Jody Singer, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center Director, announced Monday her retirement, effective Saturday, July 29, after more than 38 years of service. Among many firsts in her career, Singer was appointed as the first female center director at Marshall in 2018, after serving as deputy director from 2016 to 2018.
Marshall’s current deputy center director, Joseph Pelfrey,
will serve as the interim acting director until Singer’s successor is
identified through a nationwide search and open competition.
“I wish Jody well during her retirement. And I know
individuals at the beginning of their career at NASA – and members of the
Artemis Generation who dream of working here – will be inspired by Jody’s
service, knowing their contributions can help return NASA astronauts to the
Moon and prepare us for crewed missions to Mars,” said NASA Administrator Bill
Nelson. “And Joseph Pelfrey is no stranger to Marshall, having joined the
center two decades ago as an aerospace engineer. Today, he helps guide
Marshall’s broad portfolio of human spaceflight, science, and technology development,
which supports missions across NASA. We are confident Joseph is prepared to
guide Marshall through this transition.”
As center director, Singer managed one of NASA’s largest
field installations, with nearly 7,000 on- and near-site civil service and
contractor employees with an annual budget of approximately $5 billion.
Under Singer’s leadership, NASA Marshall, known for its
prominence in large space transportation systems, has expanded its portfolio to
include human lunar landing and cargo systems, space habitation and transit
systems, advanced propulsion, additive manufacturing, science payload
operations, Mars ascent spacecraft and cutting-edge science and technology
missions through innovative partnerships with other NASA centers, industry, government
agencies and academia. The Marshall team was critical to the successes of
NASA’s Webb Space Telescope, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer mission,
the DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission, and SLS (Space Launch
System), the agency’s powerful heavy-lift rocket.
Singer joined NASA in 1985 though the professional intern
program. She joined the Space Shuttle Program Office in 1986 as an engineer in
the Space Shuttle Main Engine Office and was involved with Return to Flight
activities after the space shuttle Challenger accident. She was the first
female project manager for the Reusable Solid Rocket Booster Project from 2002
to 2007 and led the team during the shuttle Columbia Return to Flight
activities. Starting in 2008 until the shuttle’s successful retirement in 2011,
she was deputy manager in the Space Shuttle Propulsion Office. Cumulatively,
Jody was part of 110 space shuttle launches.
Serving in roles of increasing responsibility, Singer held
deputy positions for three concurrent programs, the space shuttle, Ares, and
the start-up of SLS. As deputy for the Space Shuttle Propulsion Office, she
guided successful fly-out and retirement of the shuttle and the transition of
workforce and assets to the Ares Project Office and SLS Program. As the deputy
program manager of SLS at Marshall, she helped oversee almost 3,000 civil
servants and contractors involved in the developing, testing, and certification
of the rocket. From 2013 to 2016, Singer was manager of the Flight Programs and
Partnerships Office at Marshall, where she held primary responsibility for the
center’s work with human advanced exploration projects, science flight mission
programs, technology demonstration missions, commercial crew and International
Space Station life support systems, research facilities, and payload mission
operations.
Singer has twice been a NASA Fellow, at Pennsylvania State
College and Simmons College Graduate School of Management. She is a recipient
of numerous prestigious NASA awards, including the Space Flight Awareness
Leadership Award, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, the Silver Snoopy, and
NASA Outstanding Leadership medals. She also is a recipient of two Senior
Executive Service Presidential Rank of Meritorious Executive Awards. Her
external recognitions include Rotary Stellar National Award for Space
Achievement; Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame; Distinguished Fellow by the
University of Alabama College of Engineering; Gardner Award; AIAA Associate
Fellow; 2022 Alabama Engineer of the Year; and the AIAA Herman Oberth Award.