WASHINGTON — NASA announced one of its biggest reorganizations in recent memory May 22, combining mission directorates and reshuffling personnel.
The reorganization, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a statement, is designed to increase the agency’s efficiency without laying off staff or closing centers.
“We are focusing resources on the most pressing objectives only NASA is capable of undertaking and liberating the workforce from unnecessary bureaucracy and obstacles that impede progress,” he stated.
The biggest changes involve the agency’s mission directorates. NASA is combining its Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD) and Space Operations Mission Directorate (SOMD), creating the Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate, or HSMD. The merger effectively recreates the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate that NASA had for a decade before it was split into ESDMD and SOMD in 2021.
NASA said Lori Glaze will serve as associate administrator for HSMD. She had been acting associate administrator for ESDMD. Joel Montalbano, who had been acting associate administrator for SOMD since the retirement of Ken Bowersox nearly three months ago, will be a deputy associate administrator at HSMD. Kelvin Manning, who had been acting director of the Kennedy Space Center since the beginning of the month, will also be a deputy associate administrator for HSMD.
