Jennifer Nufer

Jennifer Nufer is a mission manager in the Flight Projects Office with NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP) at John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. As mission manager, she leads the mission integration team. Nufer is the primary interface with the LSP spacecraft customer, managing engineering requirements and contract performance while meeting schedule and budgetary constraints to provide NASA’s science missions end-to-end launch services.

Her current missions include COSI (The Compton Spectrometer and Imager), QuickSounder, and DAVINCI (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging).

Experience

Nufer served as LSP mission manager for NASA’s Lucy mission in 2021, the first spacecraft to explore the Jupiter Trojan asteroids, as well as for numerous CubeSat missions as part of the agency’s CubeSat Launch Initiative. She supports several multi-mission integration efforts and projects to ensure successful launch services. She also supported the PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far Infrared Experiment) and NEOSurveyor (Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor) missions. Prior to joining the Flight Projects Office, Nufer served as an LSP Program Integration manager for NASA’s InSight mission to Mars and the OCO-2 (Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2) mission.

Nufer began her career at Kennedy in 2005 supporting the Space Shuttle Program. She served as an Orbiter Project Engineer for Space Shuttle Atlantis, the NASA Vehicle Manager for the final six flights of Space Shuttle Discovery, and Transition and Retirement Integration manager at the conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program. Before moving to Kennedy, Nufer worked as a systems research engineer for the Crew Systems and Operations Branch at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. 

Education

Nufer attended Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and earned a Bachelor of Science in systems and control engineering. She also received a Master of Science in systems engineering from Virginia Tech.

Awards

Nufer is the recipient of several awards, including a Silver Achievement Medal, the Exceptional Achievement Medal, the Silver Snoopy Award, and the NASA Space Flight Awareness Award. She also received the STS-124 Launch Director Award, STS-133 Flow Director Award, several Kennedy Certificates of Commendation in LSP and the Space Shuttle Program, and NASA Group Achievement Awards.

Personal

Nufer considers Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to be her hometown. She resides in Merritt Island with her husband, Brian, two daughters Julia and Lillian, and two dogs.   

Nufer’s interests include cooking, traveling, and spending time with her wonderful family and friends. She also leads the baptism preparation ministry at her church. 

Biography last updated March 2026