russell D. Turner, now vice president and general manager of its reusable space systems unit in Downey, will succeed Albaugh at Rocketdyne. Richard D. Stephens, now director of the consolidated space operations contract program based in Houston, will succeed Turner as head of the reusable space systems unit.