Mark Geyer selected as Johnson Space Center director
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has announced that Mark Geyer has been selected as the next director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. He’ll assume the director’s position on May 25, when current center director and former astronaut Ellen Ochoa retires after 30 years at the agency.
As Johnson’s center director, he’ll lead one of NASA’s largest installations, which has about 10,000 civil service and contractor employees—including those at White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico—and oversee a broad range of human spaceflight activities.
JSC Director Ellen Ochoa, @Astro_Ellen on Twitter, tweets her congratulations to Mark Geyer as the incoming director.
“Mark brings with him almost three decades of distinguished NASA leadership experience at the program, center and headquarters levels—he’s managed and he’s worked his way through the ranks and knows what it’s going to take to get our astronauts back to the Moon and on to Mars. Johnson has been NASA’s home base for astronauts and mission control throughout our history, and Mark is eminently qualified to carry on this historic legacy,” Bridenstine said. “I also want to thank Ellen for her years of service to America and this agency. Her legacy and contributions to this center and to NASA are timeless. She will be missed.”
Geyer currently is serving as the acting deputy associate administrator for Technical for the Human Explorations and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. He assumed this position Oct. 1, 2017, and is responsible for assisting the associate administrator in providing strategic direction for all aspects of NASA’s human spaceflight exploration mission. Before that, Geyer served as deputy center director at Johnson until September 2017.
“It’s an honor to be appointed to lead the men and women of this proud center,” Geyer said. “The Johnson Space Center has unique capabilities that are critical to NASA’s ability to execute our mission to take humans farther into the solar system, and I look forward to working with each and every one of you on the ambitious tasks ahead.”
Born in Indianapolis, Geyer earned his Bachelor of Science in Aeronautics Engineering, as well as his Master of Science in Aeronautics from Purdue University in Indiana. Geyer is the recipient of the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, Meritorious Executive Rank Award and the Distinguished Executive Rank Award.
For more information about Geyer, visit: https://go.nasa.gov/2rwRxc9
