Johnson Space Center

Vanessa E. Wyche is the director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, home to America’s astronaut corps, Mission Control Center, International Space Station, Orion and Gateway programs and its more than 11,000 civil service and contractor employees.

Stephen A. Koerner assists in overseeing a broad range of human spaceflight activities, including development and operation of human spacecraft, commercialization of low-Earth orbit and Johnson’s role in landing the first woman and first person of color on the surface of the Moon.

Donna M. Shafer assists in leading a workforce of more than 10,000 civil servant and contractor employees at one of NASA’s largest installations in Houston and the White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico. She also assists with a broad range of human spaceflight activities.

Douglas Terrier is responsible for leading the strategy, creation, integration, and overall execution of JSC’s ongoing transformation initiatives revolutionizing the center’s policies, plans, and processes around workforce, facilities, and products to advance human spaceflight. 

Victor Herod is on a one-year detail as the Assistant to the Center Director for Technical Integration.  In this role he supports the JSC Center Director’s staff, specifically helping with strategic planning and management of technical integration, mission support and communication activities.

Kate Kubicek is on a six-month detail as Technical Assistant to NASA Johnson Space Center Deputy Director.  Kate has been serving in a dual role as Gateway Program Deputy Chief Health and Performance Officer and JSC Human Health and Performance (HHP) Directorate Deputy Manager for Gateway. 

Human space exploration helps to address fundamental questions about our place in the universe and the history of our solar system. We go to space to answer humanity's most fundamental questions, to create new economic opportunities, and to improve life on Earth.

Johnson Space Center research efforts span biology and biotechnology, Earth science, human research, physical science, technology, and more.

The first foray into economic development off Earth, the low-Earth orbit economy is a new and growing market of private companies providing access to, and services in, space. Customers in space include NASA and other international space agencies, academic institutions, and other research-based organizations.

The Space Food Systems Laboratory supports the production and development of flight food, menus, packaging, and food-related hardware for all NASA programs. 

Geologic samples returned from the Moon by the Apollo lunar surface exploration missions (1969-1972), along with associated data records, are physically protected, environmentally preserved, and scientifically processed in a special building dedicated for that purpose.

The Johnson Space Center Microbiology laboratory, a Biosafety Level 2 facility, is a critical component of the Human Health and Performance Directorate and is responsible for addressing crew health and environmental issues related to microbial infection, allergens, and contamination.

The mission operations team enables the men and women living and working aboard the space station to achieve their mission goals and to fly safely.  The next generation of mission operations will include deep space travel beyond Low Earth Orbit, into Cislunar space, and onto Mars. 

The NBL is one of the world’s largest indoor pools and can support multiple large scale operations utilizing both underwater and topside assets simultaneously. The NBL is utilized for mission planning, procedure development, hardware verification, astronaut training, and refinement of time-critical operations necessary to ensure mission success during spacewalks.

The mission of the SVMF is to provide world class training for space flight crews and their support personnel and high-fidelity hardware for real-time mission support. A major task of the SVMF is to support engineering and mission operations evaluations for the International Space Station and Orion Programs.