NASA Reports Leadership Changes

Dr. Kurt Vogel, associate administrator for the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), is retiring from the agency, according to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson who announced the news on July 16. 

NASA Langley Research Center Director Clayton Turner will become the acting associate administrator for STMD, and NASA Glenn Research Center Deputy Director Dawn Schaible will become acting Langley center director. The changes are effective immediately, and for Turner and Schaible, these will be temporary assignments.  

“I'd like to thank Dr. Vogel for his service at NASA and wish him well in the future,” says Nelson. “Our Space Technology Mission Directorate and Langley Research Center are in good hands with Clayton and Dawn, and I look forward to continuing to work with them as we lead NASA into the future.”

Dr. Vogel has served as the head of STMD since January. Before leading STMD, Vogel served as director of space architectures and was chair of NASA's Agency Cross-Directorate Federated Board. Vogel has more than 30 years of U.S. government service, primarily in the Defense Department, as a technical leader, senior program manager, and chief technologist.

Turner has been Langley's center director since September 2019 and has served the agency for more than 30 years. He has held several roles at NASA Langley, including engineering director, associate center director, and deputy center director. Throughout his NASA career, he has worked on many projects for the agency, including: the Earth Science Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation Project; the materials technology development Gas Permeable Polymer Materials Project; the Space Shuttle Program's Return to Flight work; the flight test of the Ares 1-X rocket; the flight test of the Orion Launch Abort System; and the entry, descent, and landing segment of the Mars Science Laboratory.

At NASA Langley, Schaible will lead a group of more than 3,000 civil servant and contractor scientists, researchers, engineers, and support staff, who work to advance aviation, expand understanding of Earth's atmosphere, and develop technology for space exploration. At NASA Glenn, Schaible has shared with the center director responsibility for planning, organizing, and managing the agency level programs and projects assigned to the center.

Before becoming Glenn's deputy director in February 2023, Schaible was the director of engineering for Langley. Prior to that, Schaible was appointed the NASA deputy chief engineer after serving as the manager of the Systems Engineering Office for the NASA Engineering and Safety Center. She began her career with NASA at the Kennedy Space Center in 1987, where she held a number of lead engineering and management positions for the Space Shuttle and International Space Station Programs.

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