John Bailey, acting director of NASA’s Stennis Space Center since January, has been named the permanent director of the rocket propulsion test site.
Bailey will lead the rocket testing facility that has a combined workforce of over 5,200 and currently tests the RS-25 engines that will power NASA’s Space Launch System for future Artemis missions, the agency said Monday.
“John will build on his nearly 35 years of federal service to lead our talented workforce at Stennis,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
“So much of NASA runs through Stennis. It is where we hone new and exciting capabilities in aerospace, technology, and deep space exploration. I am confident that John will lead the nation’s largest and premier propulsion test site to even greater success,” the 2024 Wash100 awardee added.
Bailey has held various roles of increasing responsibility since joining NASA in 1999, including as deputy director of Stennis Space Center.
Before that, he served as a communications engineer with the U.S. Air Force and led the service branch’s electronic communications testing worldwide.