WASHINGTON — NASA’s former chief of staff has returned to the agency in a new role overseeing launch operations, a move that raised some concerns on Capitol Hill.
NASA announced May 8 that it had appointed Brian Hughes as senior director of launch operations, based at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The position, the agency said, will oversee launch operations at KSC and 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,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in the statement announcing the hiring of Hughes. “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.”
The appointment is a return to the agency for Hughes, who served as chief of staff from May to December 2025. After leaving the agency at the end of last year, he became a partner at Mercury Public Affairs, leading that political consulting company’s office in Tallahassee, Florida.
Hughes has an extensive political and management background, but little space experience. Before going to NASA the first time, he was deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, and was a policy and communications adviser on President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign. Earlier in his career, he was chief administrative officer of the city of Jacksonville, Florida, and chief of staff to that city’s mayor.
