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JPL Welcomes First Astronaut to Top Management
29 Oct
Summary
- Reid Wiseman appointed JPL deputy director starting Nov. 30.
- He commanded the historic Artemis II lunar flyby mission.
- This marks the first astronaut in JPL's senior leadership.
Reid Wiseman, a distinguished retired astronaut, is set to assume the role of deputy director at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) starting November 30. JPL is renowned for its deep-space robotic missions and is managed by the California Institute of Technology for NASA.
This appointment is historic, as Wiseman is the first astronaut to join JPL's senior leadership. He previously commanded the Artemis II mission, humanity's first journey beyond low-Earth orbit since 1972, which successfully completed a lunar flyby in April. The president of Caltech expressed confidence in Wiseman's suitability for the laboratory's current strategic direction.
Despite JPL's primary focus on robotic exploration rather than human spaceflight, Wiseman's engineering background and leadership experience are expected to bring a unique perspective. The laboratory, located near Los Angeles, employs approximately 4,300 staff and contractors. Caltech announced the appointment on Wednesday.
