Michael Lee

Michael Lee is a supervisor and NASA deputy manager for the Mission Management and Integration office in NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a position he has held since July 2020.

CCP is working with the American aerospace industry to develop safe, reliable and cost-effective crew transportation systems for low-Earth orbit destinations, including the International Space Station. Along with the office manager, Lee is responsible for establishing policies, concepts, processes, templates, plans, and mission-specific requirements relative to mission integration and operations, including collaboration among the International Space Station Program (ISSP), CCP, and the Commercial Partners for allocations, manifest, consumables, crew provisioning, and cargo.

Additionally, he is responsible for leading the NASA management and integration of the commercial partner’s flight test and mission operations planning and execution in support of the advancement toward human spaceflight certification and utilization of U.S. commercial spacecraft.

Experience

Lee has worked in CCP since 2014, serving as the alternate contracting officer’s representative, partner integration team resident liaison, partner integration team manager, SpaceX deputy mission manager, and the NASA Mission Manager for the SpaceX Demo-1 mission, which was the first uncrewed mission of a SpaceX Crew Dragon/Falcon before taking on his current role. In 2019, he was awarded the CCP Employee of the Year for his leadership and groundbreaking efforts during the preparation and performance of the Demo-1 mission.

Lee joined NASA in 2007, leading teams in the Constellation Program until 2010. He was awarded the KSC Certificate of Commendation for outstanding support and leadership to Constellation Program Ground Operations Timeline Development. From 2010 to 2014, he served in lead roles within the Ground Systems Development and Operations (now Exploration Ground Systems) Program. As the cross-program integrated test and checkout task team lead, he chartered and led an agency-level, multi-program team responsible for oversight and definition of test concepts for spaceflight hardware and Kennedy ground systems.

Joining the nation’s space program as a Kennedy team member in 1987, Lee worked for McDonnell Douglas first as shuttle payload processing lead systems integration engineer and later as the acting manager of the Systems Integration department supporting the Space Shuttle Program payload ground operations.

From 1995 to 2007, he worked for the Boeing Company, supporting the Space Shuttle and International Space Station Programs as the company’s Pressurized Element Integrated Product Team lead and as Payload Flow Manager for ISS Multi-Purpose Logistics Module ULF-1.1, which flew on STS-121. He then served as an operations project lead for Boeing commercial space development.

Education

Lee graduated from Gateway High School in Aurora, Colorado. He received a Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado in Boulder. He also earned a Master of Science degree in space systems operations from Florida Institute of Technology.

Biography last updated January 2022