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A headshot photo of Steve Stich, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

Steve Stich

Program Manager

Steve Stich serves as the program manager for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. In this role, he aids in the execution of the agency’s goals to help private companies develop a new U.S. capability to carry astronauts into low-Earth orbit and eventually take crews to the International Space Station, or ISS. He oversees program facilitation of commercial spacecraft development and certification to enable the safe transportation of NASA astronauts.

Experience

Stich previously served as the deputy manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, assisting in the overall business, technical management and integration of the program. Based at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, he also is a member of the program leadership team guiding NASA’s direction in developing U.S. crew transportation services to the International Space Station.

The commercial crew providers are developing the ground and mission operations, launch vehicles and spacecraft to safely transport crews to the International Space Station and return them safely to a landing site along with a small amount of critical cargo. The Commercial Crew Program is assisting the providers with their transportation system development to ensure the provider’s vehicles meet the NASA safety and performance requirements through their certification of flight readiness process.

Prior to his role in the Commercial Crew Program, Stich served as director of the Exploration Integration and Science Directorate, with a focus on the strategic direction of exploration and science activities at Johnson.

His NASA career has spanned numerous organizations, including Johnson’s Engineering, White Sands Test Facility, Space Shuttle Program and Johnson’s Advanced Exploration Systems. Stich has been instrumental in many exploration concepts and strategies in support of the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate including leading a multi-center team developing the near-term proving-ground missions for Orion and the Space Launch System rocket, or SLS.

Stich also served as deputy director of Engineering at Johnson, manager of the Orbiter Project Office, deputy manager of the White Stands Test Facility, and as an ascent/entry flight director for space shuttle missions.

Education

Stich earned a Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering from Texas A&M University in 1987 and joined NASA that same year.