New Deputy Director for Johnson Space Center Is First African-American to Hold Position

The Johnson Space Center announced Vanessa Wyche assumed the role of deputy director, on Wednesday.

She is the first African-American to be second in command at the Johnson Space Center. Wyche will help lead the organization of nearly 10,000 employees and assist with human spaceflight activities.

Prior to her new position, Wyche served as the director of the JSC’s the Exploration Integration and Science Directorate, which is involved with human and robotic exploration of deep space.

Wyche started working at the Johnson Space Center in 1989, and began her career with NASA as a project engineer. Since then, she's held several leadership positions.

You can read more about Wyche here.

NASA said Wyche will assist Johnson Space Center Director Mark Geyer in managing the center.

"Vanessa has a deep background at JSC with significant program experience in almost all of the human spaceflight programs that have been hosted here," Geyer said, in a press release. "She is respected at NASA, has built agency-wide relationships throughout her nearly three-decade career and will serve JSC well as we continue to lead human space exploration in Houston."

Congratulations to our new deputy director, Vanessa Wyche! Vanessa will assist @DirectorMarkG in leading our center, which has nearly 10,000 civil service and contractor employees and a broad range of human spaceflight activities. Details: https://t.co/J7hXu2I5AP pic.twitter.com/njdTaF0G3b

— NASA's Johnson Space Center (@NASA_Johnson) August 8, 2018