In 1976 Tilford went to
NASA Headquarters as a detailee in the
Solar Physics program, which led to a position as head of NASA's newly established Upper Atmosphere Research Program (UARP). An important science issue for the UARP was to understand the nature and causes of atmospheric
ozone depletion and the impact of
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). After several years,
CFCs were eventually banned on a global scale (see
Montreal Protocol). By late 1978, NASA had consolidated all its Earth science research observation components, including atmosphere, oceans, land, solar-terrestrial physics, and the aircraft observations into an integrated Earth Science Division in the Office of Space Science, under Tilford's purview. At UNISPACE '82 in
Vienna (a conference of the
United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space), Tilford and colleagues, in a NASA delegation led by Administrator
James Beggs, proposed a Global Habitability initiative as an international cooperative research effort to obtain data on the Earth's environment, hoping to obtain international support for the concept. However, it was not generally well received. Following this Tilford, with top agency officials formulated the Earth System Science Committee (ESSC) of the
NASA Advisory Council, chaired by
Francis Bretherton, to put together the foundation for a new comprehensive NASA initiative in Earth science from space. This set the stage for Tilford's development and leadership of NASA's
Earth Observing System (EOS) and the associated data system, the
EOS Data and Information System (EOSDIS). As preparation for EOS got underway, Tilford and counterparts in other U.S. agencies with responsibilities in Earth science created the
U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). The USGCRP was established by Presidential initiative in 1989. == Awards ==