NASA has named Diane Dailey, Chloe Mehring, Fiona Turett and Brandon Lloyd as flight directors to help the agency manage operations of the International Space Station.
“We place a huge responsibility upon them individually to take any necessary action to ensure the safety of our astronauts, the safety of the spacecraft and to accomplish the mission. These four join a storied group of individuals. We’re excited to have them and know they are up for the task,” said Steve Koerner, director of flight operations at NASA.
NASA said Tuesday the appointees will lead teams of flight controllers, engineers and professionals, agency wide and internationally, as well as supervise human spaceflight missions for the ISS and lunar missions for NASA’s Artemis program. The new flight directors underwent a training program requiring technical knowledge and leadership skills.
Dailey began her career at NASA in 2006, where she served as a flight controller for the space station Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) group, where she led the ECLSS team for Expedition 22.
She moved to the Integration and System Engineering (ISE) group with NASA, where she was the lead flight controller for the 10th and 21st Commercial Resupply Services missions for SpaceX. Most recently, Dailey served as the group lead for the electrical and mechanical systems team.
Mehring joined NASA in 2008, where she served as propulsion support officer for Exploration Flight Test-1 and supported 11 space shuttle missions within the Flight Operations’ propulsion systems group.
She is a lead NASA propulsion officer for SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft and serves as backup lead for the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, where she has supported the Boeing Pad Abort Test.
Turett began her NASA career in 2009 in Safety and Mission Assurance, where she supported propulsion system safety for space shuttle missions. She also served as a flight controller and instructor for the space station’s Motion Control System and the Expedition 56 control system lead for both crew training and real-time operations.
Lloyd began his NASA career in 2008, where he developed Orion crew training systems. After that, Lloyd was a space station Environmental and Thermal Operating Systems (ETHOS) flight controller, where he served as ETHOS lead for Northrop Grumman’s first commercial resupply services mission, Orbital-1, several spacewalks, and Expedition 42.
He was the ETHOS lead for integration for the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, and led the development of joint emergency operations for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Lloyd also was capcom lead for emergency operations, and SpaceX’s 17th Commercial Resupply Mission.
“These outstanding individuals bring with them an array of different skillsets, leadership styles, and meaningful hands-on experience that will lead NASA and human spaceflight far into the future,” said Holly Ridings, chief flight director of NASA.
