Christy Hansen 

Christy Hansen is the acting director of the Commercial Space Division within NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington.   

In this role, Hansen leads agency strategy, policy, integration, and engagement for NASA’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development and Commercial Crew programs. She oversees development of future commercial platforms for continuous research and technology demonstrations, supports Artemis related technologies, sustains U.S. leadership in low Earth orbit, and fosters a longterm commercial space economy. 

She previously served as deputy manager of the agency’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program, guiding partner activities and planning NASA’s transition to commercially owned space stations. From 2022 to 2024, Hansen helped manage Artemis mission utilization for the Moon to Mars program office, supporting senior leadership, mission reviews, and resolving technical challenges affecting launch readiness. 

Earlier in her career, she led major airborne science campaigns at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, including Operation IceBridge’s first Antarctic deployment. She also managed a cross-agency team during the Robotic Refueling Mission on STS-135, demonstrating satellite-servicing technologies, and introduced eye-gaze accessibility tools still used at the center. 

Hansen has also completed technical leadership assignments within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters, developing launch rideshare policy, leading access-to-space studies, and supporting space station payload activities and special servicing studies.  

She began her NASA career at Johnson Space Center as a spacewalk operations engineer, astronaut instructor, and flight controller, developing EVA protocols in support of shuttle return to flight, the final Hubble servicing mission, and the International Space Station. 

Hansen holds a bachelor’s degree in comprehensive science from Villanova University and a master’s degree in space studies from the University of North Dakota. She has earned several individual and team awards throughout her career, including NASA’s Silver Snoopy Award, NASA’s Spaceflight Awareness Award, agency honor awards, a Superior Achievement Award, and Villanova University’s Young Alumni of the Year Award.