Astronaut Who Flew Farther From Earth Than Anyone Is Heading to JPL

Reid Wiseman, who commanded NASA's Artemis II lunar flyby, is leaving the astronaut ranks for a leadership post at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA announced. Caltech named him associate vice president and deputy director of JPL, and he starts on Nov. 30, 2026.

Wiseman is now an emeritus astronaut and a retired U.S. Navy captain. JPL, in Southern California, is NASA's center for robotics and deep space exploration, and Caltech manages it for the agency.

A career in dated steps

According to NASA, Wiseman's path to the job runs through several milestones:

• 2009: He joined NASA's astronaut corps after a Navy career that included combat missions and test piloting.
• 2014: He served as a flight engineer on the International Space Station for the 165-day Expedition 41 mission.
• 2016: He commanded NASA's 21st Extreme Environment Mission Operations expedition and spent eight days living in a habitat on the ocean floor.
• December 2020 to November 2022: He was NASA's chief astronaut, overseeing crew flight readiness and crew safety for all of the agency's human spaceflight missions.
• Artemis II: He commanded the test flight with Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. NASA says the four traveled 695,081 miles on a lunar flyby, farther than any humans have gone before.
• Nov. 30, 2026: He begins at Caltech and JPL.

What the new job involves

NASA says Wiseman will be responsible for the strategic leadership, stewardship and continuous improvement of laboratory operations. That includes working closely with Caltech on institutional planning, management and compliance.

He will also serve as Center Management Authority for JPL mission execution. In that role he is to ensure operational excellence across mission support functions in line with NASA requirements and applicable federal and state regulations. In addition, he will be JPL's primary interface for national security programs.

He arrives as the laboratory nears the 90th anniversary of its founding by Caltech. NASA describes JPL as its only federally funded research and development center.

What the people involved said

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said Wiseman has the technical judgment, operational experience and leadership to push the edge of what is possible farther. Isaacman added that Wiseman helped carry America back around the Moon as Artemis II commander.

JPL Director and Caltech Vice President Dave Gallagher called the move fitting, given that Wiseman traveled farther from Earth than any human in history and that Caltech and JPL have sent spacecraft into the solar system for nearly 90 years. Gallagher said Wiseman knows how to lead teams through high-stakes missions and adds bench strength to the leadership team.

Caltech President Ray Jayawardhana said Wiseman's curiosity and pioneering spirit make him a natural fit. Wiseman himself said seeing the Sun disappear behind the Moon from deep space was the starting point for taking on what he called the impossible things that Caltech and JPL pursue for NASA and the nation.

Why it matters

The appointment puts someone with flight experience, from a long station mission to the first crewed lunar flyby of the Artemis program, into a senior management role at the lab that runs many of NASA's robotic missions. Because the job covers laboratory operations, compliance with NASA requirements and national security programs, it is a management position rather than a ceremonial one.

For readers following NASA, it also shows a path for astronauts after their flying careers: Wiseman is moving from the crew office to the organization that builds and operates spacecraft sent far beyond Earth orbit.

NASA gave Nov. 30, 2026, as the start date. It did not list further details about the appointment.

Around Prague, based on reporting by NASA, Space.com