Biography of David E. Taylor

John H. Glenn Research Center
Lewis Field
Cleveland, Ohio 44135
David E. Taylor

David E. Taylor is the Deputy Director of the NASA Glenn Research Center’s Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio, a 6,400 acre site located 50 miles west of Cleveland.   Selected to this position on July 6, 2008, Taylor manages the day-to-day operations of Plum Brook’s five world-class space environment and propulsion test facilities and the on-site workforce consisting of about a dozen civil servants and 100 support contractors.

Prior to his current assignment, Taylor served as facility manager for the Spacecraft Propulsion Research Facility (B-2) complex at Plum Brook Station, where he was responsible for all aspects of the maintenance and operation of that facility, including a major facility refurbishment program.  B-2 is the only facility in the world capable of testing full-scale upper-stage launch vehicles and rocket engines under simulated space and/or high-altitude conditions.

Prior to coming to Glenn, Taylor worked at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida as program and facility manager for the Advanced Technology Development Center, a large-scale hazardous test facility where technologists and operators perform ground and flight test and demonstration activities.

Taylor began his NASA career at KSC as a shuttle payload mechanical engineer involved in the build-up, test, and launch of several space shuttle payloads including the first Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission and the first SpaceHab Mission.  In addition to managing technology development projects related to electrostatic shielding of spacecraft and in-situ resource utilization on the Moon and Mars, he also served as the flight systems manager for the Mars Ascent Vehicle Booster System and as project manager/ technical lead for Kennedy’s Mars Sounding Rocket Project.  Taylor also served as the KSC Resident Manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama advising several new launch vehicle development programs.

Taylor has also been very active in community outreach, working with the State of Florida on launching large sounding rockets at various public and educational events around the country.

Taylor has received several awards over the course of his career, including two NASA Certificates of Commendation, a Turning Goals into Reality Award, an Exploration Appreciation Award, a Silver Snoopy and a Manned Flight Awareness Honoree award.

Taylor graduated from The Ohio State University in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering. 

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