NASA room operations head Lueders to retire
WASHINGTON — Kathy Lueders, the NASA official who oversees the Intercontinental Area Station and professional cargo and crew applications, will retire from the company at the stop of April and be succeeded by her deputy.
NASA announced March 27 that Lueders would retire following more than 3 many years at the agency, most not long ago as affiliate administrator for house functions. Ken Bowersox, who is deputy affiliate administrator for space functions, will just take more than that article effective Might 1.
Lueders had worked for a lot more than two many years on the shuttle and ISS systems when she grew to become supervisor of the professional crew program in 2013 as the agency was making ready to pick providers to create the automobiles that would transportation astronauts to and from the station. She remained in the position through the thriving launch of SpaceX’s Demo-2 mission, with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on board, in Might 2020.
In June 2020, NASA named Lueders as its up coming affiliate administrator for human exploration and operations, accountable for all NASA human spaceflight endeavours, which includes the Artemis lunar exploration marketing campaign. She took the occupation fewer than a thirty day period soon after Doug Loverro resigned from the agency amid claims he violated procurement polices through the collection approach for a to start with round of Human Landing Procedure awards.
She held that situation right up until September 2021, when NASA split the Human Exploration and Functions Mission Directorate (HEOMD) into two. Lueders retained the house functions section of it, overseeing the ISS, business cargo and crew programs, and ancillary efforts like place communications and navigation. The Area Operations Mission Directorate is also property to NASA’s Commercial Small Earth Orbit Destinations system to foster advancement of industrial place stations to realize success the ISS.
NASA moved the exploration similar programs into a new Exploration Units Advancement Mission Directorate, led by Jim Free, a previous director of the Glenn Exploration Center. The a variety of courses affiliated with Artemis, as properly as innovative setting up for eventual human missions to Mars, are in that directorate.
“Kathy is a incredible public servant and a trailblazer, not only serving as the first woman to head space functions for NASA and the initially female to handle our human spaceflight system, but also championing a new way of doing enterprise in low Earth orbit,” NASA Administrator Monthly bill Nelson mentioned in a assertion announcing her retirement. “The general public-personal commercial model Kathy and her group helped pioneer will return humanity to the Moon and get ready us for our future huge leap: the 1st crewed missions to Mars.”
Some others outdoors the company praised her function. “I have been amazed by her deep complex knowledge during, her potent conclusion producing, and her kindness and guidance as a buddy,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, who stepped down as affiliate administrator for science at NASA at the conclusion of 2022. Without the need of her, he added, “I essentially question there would be a Business Crew application, which has altered how we go to room, and will surely final result in significantly science affect.”
“She was the fantastic NASA leader at the proper time,” claimed Abhi Tripathi, a former mission director at SpaceX who is at present director of mission functions at the College of California Berkeley’s House Sciences Laboratory. “It’s tricky to visualize how unique SpaceX’s trajectory would have been with out her as its major interface.”
Bowersox, who will choose around for Lueders on May perhaps 1, has been deputy affiliate administrator for space functions, and ahead of that human exploration and functions, for many a long time. He served as performing affiliate administrator for human exploration and operations soon after the resignation of Loverro in 2020 and for quite a few months in 2019 when NASA reassigned Bill Gerstenmaier, longtime associate administrator for human exploration and functions, to a particular adviser position.
Bowersox is a previous naval aviator and astronaut who flew four shuttle missions from 1992 to 1997 and a very long-duration ISS mission, launching on a shuttle in 2002 and returning on a Soyuz in 2003 soon after the Columbia incident grounded the shuttle application. He was vice president of astronaut basic safety and mission assurance at SpaceX from 2009 to 2011 and later served as chair of the NASA Advisory Council’s human exploration and operations committee right before returning to NASA.
“Ken has been instrumental to advancing NASA’s plans and missions in low Earth orbit and beyond, and I know Area Operations will be in excellent palms underneath his leadership,” Nelson reported in a statement.
