Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman named deputy director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

28 October 2026

The California Institute of Technology announced on October 28, 2026 that Reid Wiseman has been named its associate vice president and deputy director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, with effect from November 30, 2026. Caltech manages the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is at Pasadena in California, for NASA. Wiseman commanded Artemis II, whose crew travelled 695,081 miles on a lunar flyby along with Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. He joined NASA's astronaut corps in 2009, flew the 165-day Expedition 41 mission to the International Space Station in 2014 and served as NASA's chief astronaut from December 2020 to November 2022. He will work with Dave Gallagher, the Laboratory's director, who is also a Caltech vice president. Caltech president Ray Jayawardhana and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman welcomed the appointment, which comes as the Laboratory approaches its 90th anniversary.