Maria Collura

Maria Collura is the director of Spaceport Integration and Services (SI) at NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In this role, Ms. Collura provides senior management direction and evaluation of spaceport operations and services, running and operating Earth’s premier spaceport launching humanity’s future.

The mission of Spaceport Integration and Services is the overall planning and assimilation of Kennedy processing activities, infrastructure needs and the execution of center services across NASA projects and programs, other government agencies, and commercial partners with consistently safe, innovative, responsive, and cost-effective solutions.

Experience

Prior to her selection as director, Ms. Collura served as the deputy director of SI, concentrating on budget management, workforce planning, and strategic directorate planning.

Ms. Collura was manager of the Mission Management and Integration Office of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program at Kennedy before becoming deputy director of SI. Her role included managing mission planning, integration, and operations of the Boeing and SpaceX crew transportation systems during the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contracts. She also was responsible for milestone work that was performed through ongoing Space Act Agreements with Blue Origin, Sierra Nevada Corp., and SpaceX, as well as resident office activities at partner facilities. She and her team worked manifest planning and requirement integration and strategy for flight tests and missions to and from the International Space Station.

Ms. Collura served as the acting deputy manager of CCP during the subsystem and system development phase of the program. She then led a team of human spaceflight experts during the development of CCtCap requirements as well as the CCtCap Source Evaluation Board.

From November 2015 through April 2016, Ms. Collura was assigned as the acting deputy director of Kennedy’s Human Resources where she shared the responsibility of developing, managing, and evaluating a comprehensive Human Resources program.

She is a second-generation NASA Kennedy employee who started her career in 1991 as an orbiter payload electrical systems engineer for the agency’s Space Shuttle Program.

Ms. Collura transferred to NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, in 1996 to work as a lead systems engineer on several flight test projects. She eventually led, developed, and implemented the Flight Termination Systems and Range Safety Systems offices as special assignments. Ms. Collura also became the deputy project manager responsible for the subcontractor team of the Earth Research and Sensor Technology (ERAST) Project.

She held an agency-delegated position for range safety at Kennedy in 2001. In this capacity, she formulated the agency’s first policy and requirements for range safety in support of space shuttle Discovery’s return-to-flight efforts following the Columbia accident. Ms. Collura served in increasing capacities within NASA’s Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate, culminating in Constellation Space Transportation Planning Office safety chief. In 2009, she was the acting deputy director of the Space Transportation Planning Office, which transitioned to the Commercial Crew Program in 2011.

Awards

During her career with NASA, Ms. Collura has received many awards, including the Exceptional Service Medal for her contributions to the Space Transportation Planning Office and the nation’s human spaceflight program, the Space Flight Awareness Leadership Award for her work in workforce transition planning and analysis, and the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal for contributions made to safe flight operations of uncrewed aerial vehicles.

Ms. Collura earned the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement and a Kennedy Center Director’s Award for leadership of the CCtCap Source Evaluation Board. In 2022, she was recognized with the prestigious Distinguished Service Medal for distinguished leadership and sustained commitment to KSC, the Office of Strategic Infrastructure and NASA.

Education

Ms. Collura earned her Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering in 1990 and a Master of Science in engineering management in 2013, both from the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

Biography last updated October 2023