John Giles

John Giles is the Engineering Operations Manager for development and operations for NASA’s crawler-transporters and other large transportation equipment in the agency’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) program at the agency’s John. F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Experience

Giles first began his career at Kennedy in 1989 as a senior mechanical and electrical facilities systems engineer in the Space Transportation System Payload Operations and Support Division in the Ground Systems Engineering Branch. He was primarily responsible for sustaining the engineering of facility systems and ground support equipment (GSE) at Kennedy and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. During this time, he also served as the directorate hurricane coordinator, Titan launch mishap investigation representative, directorate construction of facilities lead and the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility site manager during Cassini processing.

In 1999, he moved to the Launch Services Program. Here, he served as an avionics/electrical and instrumentation system engineer for Delta and Atlas launch vehicles. He also served as the backup avionics/electrical lead engineer for the 1998 Mars Orbiter mission and lead avionics/electrical engineer for the Stardust mission.

During his time with LSP, he also was the lead nuclear safety launch approval engineer. In this role, he was responsible for launch vehicle input where he facilitated coordination with the Department of Energy, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and John’s Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory to the Environmental Impact Statement and National Environmental Policy Act prior to missions launching. The final result of this work was approval from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) that the missions could process for launch. Some of those missions he worked on included the Mars Pathfinder, Mars Exploration Rovers A and B, Pluto New Horizons and Mars Science Laboratory.

One significant accomplishment during this time was the redesign of the Delta II flight termination system. This was done to reduce the potential of spacecraft damage in the event of an accident, increasing the probability of White House OSTP approval.

In 2009, he was moved to the Constellation Project office – now the EGS program – as the GSE fluids lead. He started working on the agency’s crawler-transporters in 2011 as a deputy project manager, which paved the way for his current role.

Awards

Over the course of his career, Giles has received numerous and varied awards including certificates of commendation, NASA’s Silver Achievement Medal, NASA’s Exceptional Achievement Medal, and several NASA Group Achievement awards.

Education

Giles graduated from the University of Florida in 1985 with a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering, and again in 1987 with a bachelor’s in electrical engineering. He lives in Cocoa with his wife, Jill, and their dog, and he is the father of three college-age children.

Personal

Giles lives in Cocoa with his wife, Jill, and their dog, and he is the father of three college-age children.

Biography last updated December 2021