Kelvin Manning has served as deputy director of NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida since July 2021. In this capacity, Manning shares responsibility with Kennedy Director Janet Petro in managing the Kennedy team of civil service and contractor employees, determining and implementing center policy, and managing and executing Kennedy missions and agency program responsibilities.
Manning served as the center’s associate director for more than a decade. In that capacity, he was responsible for ensuring safe and effective execution of the center’s institutional, technical, and business functions, including establishing strategies and policies to ensure alignment of the Kennedy workforce, facilities, and operations to facilitate agency program and project goals.
In 1992, Manning began his career at Kennedy and served in a number of positions within the former Shuttle Processing Directorate, including flow director for space shuttle Atlantis, chief engineer (acting) for shuttle upgrades, vehicle manager for space shuttle Columbia, and NASA test director. Later in the Kennedy Constellation Project Office, Manning was selected as the first division chief for NASA’s Orion spacecraft. More recently, he served on the last three NASA Astronaut Candidate Selection Boards.