NASA reorganization shuffle combines programs, lands KSC new director

Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel on May 23, 2026

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NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman outlined a major overhaul of the agency’s structure that included a new director for Kennedy Space Center.

Following the retirement of Janet Petro earlier this month, KSC had been in the hands of interim director Kelvin Manning. It will now be run by Brian Hughes, Isaacman announced Friday. Hughes will add the responsibility on top of his recently announced role as NASA’s senior director of launch operations.

That role gave him oversight over launches from Florida, but also from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

“Brian brings a unique combination of operational expertise, strategic leadership, and public service experience at the highest levels of government,” said Isaacman after his installation into that role. “His track record leading complex organizations and executing high-stakes missions makes him exceptionally well-suited to help shape the future of NASA’s launch operations as we accelerate into a new era of exploration and innovation.”

Hughes most recently served as NASA’s chief of staff and previously served as deputy national security adviser for Strategic Communications at the White House. He also had served as chief administrative officer for the City of Jacksonville, chief of staff to former Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and CEO of the city’s Downtown Investment Authority.

Manning, who had also held the interim KSC director role during Petro’s tenure as interim NASA administrator in 2025, also is moving up in NASA’s hierarchy.

He will become one of two deputies along with Joel Montalbano under new Associate Administrator Lori Glaze within the new Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate. This group is a combination of what had been the Exploration directorate that oversaw Artemis, and the Space Operations directorate that oversaw flights to the International Space Station.

“Human space exploration is one mission at NASA – demanding, not without risk, and requiring the most optimal and resourced organization structure possible,” Isaacman wrote in the letter sent to NASA staff on Friday. “At the time these orgs were separated, sending astronauts to the moon was conceptual, while LEO was operational. Today, both are operational. Bringing these efforts together will clarify responsibilities, strengthen accountability, accelerate decision making, and better position NASA to execute our mission with the efficiency and integration required for the challenges ahead.”

Within the directorate, low-Earth orbit operations will remain under Dana Weigel, the moon base program under Carlos Garcia-Galan and the reminted Artemis program, which had been the Moon to Mars program, will be under Jeremy Parsons.

NASA is also combining the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate and Space Technology Mission Directorate into a combined Research and Technology Mission Directorate “unifying NASA’s aeronautics, space technology, and nuclear power and propulsion capabilities into a single, fast moving organization focused on delivering the breakthrough technologies our missions and the nation require,” the missive stated.

This directorate’s associate administrator will be James Kenyon with deputy Wanda Peters under him.

The Science Mission Directorate remains under Nicky Fox.

Isaacman recently got some key help confirmed by the Senate, who voted in Matt Anderson as deputy administrator. His top civilian manager remains Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya, who will remain manager over NASA’s space centers including KSC.

Mission directorates, though, will now report directly to Isaacman “with the primary focus on leveraging center resources, industry, and international contributions to execute on the mission as urgently and efficiently as possible.”

“We will also take this opportunity, where appropriate, to consolidate departments, flatten org structure and enhance HQ by rotating operational expertise into critical functions,” Isaacman stated.

In a separate announcement, NASA announced it would put out competitive bids for the contract to run the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which had been run by California Institute of Technology for NASA since its inception in the 1930.

Also, Isaacman said NASA headquarters will remain in Washington, but its current lease ends in 2028, so plans are in the works for a more efficient location.

With all of the shifts in leadership, Isaacman’s note made sure to address concerns that have been voiced about the agency.

“I want to be upfront and clear that there are no reductions in force being contemplated, no program cancellations, no facility closures,” he wrote. “I am certainly interested in freeing up resources wherever possible, but my goal is to invest in centers, rebuild NASA core competencies, convert contractors where appropriate to civil service, maintain a healthy pipeline of interns and leverage (the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s NASA Force program) to ensure we have the talent needed to execute on the mission.”

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