Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman Joins Caltech as Associate Vice President and JPL Deputy Director
Deeply inspired by his venture to the furthest boundaries of human exploration, former NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman says he is now on a mission to extend humanity's horizons and understanding further. Wiseman will begin that mission soon as he joins the leadership team at Caltech and JPL as the Institute's associate vice president and JPL deputy director on November 30.
"When I think about what I have seen and experienced firsthand in visiting the Caltech and JPL community, there are three things that immediately stand out: professionalism, a deep technical understanding, and an extreme enthusiasm for the mission and the people around you," Wiseman said. "It is very impressive. And as someone who wants success for the nation, first and foremost, it's clear that there is no better place to find that success than in JPL and Caltech."
Caltech President Ray Jayawardhana and Vice President and JPL Director Dave Gallagher announced Wiseman's appointment on October 28 at Caltech's Brave New Space Age event on the eve of Jayawardhana's inauguration as the Institute's 10th president. The event's panel conversation featured NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman; Eric Schmidt, KBE, chair and CEO of Relativity Space and co-founder of Schmidt Sciences; and Lindy Elkins-Tanton, director of the UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory and principal investigator of NASA's JPL-managed Psyche mission.
"Reid brings to Caltech and JPL a truly unprecedented view of what humanity can achieve when ingenuity and determination are matched with the courage to pursue the furthest frontiers," said Jayawardhana. "His pioneering spirit coupled with unbounded curiosity make him a natural fit for Caltech and JPL, a force-multiplier for a community whose daring continues to push the limits of humanity's reach. I look forward to working closely with Dave and Reid as we chart our next era of exploration in partnership with NASA, elevating America's space ambitions to breathtaking new heights."
Wiseman's appointment also comes just days before Caltech and JPL mark the 90th anniversary of the Lab's founding on October 31, 1936. JPL, which has been managed by Caltech for NASA since the civilian space agency was established in 1958, traces its origins to a small band of Caltech graduate students who started testing handmade rocket engines in Pasadena's Arroyo Seco.
In the decades that have followed, Caltech and JPL have developed an unmatched community of explorers—some of the world's most creative and tenacious engineers and scientists—and, in partnership with NASA, have achieved first-of kind missions and discoveries. Together, Caltech, JPL and NASA have helped the nation realize a long series of firsts in space: America's first satellite; the first soft landing on the Moon; a series of landings on Mars and the first powered flight on another planet; the discovery of lakes and seas on another world; and the still-continuing journeys of the Voyager spacecraft, the first in history to reach interstellar space. The partnership has led to the design, fabrication, and deployment of some of the world's most sophisticated instrumentation, applications, and technologies, which have provided an unprecedented view into the cosmos, safeguarded America's economic prosperity and security, and shaped society, from the development of modern electronics—such as the camera-on-chip in your cell phone—to the in-orbit repair of Hubble Space Telescope's mirror.
"It feels fitting for Reid, who with the Artemis II crew traveled farther from Earth than any human in history, to join Caltech and JPL – institutions that for nearly 90 years have sent spacecraft into the far reaches of our solar system and beyond," said Caltech Vice President and JPL Director Dave Gallagher. "Reid shares our drive for discovery, knows what it takes to lead teams through high-stakes missions, and has a remarkable ability to inspire people everywhere. He adds incredible bench strength to our leadership team as we build on the Lab's legacy and shape its future together."
In his role as Caltech's associate vice president and deputy director of JPL, Wiseman will be responsible for the strategic leadership, stewardship and continuous improvement of Laboratory operations, including close partnership with Caltech on institutional planning, management and compliance. Wiseman will serve as the Center Management Authority for JPL mission execution, ensuring operational excellence across mission support functions in accordance with NASA's Prime Contract, NASA requirements and applicable federal and state regulations. In partnership with Jayawardhana and Gallagher, Wiseman will advance Caltech and JPL's long-term vision in service of NASA and the nation, including strengthening strategic relationships across government and industry, and serving as JPL's primary interface for national security programs.
Wiseman joins Caltech and JPL at a time of great momentum and opportunity as the Laboratory launches a new hiring campaign, is diversifying its business base, and prepares to execute on a number of NASA's missions. Over the last year, teams from Caltech and JPL have been selected to lead NASA's $1billion PRIMA far-infrared space telescope, to operate the OCO-2 satellite and the OCO-3 instrument on the International Space Station, and asked to lead in the development and deployment of innovative robotic missions slated for the Moon and Mars. Additionally, NASA designated the Lab as the lead on two Earth-observation missions that will provide new insights about Earth's environment—from the interaction of clouds and aerosols to resource identification and space-based disaster-response monitoring—and prove as testbeds for technologies to be utilized for deep space exploration.
Wiseman, a retired U.S. Navy captain, test pilot and engineer, has served NASA and its astronaut corps since 2009. He held the position as NASA's Chief Astronaut from December 2020 to November 2022, with responsibility for leading the agency's astronaut corps and overseeing crew flight readiness and crew safety for all NASA human spaceflight missions. He has led teams in the exploration of new environments, from serving as the commander of NASA's 21st Extreme Environment Mission Operations expeditions, during which he lived for eight days in a habitat on the ocean floor, to serving as the Commander for NASA's Artemis II mission on its historic journey around the Moon and safely back to Earth. In completing two missions, where he served as the U.S. segment lead and flight engineer aboard the International Space Station and as Commander of Artemis II, Wiseman logged 175 days in space, led two spacewalks, and conducted hundreds of scientific experiments.
Wiseman received a bachelor's degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a master's degree from Johns Hopkins University.
In a video message to the community, which also aired at the Brave New Space Age event, Wiseman emphasized his excitement at joining the Caltech and JPL community and the privilege he feels to be part of the leadership team that will guide its future and its support of NASA and the nation in the New Space ecosystem.
"I've explored the furthest reaches of what a human can explore at NASA—and there were truly no words in the English vocabulary to describe seeing the sun disappear behind the moon from deep space. But that experience was really the jumping off point to go do the impossible things that Caltech and JPL dream, dare together, and do for NASA and the nation," Wiseman said. "What an awesome time in my career to join this team and to try and push humanity and push our understanding of the solar system and the universe."