Vanessa Wyche Appointed As The First African American Deputy Director at NASA's Johnson Space Center

Vanessa Wyche is the first African-American to hold the role of Deputy Director at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX.  She has worked at the JSC since 1989 when she joined the team as a project engineer. She’s also a South Carolina native who graduated from Clemson University with a bachelor of science in materials engineering and a master of science in bioengineering.

In this role, the deputy director is responsible for leading more than 10,000 civil service and contractor employees and also a number of human spaceflight activities for the space center.

Wyche, who has received two NASA Achievement Medals among other accolades, is highly respected at NASA and has built agency-wide relationships according to JSC Director Mark Geyer.

In a press release from NASA, Wyche said the following about being appointed to the role:

“I am incredibly humbled to take on this role at JSC, and also excited to assist Mark with leading the home of human spaceflight,” she said. “I look forward to working with the talented employees at JSC as we work toward our mission of taking humans farther into the solar system.”