Mary K. Faller

Mary K. Faller is a senior mission manager in NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP) at NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. She leads the mission integration team that is responsible for the mission budget, integrated schedule, launch services contract, and technical integration of payloads to launch vehicles.

Faller is the mission manager for the Habitation and Logistics Outpost and the Power and Propulsion Element, the first two elements of NASA’s Gateway outpost that will orbit the Moon as part of the Artemis missions. She also is the mission manager for Canadarm3, which is the external robotic assistant on Gateway.

Experience

She began her career at Kennedy Space Center as a NASA civil servant in March 2001 and has always worked in LSP. Prior to that, she was a university researcher based in Boulder, Colorado, flying experiments on the space shuttle. She also worked as a contractor integration engineer at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, where she integrated payloads for flight on the space shuttle.

Education

Faller earned dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in economics and Chinese in 1990 from the University of Colorado, and a master’s in aerospace engineering in 1993 from the same university.

Awards

She is the recipient of several awards, including the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal in 2013, and Spaceflight Awareness Awards in 2018 and 1998.

Personal

Faller considers Boulder, Colorado, her hometown, but now resides in Cocoa Beach with her husband, Wil. They have a cat named Storm.

Faller enjoys hanging out at the beach, traveling to other countries to explore cultures, yoga, learning languages, music, and reading.  

Biography last updated April 2023