Robert D. "Rob" Strain is the former Director of

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC emp ...

. Strain held that post from August 4, 2008, through March 5, 2012. Strain announced in January 2012 that he will retire from NASA and return to private industry.

Career

Prior to joining NASA, Strain was the head of the Space Department at the

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consiste ...

Applied Physics Lab The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL) is a not-for-profit university-affiliated research center (UARC) in Howard County, Maryland. It is affiliated with Johns Hopkins University and emplo ...

in Laurel, MD. Strain joined APL in 2004 as assistant Space Department head for operations. The following year, he was named associate department head and then became the department's managing executive. He has more than 25 years of experience in the aerospace business, including executive positions at

Orbital Sciences Orbital Sciences Corporation (commonly referred to as Orbital) was an American company specializing in the design, manufacture, and launch of small- and medium- class space and launch vehicle systems for commercial, military and other governmen ...

, where he led the company's Satellite and Electronic Sensors Divisions; and Fairchild Space and Defense Company, for which he served as chief financial officer and various other operational roles. He attended college at

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a Public university, public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the tr ...

and received his bachelor's degree in business administration. In March 2012, Strain joined

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. is an American manufacturer of spacecraft, components and instruments for national defense, civil space and commercial space applications. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ball Corporation (NYSE: BAL ...

as Chief Operating Officer. He served this role for one year, after which he became the President of the company. He has served as President since March 2013.

References

Living people Goddard Space Flight Center people Center Directors of NASA Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Western Michigan University alumni American chief executives American aerospace businesspeople {{US-business-bio-stub