Reid Wiseman, commander of the Artemis II lunar flyby mission, has been named Caltech associate vice president and deputy director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He begins the role on Nov. 30, 2026.
Wiseman, an emeritus astronaut and retired U.S. Navy captain, led the Artemis II crew that traveled 695,081 miles on a lunar flyby, farther than any humans have ever traveled. The crew included Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen.
As deputy director of JPL, Wiseman will oversee strategic leadership and operational excellence across mission support functions. He will serve as the Center Management Authority for JPL mission execution and serve as JPL's primary interface for national security programs.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said Wiseman "has the technical judgment, operational experience, and leadership to help push that edge farther" at the laboratory, which manages robotics and deep space exploration for NASA.
Wiseman joined NASA's astronaut corps in 2009. He served as flight engineer aboard the International Space Station during the 165-day Expedition 41 mission in 2014 and commanded NASA's 21st Extreme Environment Mission Operations expedition in 2016, living for eight days in an underwater habitat. From December 2020 to November 2022, he served as NASA's chief astronaut, overseeing crew flight readiness and safety for all NASA human spaceflight missions.