Christy Hansen
Ms. Hansen’s 25-year career at NASA includes a broad diversity of experience spanning from technical and operational roles to programmatic and leadership roles in both the Human Spaceflight and Science Mission Directorates. This cross-directorate experience has positioned her to be fluent in both the engineering, operations, and science communities, a skill set required to achieve NASA’s top mission priorities – including leading diverse teams to enable the development of future commercial space stations and landing Americans back on the Moon via the Artemis Program.
Ms. Hansen currently serves as the Artemis Deputy Mission Manager in the Moon to Mars Program Office at NASA Headquarters. In this role, she is part of a leadership team who ensures the readiness of flight hardware and operations in preparation for future lunar landings.
Ms. Hansen began her career at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX, where she worked from 1999-2010 as an EVA/Spacewalk Operations Engineer, astronaut instructor, and flight controller in the Mission Operations Directorate (MOD). She developed procedures, planned spacewalks, and trained astronauts to work in space suits with specialty tools on Space Shuttle, International Space Station (ISS) and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) missions, and supported real-time operations as a flight controller for ISS assembly missions and the final mission to service Hubble in 2009.
In 2010, Ms. Hansen moved to Maryland and began work at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) as the Operations Manager for a technology demonstration payload called Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM.) RRM launched on the final space shuttle mission, STS-135, and working closely with JSC’s Robotics’ team and Marshall Space Flight Center’s (MSFC) Operations team, demonstrated satellite repair activities, a pre-cursor to future satellite servicing missions.
From 2012-2019, Ms. Hansen transitioned into airborne science project management, and led several airborne science missions, including Operation IceBridge’s first deployment to Antarctica. The IceBridge project flew innovative science instruments on several aircraft, studying changes in Earth’s ice sheets and sea ice in Greenland and Antarctica.
Ms. Hansen participated in leadership rotations at NASA Headquarters in the Science Mission Directorate in 2019 and 2022, where she developed Launch Vehicle Rideshare Policy, developed Standing Review Board Improvements, led Access to Space studies, and supported Space Station Payload activities. Ms. Hansen also led an effort to bring eye-gaze technology and capabilities to Goddard to enable persons with neurodegenerative-related disabilities to continue working, and this new capability continues to be available for persons with disabilities – allowing them to continue working without use of their hands or voice.
Ms. Hansen received her BS Degree from Villanova University in Comprehensive Science, with a minor in Physics, a minor in Women’s Studies, and her MS in Space Studies at the University of North Dakota. She enjoys playing sports, hiking, outdoor adventures, and travelling with friends and family.
Ms. Hansen currently serves as the Artemis Deputy Mission Manager in the Moon to Mars Program Office at NASA Headquarters. In this role, she is part of a leadership team who ensures the readiness of flight hardware and operations in preparation for future lunar landings.
Ms. Hansen began her career at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX, where she worked from 1999-2010 as an EVA/Spacewalk Operations Engineer, astronaut instructor, and flight controller in the Mission Operations Directorate (MOD). She developed procedures, planned spacewalks, and trained astronauts to work in space suits with specialty tools on Space Shuttle, International Space Station (ISS) and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) missions, and supported real-time operations as a flight controller for ISS assembly missions and the final mission to service Hubble in 2009.
In 2010, Ms. Hansen moved to Maryland and began work at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) as the Operations Manager for a technology demonstration payload called Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM.) RRM launched on the final space shuttle mission, STS-135, and working closely with JSC’s Robotics’ team and Marshall Space Flight Center’s (MSFC) Operations team, demonstrated satellite repair activities, a pre-cursor to future satellite servicing missions.
From 2012-2019, Ms. Hansen transitioned into airborne science project management, and led several airborne science missions, including Operation IceBridge’s first deployment to Antarctica. The IceBridge project flew innovative science instruments on several aircraft, studying changes in Earth’s ice sheets and sea ice in Greenland and Antarctica.
Ms. Hansen participated in leadership rotations at NASA Headquarters in the Science Mission Directorate in 2019 and 2022, where she developed Launch Vehicle Rideshare Policy, developed Standing Review Board Improvements, led Access to Space studies, and supported Space Station Payload activities. Ms. Hansen also led an effort to bring eye-gaze technology and capabilities to Goddard to enable persons with neurodegenerative-related disabilities to continue working, and this new capability continues to be available for persons with disabilities – allowing them to continue working without use of their hands or voice.
Ms. Hansen received her BS Degree from Villanova University in Comprehensive Science, with a minor in Physics, a minor in Women’s Studies, and her MS in Space Studies at the University of North Dakota. She enjoys playing sports, hiking, outdoor adventures, and travelling with friends and family.
