Douglas Loverro, former deputy assistant secretary for space policy at the Department of Defense, has been appointed associate administrator of NASA’s human exploration and operations mission directorate.
He succeeds Kenneth Bowersox, who has led the directorate since July on an acting basis and will return to his full-time post as deputy associate administrator, NASA said Wednesday.
Loverro worked at the Pentagon and in the National Reconnaissance Office for three decades, and helped formulate national security space policies.
In his previous role at DoD, he led the establishment of space-related policy for U.S. allies, international space cooperation efforts and analysis of the impacts of commercial space activities on national security.
“He is known for his strong, bipartisan work and his experience with large programs will be of great benefit to NASA at this critical time in our final development of human spaceflight systems for both Commercial Crew and Artemis,” said Jim Bridenstine, administrator of NASA and a 2019 Wash100 awardee.
Loverro retired from the U.S. Air Force when he was appointed as a Defense Intelligence Senior Executive Service member in February 2006.
