Company: Former NASA Chief O'Keefe In Plane Crash

Former NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe was a passenger on a small plane that crashed in Alaska last night, defense contractor EADS North America said today.

O'Keefe is the current CEO of the U.S.-based division of the European company. Former Alaska Republican Senator Ted Stevens is also believed to have been on board the plane.

The company says it has no further information about O'Keefe's status.

The Associated Press story is HERE. Blogger note: Updated at 12:15 p.m.

IMAGE NOTE: Click to enlarge the Feb. 2002 NASA photo of then-new NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, who posed for a photographer at the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 Press Site with the Vehicle Assembly Building in the background. O'Keefe was at KSC on an agencywide familiarization tour of NASA field centers. He was nominated for the position as administrator in November 2001 by President George W. Bush. He was sworn in Dec. 21 as the agency's tenth chief. He served until Feb. 11, 2005.