NASA’S STENNIS SPACE CENTER ANNOUNCES NEW DEPUTY DIRECTOR
NASA’S STENNIS SPACE CENTER ANNOUNCES NEW DEPUTY DIRECTOR
NASA’s Stennis Space Center Director John Bailey announced today that longtime propulsion engineer/manager Christine Powell has been selected as deputy director of the south Mississippi propulsion site, effective Aug. 12.
“I am excited for Christine to join the NASA Stennis executive team,” Bailey said. “She has deep and proven experience and expertise in propulsion testing and management. She also has served in a range of leadership positions here at NASA Stennis, making her uniquely qualified to help us innovate and grow into the future.”
Powell currently serves as manager of NASA Rocket Propulsion Test Program Office located at NASA Stennis near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. In that role, she oversees propulsion assets valued at more than $3.5 billion across the agency, management of the program’s operations and annual $48 million budget, and strategic planning for NASA’s key objectives.
Powell is the first woman to be selected as NASA Stennis deputy director. She will be responsible, with the center director, for coordinating all of NASA Stennis’ rocket propulsion test capabilities, as well as managing the overall site. NASA Stennis is the nation’s largest – and premier – propulsion test site, supporting test operations for both the government and commercial aerospace companies. It also serves as a regional aerospace and technology hub, home to more than 50 resident agencies, companies, organizations, and institutions.
A native of Biloxi, Mississippi, Powell began her 33-year agency career at NASA Stennis, arriving at the south Mississippi center as an intern in 1991. Following her internship, she served as an instrumentation engineer and systems integration engineer before moving into leadership positions beginning in 2004. Powell subsequently served in various roles, including as site representative to the NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, lead of the NASA Stennis Systems and Test Integration Branch, chief of the NASA Stennis Systems Engineering Branch, and assistant director of the Engineering and Test Directorate. She also led the NASA Stennis Systems Engineering and Project Management Leadership Development Program and was the NASA Stennis Advocate for the Agency’s Systems and Engineering Leadership Program. Powell assumed leadership of the Rocket Propulsion Test Program Office in May 2021.
Powell has received numerous recognitions during her career, including two NASA Exceptional Achievement Medals. She is a graduate of Mississippi State University and the University of New Orleans. Powell and husband Ben, also a NASA Stennis engineer, reside in Carriere, Mississippi.
For information about NASA’s Stennis Space Center, visit:
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C. Lacy Thompson
Stennis Space Center, Bay St. Louis, Miss.
228-363-5499
NASA’s Stennis Space Center, located near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, is the nation’s largest propulsion test site and an aerospace and technology hub operated by NASA since 1961. NASA and more than 50 federal, state, academic, public, and private aerospace, technology, and research organizations located onsite share in operating costs, which allows tenants to direct more of their money to individual missions. If their combined workforces of more than 5,200 employees were counted as a single entity, Stennis would rank among the Top 10 Mississippi companies in size. The Stennis federal city is a major economic engine for the Gulf Coast region, with an average direct annual impact of more than $846 million within a 50-mile radius.