Laura Ulrich
Deputy Chief, Fleet and Systems Management Division
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Laura Ulrich is the deputy chief of the Fleet and Systems Management Division with the Launch Services Program (LSP) at NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In this position, Ulrich provides mission assurance for more than 75 NASA science missions and supports the emergence of new launch vehicle providers. These missions are in various stages of the mission cycle from advanced planning and acquisition through launch vehicle manufacturing and launch operations.
Ulrich provides leadership for the LSP technical team and manages the commercial launch vehicle fleet, certification, mission integration systems, and resident office personnel who ensure mission success for LSP. Ulrich manages the system engineers providing the technical expertise for mission assurance activities, including insight and oversight at the launch vehicle providers’ design centers, production facilities, and launch sites for NASA’s Artemis missions.
Experience
Ulrich arrived at Kennedy in April 2007. Before that, she worked as a civil servant for the Department of Defense – both U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force – for 17 years. She worked overseas in Germany for three of those years. She served as the chief of the Engineering Resources Branch and managed a multi-million dollar budget and multicultural staff. Ulrich also served as chief of the Range Operations Branch and managed the operations and facilities at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (now called Cape Canaveral Space Force Station).
Education
Ulrich attended the University of Iowa and earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering in 1991. She received a master’s in business administration from Saint Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, in 1994.
Awards
Ulrich is the recipient of several group achievement awards for her support of SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive), TDRS-K (Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-K), GRAIL (Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory), and ICESat-2 (Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite-2) missions from 2013 to 2016. She received a NASA Silver Achievement Medal for her work on the ICESat-2 project team in 2019.
Personal
Ulrich considers Cocoa Beach, Florida, her hometown. She resides there with her husband, Chris, and their two cats, Roux and Lucy. They have two grown sons, Sean and Marc.
Her hobbies include running, hiking, and traveling.
Biography last updated June 2023