Melissa Jones | |
|---|---|
 Melissa Jones official Kennedy Space Center photo | |
| Born | |
| Alma mater | University of Central Florida |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Kennedy Space Center |
Melissa Jones is the NASA landing and recovery director for the Exploration Ground Systems Program. She leads retrieval of NASA flight crew and module hardware. [1] [2]
Jones was born in Oak Hill, Florida. [3] Her parents and grandparents worked in different aspects of space programs at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. [4] During junior high school, Jones was an intern at the Kennedy Space Center, where she worked on processing for Unity node. [4] She studied electrical engineering at the University of Central Florida. She returned in 2016 and earned a master's degree in engineering management. [3]
Jones join the Space Shuttle program as a contractor in 2004. [3] In 2007 she was appointed as lead orbiter project engineering for Space Shuttle Endeavour. [3] In this role she looked to get Endeavour in a fit state to fly. [3]
She led system engineering for NASA Ground and Mission Operations the Commercial Crew Program. This included ensuring operations were ready for the launch and integrated systems verification. [3] Jones was part of the New Horizons flyby team in 2015. [5] [6]
In 2017 Jones was awarded a Rotary International National Award for Space Achievement Stellar Award. [3] She serves as an expert for The Planetary Society. [7]
Jones will lead the recovery team of Artemis 1 (previously Exploration Mission-1) that will work with the United States Navy to recover the Orion crew module. [3] The recovery will take place in the ocean near San Diego, and Jones is responsible for the creation of a ship, with a landing platform, that can recover flight crews from open water. [7] She has worked for the Underway Recovery Test 5 (URT-5). Jones was involved with the USS John P. Murtha Orion spacecraft recovery tests. [8]
Jones is married with two children. [3]