{{Short description|American executive}}{{blpsources|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox Officeholder |name = Mark Albrecht | image = Mark Albrecht.jpg | caption = Mark Albrecht – 2004 |birth_date = {{birth year and age|1950}} |birth_place = St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |death_date = |death_place = |party = Republican |alma_mater = University of California, Los<br>Angeles {{small|(BA, MA)}}<br>Pardee Rand Graduate School<br>{{small|(PhD)}} }} '''Mark J. Albrecht''' is an American aerospace and telecommunications executive. He is credited in government with reform of NASA and implementation of the "faster, cheaper, better" approach to space development and in the space launch business is credited for inventing and implementing the concept of "mutual backup" that revolutionized commercial space launch.
==Early life and education== Albrecht was born in St. Louis, Missouri.{{cn|date=October 2023}} He completed his BA and MA from UCLA (Phi Beta Kappa) and PhD from the Pardee RAND Graduate School.{{cn|date=October 2023}}
==Career== Albrecht was the Legislative Assistant for National Security Affairs to United States Senator Pete Wilson of California from 1983–1989.<ref name=NSS>{{Cite web |title=National Space Society Governor Mark Albrecht Biography – NSS |url=https://nss.org/national-space-society-governor-mark-albrecht-biography/ |website=nss.org |access-date=2024-07-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240301172414/https://nss.org/national-space-society-governor-mark-albrecht-biography/ |archive-date=2024-03-01 |url-status=live }}</ref> He was the executive secretary of the National Space Council from 1989–1992 and was the principal advisor to President George H. W. Bush on space.<ref name=NSS/> He was a senior executive at SAIC from 1992–1997{{cn|date=October 2023}} and was President of Lockheed Martin's International Launch Services from 1999–2006.<ref name=NSS/> Albrecht is the author of best selling Falling Back To Earth : A Firsthand Account Of The Great Space Race And The End Of The Cold War.{{cn|date=July 2024}}
Albrecht has collaborated to Project 2025; he is listed among the contributors.<ref>{{Cite book| publisher=The Heritage Foundation| isbn=978-0-89195-174-2| editor-first1=Paul| editor-last1=Dans| editor-first2=Steven| editor-last2=Groves| title=Mandate for leadership: the conservative promise 2025| location=Washington, DC| date = 2023 |url=https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24088042/project-2025s-mandate-for-leadership-the-conservative-promise.pdf}}</ref>
==Awards== Albrecht was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal<ref name=NSS/> and the DOD distinguished civilian service medal{{cn|date=October 2023}} and is the recipient of the Space Pioneer award of the National Space Society.<ref name=NSS/>
==Personal life== He has three children, one of them is Alexander "Alex" Albrecht.{{cn|date=October 2023}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=16721 Appointment of Mark Albrecht as Director of the National Space Council]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Albrecht, Mark J.}} Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:Businesspeople from St. Louis Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni