Editor’s Note: This is the fifth and final in a series of posts introducing you to members of NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP) team at Kennedy Space Center in Florida who play an important role in the DART spacecraft’s journey to an asteroid.
By Linda Herridge
NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center
NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) is scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Tuesday, Nov. 23 at 10:21 p.m. PST (Wednesday, Nov. 24 1:21 a.m. EST). DART is the first mission to test technologies for preventing an impact of Earth by a hazardous asteroid. DART’s target asteroid is not a threat to Earth.
Name: Jason Jagdmann
Official title: Mission Manager, Flight Projects Office
Job responsibilities: As the mission manager, my job is to lead the mission integration team through the entire mission life-cycle process. from acquiring the rocket that the spacecraft will launch on, through liftoff. I serve as the interface between the Launch Services Program (LSP), the spacecraft customer (APL), and SpaceX. I also help guide the DART mission team through the entire launch vehicle integration process. It takes an entire team to integrate and launch the DART mission, which may one day help save the planet from an asteroid, and I am honored to be leading this team as we enter the final days toward countdown and launch.
Time working for NASA: I have been working in LSP at Kennedy Space Center for 13 years, since 2008. I was a mission integration engineer before becoming a mission manager, about the same time I began working on the DART mission in 2019. Before working for NASA, I was a contractor at Kennedy supporting the Space Shuttle Program, and the Delta II, and Atlas launch programs beginning in 1997.
Degrees earned: I received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from Florida State University (FSU) in 1997, and a Master of Science degree in engineering management from the University of Central Florida in 2002.
Family: My wonderful wife of 22 years, Melissa, and three sons, Nathan, Ryan, and Owen
Hobbies: When I am not launching rockets, I am usually coaching soccer. Currently, I am the junior varsity head coach and varsity assistant for boys’ soccer at Titusville High School. Also, I coach a competitive club team at Titusville Soccer Club. I enjoy attending a variety of sporting events with my sons, from FSU football, to Orlando City Soccer matches, and NASCAR races in Daytona. I also enjoy golf and paddle boarding.
Fun Fact: I was an extra in the movie “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” when they filmed at Kennedy. I actually can be seen on screen as a cheering observer in the film during the Apollo 11 Moon launch sequence.