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WASHINGTON — Kathy Lueders, the NASA official who oversees the Intercontinental Area Station and professional cargo and crew applications, will retire from the company at the stop of April and be succeeded by her deputy.
NASA announced March 27 that Lueders would retire following more than 3 many years at the agency, most not long ago as affiliate administrator for house functions. Ken Bowersox, who is deputy affiliate administrator for space functions, will just take more than that article effective Might 1.
Lueders had worked for a lot more than two many years on the shuttle and ISS systems when she grew to become supervisor of the professional crew program in 2013 as the agency was making ready to pick providers to create the automobiles that would transportation astronauts to and from the station. She remained in the position through the thriving launch of SpaceX’s Demo-2 mission, with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on board, in Might 2020.
In June 2020, NASA named Lueders as its up coming affiliate administrator for human exploration and operations, accountable for all NASA human spaceflight endeavours, which includes the Artemis lunar exploration marketing campaign. She took the occupation fewer than a thirty day period soon after Doug Loverro resigned from the agency amid claims he violated procurement polices through the collection approach for a to start with round of Human Landing Procedure awards.
She held that situation right up until September 2021, when NASA split the Human Exploration and Functions Mission Directorate (HEOMD) into two. Lueders retained the house functions section of it, overseeing the ISS, business cargo and crew programs, and ancillary efforts like place communications and navigation. The Area Operations Mission Directorate is also property to NASA’s Commercial Small Earth Orbit Destinations system to foster advancement of industrial place stations to realize success the ISS.
NASA moved the exploration similar programs into a new Exploration Units Advancement Mission Directorate, led by Jim Free, a previous director of the Glenn Exploration Center. The a variety of courses affiliated with Artemis, as properly as innovative setting up for eventual human missions to Mars, are in that directorate.
“Kathy is a incredible public servant and a trailblazer, not only serving as the first woman to head space functions for NASA and the initially female to handle our human spaceflight system, but also championing a new way of doing enterprise in low Earth orbit,” NASA Administrator Monthly bill Nelson mentioned in a assertion announcing her retirement. “The general public-personal commercial model Kathy and her group helped pioneer will return humanity to the Moon and get ready us for our future huge leap: the 1st crewed missions to Mars.”
Some others outdoors the company praised her function. “I have been amazed by her deep complex knowledge during, her potent conclusion producing, and her kindness and guidance as a buddy,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, who stepped down as affiliate administrator for science at NASA at the conclusion of 2022. Without the need of her, he added, “I essentially question there would be a Business Crew application, which has altered how we go to room, and will surely final result in significantly science affect.”
“She was the fantastic NASA leader at the proper time,” claimed Abhi Tripathi, a former mission director at SpaceX who is at present director of mission functions at the College of California Berkeley’s House Sciences Laboratory. “It’s tricky to visualize how unique SpaceX’s trajectory would have been with out her as its major interface.”
Bowersox, who will choose around for Lueders on May perhaps 1, has been deputy affiliate administrator for space functions, and ahead of that human exploration and functions, for many a long time. He served as performing affiliate administrator for human exploration and operations soon after the resignation of Loverro in 2020 and for quite a few months in 2019 when NASA reassigned Bill Gerstenmaier, longtime associate administrator for human exploration and functions, to a particular adviser position.
Bowersox is a previous naval aviator and astronaut who flew four shuttle missions from 1992 to 1997 and a very long-duration ISS mission, launching on a shuttle in 2002 and returning on a Soyuz in 2003 soon after the Columbia incident grounded the shuttle application. He was vice president of astronaut basic safety and mission assurance at SpaceX from 2009 to 2011 and later served as chair of the NASA Advisory Council’s human exploration and operations committee right before returning to NASA.
“Ken has been instrumental to advancing NASA’s plans and missions in low Earth orbit and beyond, and I know Area Operations will be in excellent palms underneath his leadership,” Nelson reported in a statement.