Summary
Caltech has named former NASA astronaut and Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman as its associate vice president and deputy director of JPL. He is scheduled to begin the role on Nov. 30, 2026.
Caltech has named former NASA astronaut and Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman as the institute’s associate vice president and deputy director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The appointment, announced on Oct. 28, 2026, is scheduled to take effect on Nov. 30.
Wiseman will oversee the strategic leadership and stewardship of laboratory operations, with a remit that includes continuous improvement. JPL is a federally funded research and development center managed for NASA by Caltech.
A leadership role spanning operations and mission execution
The position combines institutional oversight with responsibility for how JPL carries out missions. Wiseman will work with Caltech on institutional planning, management and compliance. As JPL’s Center Management Authority for mission execution, he will oversee operational performance across mission-support functions in accordance with NASA requirements and applicable federal and state regulations. He will also serve as JPL’s primary interface for national security programs.
That remit places the deputy director in a role supporting the laboratory’s ability to plan and execute work across its missions. The announcement describes a broad operational portfolio rather than assigning Wiseman to lead a particular spacecraft or scientific project.
Wiseman’s NASA experience
Wiseman joined NASA’s astronaut corps in 2009. He served as a flight engineer on the International Space Station’s 165-day Expedition 41 mission in 2014 and led NASA’s astronaut corps as chief astronaut from December 2020 to November 2022. In that role, he oversaw crew flight readiness and crew safety for NASA human spaceflight missions. He also commanded an eight-day expedition in 2016 that involved living in an underwater habitat.
JPL’s announcement says Wiseman and the other Artemis II crew members travelled 695,081 miles on a lunar flyby, farther from Earth than any humans had travelled before. The appointment brings that human-spaceflight experience into JPL’s leadership team, where his stated responsibilities will centre on laboratory operations, mission support and institutional planning.