Jeremy W. Parsons

Jeremy W. Parsons is the Acting Assistant Deputy Associate Administrator (ADAA) for the Moon to Mars Program Office within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, located at NASA’s Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Experience

Before serving as the ADAA, Parsons served as Division Chief for the Orion Production Office within the Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Program at NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He also was the deputy program manager for EGS from 2019 to 2025, where he assisted the program manager in leading the government and contractor teams preparing the ground systems, infrastructure, facilities, and processes required to support NASA’s next-generation space launch systems and spacecraft — and then processing those same vehicles for launch.

Parsons also spent time at NASA Headquarters supporting cost analysis for the Human Exploration Framework Team, or HEFT. The team ultimately made many recommendations that resulted in the exploration architecture of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion vehicles. He used his HEFT experience to serve as the NASA fellow to former U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, then chair of the Senate Science and Space Subcommittee. In this role, he served as the science and space advisor to the senator during a time of major transition at NASA. Upon his return from Washington, D.C., Parsons assumed the role of technical manager and, eventually, branch chief of the Operations Integration Office within the Ground Systems Development and Operations Program at Kennedy.

Parsons began his career with NASA in 2002 as a mission operations engineer for the International Space Station and Payload Processing Directorate at Kennedy. There, he served as the operations engineering lead for several space station missions, as well as payload launch and landing activities. Later, he leveraged that experience working for the Constellation Program, leading cost and concept of operations assessments for vertical integration planning.

Parsons held other leadership positions across EGS, including deputy division chief of the Project Management Division and senior project manager for launch accessories. In this capacity, he led the final fabrication and testing of the launch umbilicals for SLS and Orion. Later, as chief of Systems Engineering and Integration, he led the arm of the EGS program that acts as the primary technical integration voice within the program office. In this capacity, he was responsible for all requirements satisfaction, waivers, deviations, processes and coordination across SLS/Orion. He also assumed leadership of the Program Review Board and Joint Integration Control Board, which are the senior technical configuration control boards at the program and cross-program level.

Education

Parsons graduated from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor of Science in engineering. Later, in 2010, he earned a master’s in industrial engineering from the University of Miami.

Personal

Parsons was born in Oakland, California, and grew up in Cocoa Beach, Florida. He lives in Merritt Island with his wife, Jessica, and is the father of two daughters.