Janet Kavandi

The child who loved looking up at the night sky with her father grew up to become a scientist and NASA astronaut. Dr. Janet Kavandi logged 33 days in space and 535 space orbits. In 2019, she became one of just 99 members of the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame at the Kennedy Visitor Center.

While at the Johnson Space Center, she served as a mission specialist on three space shuttle missions and served as NASA’s Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office, Director of Flight Crew Operations and Deputy Director of Health and Human Performance. In these roles, she was responsible for operations, training, safety and habitability of crews onboard space shuttles and the International Space Station.

After a 25-year career with NASA, Kavandi joined commercial space innovator, Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), as senior vice president for Space Systems.

In 2020, Kavandi was named to the board of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.