Headquarters and Center Chief Counsel Contacts

General Counsel Iris Lan Deputy General Counsel Christine Pham (Acting) Director of Legal Operations Bryan R. Diederich (Acting) Associate General Counsel for Commercial and Intellectual Property Law Practice Group, Headquarters Karen Reilley Associate General Counsel for Contracts and Acquisition Integrity Law Practice Group, Headquarters Scott Barber Associate General Counsel for General Law Practice Group, Headquarters Katie Spear Associate General Counsel for International and Space Law Practice Group, Headquarters Rebecca Bresnik Agency Counsel for Ethics, Headquarters Adam F. Greenstone Director of the NASA Acquisition Integrity Program (Fraud Remedies) and the Agency…

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General Counsel Organization – Headquarters

General Counsel Iris Lan Deputy General Counsel Christine Pham (Acting) Director of Legal Operations Bryan R. Diederich (Acting) Associate General Counsel for Contracts and Acquisition Integrity Law Practice Group Scott Barber Associate General Counsel for General Law Practice Group Katie Spear Associate General Counsel for Commercial and Intellectual Property Law Group Karen M. Reilley Associate General Counsel for International and Space Law Practice Group Rebecca Bresnik Agency Counsel for Ethics Adam F. Greenstone Director, Acquisition Integrity Program Monica Aquino-Thieman

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Parachute Engineer Anh Nguyen

“[My proudest moment] was deciding post-college what to do [in my life] and not asking for advice anymore. It’s one of those things where I love asking for advice but sometimes almost too much where I feel like it over influences what I want to do. And in my career, it was the same way. People would keep telling me, ‘Oh, you’re really good at this. You should probably go into this position, or you should try this.’ Now, I sit in certain moments and decide, is this a position…

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NASA’s Europa Clipper Unpacks in Florida

Technicians inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida prepare to rotate the agency’s largest planetary mission spacecraft, Europa Clipper, to a vertical position on Tuesday, May 28, 2024, as part of prelaunch processing. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett Crews rotated to vertical then lifted NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft from its protective shipping container after it arrived at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 28. The spacecraft, which will collect data to help scientists determine if…

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1st annual space piracy conference will examine threats of orbital crime and smuggling

Eye-patches on! Practice your best “grrr.” Plop down pieces of eight, doubloons and cue “Captain” Jack Sparrow! Get ready for the First Annual Space Piracy Conference, set for early next year. Held by the Center for the Study of Space Crime, Policy, and Governance (CSCPG), the conference is a “two-day, invite only symposium that brings together experts prepared to review crime, piracy, and smuggling in space,” according to its website. “Be among the first to discuss mitigating space crime and piracy, from the perspectives of investment, space law, space policy, intelligence,…

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Hurricane Season Begins

An external high-definition camera on the International Space Station captured this image of Hurricane Idalia at 11:35 a.m. Eastern Time on Aug. 29, 2023. Idalia was a category 1 storm over the Gulf of Mexico with sustained winds of 140 kilometers (85 miles) per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center. June 1 marks the beginning of the 2024 hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean.

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Space Station Research Advances NASA’s Plans to Explore the Moon, Mars

4 Min Read Space Station Research Advances NASA’s Plans to Explore the Moon, Mars The full moon is pictured as the International Space Station orbited 254 miles above the Pacific Ocean northeast of Guam. Credits: NASA Space, the saying goes, is hard. And the farther humans go, the harder it can get. Some of the challenges on missions to explore the Moon and Mars include preventing microbial contamination of these destinations, navigating there safely, protecting crew members and hardware from radiation, and maintaining and repairing equipment. Research on the International…

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Watch Rocket Lab launch shoebox-sized NASA climate satellite tonight

Rocket Lab will launch the second of two cubesats for NASA’s PREFIRE climate change mission tonight (May 31), and you can watch the action live. An Electron rocket topped with the tiny satellite is scheduled to lift off from Rocket Lab‘s New Zealand site tonight at 11:00 p.m. EDT (0300 GMT and 3:00 p.m. New Zealand time on June 1). Rocket Lab will livestream the liftoff, beginning about 30 minutes before launch. Space.com will carry the feed if, as expected, Rocket Lab makes it available. Related: NASA’s twin spacecraft will…

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Massive, magnetic stars beyond the Milky Way detected for the 1st time

For the first time, astronomers have detected the magnetic fields of massive, blazingly hot stars outside our galaxy. They’re stars that actually live in our galactic companions, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC).  Discovering stellar magnetism in these satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, both of which have a large population of young stars, offers scientists a unique chance to study actively forming stars. It could also answer the question of how much mass a star can pile on before it loses stability. Magnetism is…

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NASA’s X-59 ‘quiet’ supersonic jet passes key safety review ahead of 1st test flight

NASA’s new X-59 supersonic jet has successfully completed its Flight Readiness Review, marking a pivotal step towards its first flight.  The review, conducted by independent experts from across NASA, evaluated the project team’s approach to safety for the public and staff during ground and flight testing, as well as the team’s analysis of hazards that may arise. In turn, the review provides valuable insights and recommendations to the X-59 team as they prepare for further analysis ahead of the jet’s maiden flight.  “It’s not a pass-fail,” Cathy Bahm, NASA’s Low…

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