The John F. Kennedy Space Center, located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968, KSC has been NASA's primary launch center of human spaceflight. Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC. Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). The management of the two entities work very closely together, share resources and operate facilities on each other's property.
Pamela Ann Melroy is an American retired United States Air Force officer and NASA astronaut serving as the deputy administrator of NASA. She served as pilot on Space Shuttle missions STS-92 and STS-112 and commanded mission STS-120 before leaving the agency in August 2009. After serving as deputy program manager of Space Exploration Initiatives with Lockheed Martin, Melroy joined the Federal Aviation Administration in 2011, where she was a senior technical advisor and director of field operations for the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation.
Peggy Annette Whitson is an American biochemistry researcher, retired NASA astronaut, former NASA Chief Astronaut, and an active Axiom Space astronaut. Whitson has a total of 675 days in space, more than any other American or woman.
David Cornell Leestma is a former American astronaut and retired Captain in the United States Navy.
Richard Oswalt Covey is a retired United States Air Force officer, former NASA astronaut, and a member of the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame.
Robert Donald Cabana is the Associate Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a NASA astronaut, and a veteran of four Space Shuttle flights. He served as Chief of the Astronaut Office from 1994 to 1997 and as director of the John F. Kennedy Space Center from 2008 to 2021. He is also a former naval flight officer and naval aviator in the United States Marine Corps.
Ellen Ochoa is an American engineer, former astronaut and former director of the Johnson Space Center. In 1993, Ochoa became the first Hispanic woman to go to space when she served on a nine-day mission aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. Ochoa became director of the center upon the retirement of the previous director, Michael Coats, on December 31, 2012. She was the first Hispanic director and the second female director of Johnson Space Center.
Kathryn Ryan Cordell Thornton is an American scientist and a former NASA astronaut with over 975 hours in space, including 21 hours of extravehicular activity. She was the associate dean for graduate programs at the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science, currently a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.
Miguel Rodríguez is the Chief of the Integration Office of the Cape Canaveral Spaceport Management Office.
Joan Elizabeth Higginbotham is an electrical engineer and a former NASA astronaut. She flew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery mission STS-116 as a mission specialist and is the third African American woman to go into space, after Mae Jemison and Stephanie Wilson.
Irene Duhart Long was an American physician and was an official at the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. She was the first female chief medical officer at the Kennedy Space Center.
Shiloh was a village in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is the northernmost place in Brevard County. Scottsmoor also shares the title, across the Indian River.
Kurt Heinrich Debus was a German-American rocket engineer and NASA director. Born in Germany, he was a member of the Schutzstaffel (SS) during World War II, where he served as a V-weapons flight test director. Following the war, he was brought to the United States via Operation Paperclip, and directed the design, development, construction and operation of NASA's Saturn launch facilities. He became the first director of NASA's Launch Operations Center, and, under him, NASA conducted 150 launches of military missiles and space vehicles, including 13 launches of the Saturn V rocket as part of the Apollo Moon landing program.
William W. (Bill) Parsons is an American engineer. He served as the ninth director of NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center, and as the fifth and seventh director of NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center.
JoAnn Hardin Morgan is an American aerospace engineer who was the first female engineer at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) John F. Kennedy Space Center and the first woman to serve as a senior executive at Kennedy Space Center. For her work at NASA, Morgan was honored by U.S. President Bill Clinton as a Meritorious Executive in 1995 and 1998. Prior to her retirement in 2003, she held various leadership positions over 40 years in the human space flight programs at NASA. Morgan served as the director of the External Relations and Business Development during her final years at the space center.
Mary Bubb was one of the first space journalists reporting on launches out of Cape Canaveral, Florida. Bubb was the only woman reporter for military publication Daily Pacifican during World War II and the first woman space reporter.
Michelle Amos is an electronics design engineer at NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center. Amos joined NASA in 1990 as an electronics design engineer. She currently designs electrical systems and control equipment in KSC's Advanced Technology Development Center and works on a support team for the International Space Station configuring and documenting its electrical configurations. She is the project manager lead for the shuttle transition and retirement activities.
Judith A. Kersey is an American engineer. She was the first woman guidance systems engineer at NASA Kennedy Space Center.
Launch Complex 48 (LC-48) is a multi-user launch site for small launchers and spacecraft. It is located south of Launch Complex 39A and north of Space Launch Complex 41.
Charlie Blackwell-Thompson is an American engineer. Blackwell-Thompson is the launch director for NASA's Exploration Ground Systems Program, based at NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC). She oversaw the countdown and liftoff of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft during its first flight test, called Artemis 1.
