Article text
Jeff Foust
3–4 minutes
SYDNEY — The director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center has abruptly stepped down, becoming the third NASA center director to leave in recent months.
In a Sept. 24 memo to employees, Joseph Pelfrey announced he would no longer serve as director of the Alabama center but said he hoped to continue working for the agency in some way.
Pelfrey did not give a specific reason for his departure but suggested he was leaving to allow NASA leadership to select its own choice to lead the center.
“As the Agency continues to embark on a bold mission to return humans to the moon, it will take the full attention of its leaders and the people they serve. It will also be important for agency leadership to move forward with a team they choose to execute the tasks at hand,” he wrote. “With that in mind, it’s time for me to step out of the Center Director role.”
He added that he would work with NASA leadership “to pursue new ways I can serve our space program and our great Nation” but did not elaborate.
Pelfrey became director of Marshall in February 2024 after serving as acting director from June 2023, when the previous director, Jody Singer, retired. He joined Marshall in 2004 as an aerospace engineer and rose through the ranks, becoming deputy center director in 2022.
NASA has not issued a formal statement about Pelfrey’s departure, and the agency’s main web page for the center still listed him as director as of Sept. 27. Elsewhere on the site, Rae Ann Meyer, the center’s deputy director, was listed as acting director. Meyer joined Marshall as an engineer in 1989 and became deputy director in May 2024.
Pelfrey is the third NASA center director to leave in recent months. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced May 7 that Laurie Leshin would resign as director effective June 1, citing personal reasons. David Gallagher, JPL’s associate director for strategic integration, succeeded her.
NASA announced July 21 that Makenzie Lystrup was leaving as director of the Goddard Space Flight Center effective Aug. 1. Cynthia Simmons, Goddard’s deputy center director, replaced her on an acting basis.
“Steps down”
NASA needed a shakeup, but I don’t trust this acting administrator to guide it
Yeah I feel like like NASA being led by this administration is like the village idiot directing Galileo’s studies.
I still haven’t gotten a straight answer about this, and I’ve asked around.
It’s true he didn’t particularly encourage folks to consider the DRP, but the new AA has told us the personnel bullshit is behind us so that doesn’t seem right.
It’s true that he’s ultimately the bag holder for the HLS and especially SLS schedule and budget slips as the center director for MSFC. The AA has spoken on multiple occasions about the need to hold senior leadership personally accountable, but blaming Pelfrey for SLS isn’t fair - that happened like 4 center directors ago.
The person that can reasonably bear the blame for SLS is John Honeycutt, the SLS program manager for pretty close to the entire lifetime of the program. He was recently reassigned to a far less consequential role and replaced as PM by the former SLS SE&I manager (David Beaman). Amit worked with Beaman before he ascended and I heard the relationship was positive.
My best guess is that Pelfrey protested or tried to prevent this change out of loyalty to Honeycutt and got cut off at the knees for his troubles.
