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Diana Manent Calero, senior mission manager in the Flight Projects Office of NASA's Launch Services Program at KSC

Diana Manent Calero

Chief, Flight Projects Office

Diana Manent Calero is the chief of the Flight Projects Office for NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP) at the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. She supervises the mission managers who are the primary spacecraft customer interface responsible for leading the Mission Integration Team (MIT) and the management of the launch service contractor.

Experience

Prior to this position, Calero was the launch vehicle certification manager and was responsible for leading the team in certifying the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle for NASA missions.

Previously, Calero served as an LSP mission manager, ensuring missions were integrated with the launch vehicle and successfully launched into its required orbit on time and within budget. She also served as the mission manager for NASA’s flagship James Webb Space Telescope that launched on a foreign launch vehicle.

Prior to becoming a mission manager, Calero worked as an integration engineer in the LSP Systems Engineering and Integration Branch. In this role, she was responsible for interfacing with the spacecraft customer and launch service contractor to establish technical requirements for the spacecraft to launch vehicle interfaces. She served as the systems engineer and primary technical lead for the MIT.

Calero began her NASA career as a student trainee in 1991. Upon graduation, she worked for the Payload Processing Directorate as a design engineer for the Checkout Systems Branch. Her responsibilities were the hardware and software design of systems in support of shuttle payload ground processing.

In 1998, she worked as a communications engineer, telemetry engineer, and design engineer for LSP’s Communication and Telemetry Branch where she was responsible for designing systems in support of LSP launch operations, overseeing telemetry processing for LSP missions, and ensuring that the launch site communication requirements for NASA LSP missions were successfully implemented.

Awards

Calero has received numerous achievement awards throughout the years, including the Outstanding Leadership Medal and Certificates of Recognition for the publication of articles in the highly distinguished NASA Tech Briefs.

Education

Calero was born and raised in Southern California and South Florida. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Florida International University in Miami and a master’s degree in computer engineering from the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

Personal

Calero is married to Juan Pedro Calero and has three children: Christian, Sophia and Lucas. They currently reside in Merritt Island, Fla.

Biography last updated January 2023