NASA taps commercial crew chief Kathy Lueders to lead human spaceflight office
>roasties in charge of NASA
https://www.space.com/nasa-human-spaceflight-chief-kathy-lueders.html
NASA has picked Kathy Lueders to lead its Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate, the office working to get astronauts back to the moon and then on to Mars.
Lueders is a longtime NASA employee who since 2014 had led the agency's Commercial Crew Program, which has been encouraging the development of private crew-carrying spacecraft. One such astronaut taxi, SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, carried NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time late last month on a landmark mission called Demo-2.
Related: Amazing photos of SpaceX's 1st astronaut launch for NASA
"Kathy gives us the extraordinary experience and passion we need to continue to move forward with Artemis and our goal of landing the first woman and the next man on the moon by 2024," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement today (June 12). (Artemis is NASA's program of crewed lunar exploration.)
"She has a deep interest in developing commercial markets in space, dating back to her initial work on the space shuttle program," Bridenstine said in the statement. "From Commercial Cargo and now Commercial Crew, she has safely and successfully helped push to expand our nation's industrial base. Kathy's the right person to extend the space economy to the lunar vicinity and achieve the ambitious goals we've been given."
Those goals include establishing a sustainable, long-term human presence on and around the moon by 2028, getting astronauts to Mars in the 2030s and helping to incubate a thriving off-Earth economy.
Lueders is the HEO chief effectively immediately. Former Commercial Crew deputy manager Steve Stich now takes over the top job in that program, and Ken Bowersox resumes his role as HEO deputy chief, NASA officials said.
>roasties in charge of NASA
https://www.space.com/nasa-human-spaceflight-chief-kathy-lueders.html
NASA has picked Kathy Lueders to lead its Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate, the office working to get astronauts back to the moon and then on to Mars.
Lueders is a longtime NASA employee who since 2014 had led the agency's Commercial Crew Program, which has been encouraging the development of private crew-carrying spacecraft. One such astronaut taxi, SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, carried NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time late last month on a landmark mission called Demo-2.
Related: Amazing photos of SpaceX's 1st astronaut launch for NASA
"Kathy gives us the extraordinary experience and passion we need to continue to move forward with Artemis and our goal of landing the first woman and the next man on the moon by 2024," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement today (June 12). (Artemis is NASA's program of crewed lunar exploration.)
"She has a deep interest in developing commercial markets in space, dating back to her initial work on the space shuttle program," Bridenstine said in the statement. "From Commercial Cargo and now Commercial Crew, she has safely and successfully helped push to expand our nation's industrial base. Kathy's the right person to extend the space economy to the lunar vicinity and achieve the ambitious goals we've been given."
Those goals include establishing a sustainable, long-term human presence on and around the moon by 2028, getting astronauts to Mars in the 2030s and helping to incubate a thriving off-Earth economy.
Lueders is the HEO chief effectively immediately. Former Commercial Crew deputy manager Steve Stich now takes over the top job in that program, and Ken Bowersox resumes his role as HEO deputy chief, NASA officials said.
