Bobby Block, VP of corporate communications for commercial spaceflight company SpaceX, has moved to the top PR role at the non-profit tapped by NASA to run the U.S. lab in the International Space Station.
Block, a former reporter who covered the space program, is charged with promoting the Center for Advancement in Space and Science and ISS National Laboratory “brands” internationally, while cultivating industry and stakeholder media as the organization works to position the lab and rebuild interest in the space station.
“I am confident we will significantly raise the profile of CASIS and the ISS National Lab in the international marketplace,” said CASIS newly minted interim executive director Jim Royston, who took the reins this week following the resignation of Jeanne Becker after a short stint.
CASIS, based near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, won the $15M-a-year assignment in July to grow the lab’s use for non-NASA applications and foster interest in its projects, especially among schools and students.
Congress has authorized funding the space station operations through at least 2020.
Block is a former reporter for Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and Orlando Sentinel, where he was space editor in a four-year career before moving into PR at SpaceX in 2011.