Howard Hu, formerly the deputy manager of NASA’s Orion Program, has been promoted to succeed Catherine Koerner as the spacecraft’s program manager.
Hu holds over three decades of NASA experience including technical and leadership work for the International Space Station, the Space Shuttle Program, the Vehicle Integration Office and human exploration initiatives, the space agency said Tuesday.
He previously held managerial roles spanning Orion’s avionics, software and power systems.
Koerner will go on to serve as the deputy associate administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at the space agency’s Washington, D.C.-based headquarters.
The Orion spacecraft is scheduled to perform an uncrewed lunar flyby this year in the first mission of NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to eventually revive manned space exploration.
“With the upcoming Artemis I mission, we are on the cusp of another major milestone toward NASA’s goals of landing the first woman and first person of color on the Moon and preparing for human missions to Mars,” Hu said.
