Acting Associate Administrator, Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, NASA
Ken Bowersox is a retired US Naval Aviator, with over 19 years of experience at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Ken received his bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from the US Naval Academy and a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University. Selected to the astronaut corps in 1987, he has flown five times on NASA’s Space Shuttle, serving as pilot, commander and mission specialist, and once on a Russian Soyuz, where he served as the flight engineer during descent. During his five orbital missions, Bowersox has logged over 211 days in space, including five and a half months aboard the International Space Station (ISS), where he was the mission commander of the 6th expedition. He was also a crew member for the first two Hubble Space Telescope repair flights and two United States Microgravity Laboratory flights.
Subsequent to his mission aboard the ISS, Bowersox served as the director of the Johnson Space Center’s Flight Crew Operations Directorate, retiring from NASA and the US Navy in December, 2006. After retirement, he remained involved with the US space exploration program as a member of the standing review boards for ISS, Space Shuttle, and the Constellation Program. From 2009-2011, Bowersox was the Vice President of Astronaut Safety and Mission Assurance at SpaceX. He also lent his expertise as an independent consultant, advising clients on the management and technical aspects of aerospace projects as a member of the NASA Advisory Council and Chairman of the council’s Human Exploration and Operations Committee. In February 2019 Ken was appointed as the Deputy Associate Administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate. However, he currently serves as the Acting Associate Administrator for the HEO Mission Directorate.
