John A. McCullough

John McCullough currently serves as the acting director of the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Division within NASA’s Research and Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, where he leads NASA’s civil space communications and navigation enterprise. He is responsible for the strategy, operations, acquisition, modernization, and resilience of the capabilities that connect NASA’s human exploration, science, technology, and robotic missions across Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and deep space.

McCullough previously served as the Deputy Associate Administrator for Integration in the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. In that role, he was responsible for integrating mission-directorate-level exploration initiatives as well as coordination across the agency and with other government agencies.

Prior to joining headquarters, McCullough was Director of JSC Exploration Architecture, Integration, and Science. There, he led integration of Artemis and Mars exploration architecture and concept development, mission analysis, exploration system engineering and integration support, astromaterials research and curation, and was responsible for the agency’s orbital debris program and the Commercial Lunar Payload System (CLPS) initiative. He also created the JSC Program Management Development Initiative, a yearlong training program to enable the next generation of program leaders, and significantly assisted in the creation of the Extravehicular Activity and Human Mobility Program, as well as the JSC Business Development and Technology Integration Office.

In his prior role as Manager of the Orion Vehicle Integration Office, McCullough led all spacecraft systems engineering and integration, including integrated vehicle analysis. He directed requirements; design standards; Guidance, Navigation, and Control and loads development; and Orion integration with the Space Launch System, Exploration Ground Systems, and Gateway. He was responsible for leading numerous special projects and vehicle-level assessments, such as the Agency Exploration Mission-1 Crewed Mission Study.

For the last four years of the Space Shuttle Program and International Space Station assembly, McCullough was NASA’s Chief Flight Director for human spaceflight. He also served a headquarters detail where he led the agencywide development of a mission operations leadership capability team, bringing together human, robotic, and aircraft mission expertise from all 10 centers to improve operations approaches and techniques.

He began his career building and managing crew training simulators for space shuttle, and his extensive NASA experience includes eight years as a flight director, where he led flight control teams and crews for more than 620 shifts. McCullough also worked more than 20 space shuttle flights as a lead flight controller or flight director.