People First, Mission Always.
Learn More About the Mission Support Community
The Mission Support Directorate (MSD) sits at the center of this community, providing solutions and services to ensure NASA’s leadership in aerospace, science, and exploration. MSD specializes in managing strategies to deliver the technical skills, financial resources, physical assets, and top talent to execute NASA missions successfully. MSD also actively reduces institutional risk to NASA’s current and future missions by improving processes, stimulating efficiency, and providing consistency and uniformity in institutional standards and practices across the Mission Support Community.
Who is the Mission Support Community?
For every organization, there are essential business and institutional functions that serve as the foundation for that organization’s work. At NASA, those indispensable services are provided by the Mission Support
community, composed of the Mission Support Directorate (MSD) Core Office; 13 Mission Support Enterprise Organizations (MSEOs), which include five that report to MSD and eight partners; three Technical
Authorities (TAs); and business and technical professionals at 10 NASA centers.
Core Offices
At the core of MSD, five main offices focus on enterprise-enabling capabilities and provide overall direction and alignment of the mission support enterprise.
- Mission Support and Headquarters Operations Office
- Mission Support Integration Office
- Mission Support Resources Management Office
- Program Management and Support Office
- Aircraft Capability Management Office
Direct Reports
The next level in MSD includes direct-report offices that deliver the essential services to support all NASA business.
- Office of the Chief Human Capital Management
- Office of Procurement
- Office of Protective Services
- Office of Strategic Infrastructure
- NASA Shared Services Center
Partner Offices
Partner offices, known as Mission Support Enterprise Offices, collaborate with MSD and support NASA by providing the professional expertise and service needed for the NASA enterprise.
- Office of Communications
- Office of the Chief Financial Officer
- Office of the Chief Information Officer
- Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity
- Office of the General Counsel
- Office of International and Interagency Relations
- Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs
- Office of Small Business Programs
Technical Authorities (TAs)
NASA’s Technical Authorities (TAs) provide vital, mission-enabling technical expertise:
- Office of the Chief Engineer
- Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer
- Office of Safety and Mission Assurance
MSD, its direct report offices, the partner offices, the technical authorities, and NASA Center leadership collectively make up the Mission Support community and work to enable NASA Mission success.