Inside Mission Control

Wayne Hale joined NASA at the Johnson Space Center in June 1978, where he served as a Space Shuttle systems flight controller for fifteen early Space Shuttle flights. From 1988 to 2003, he was a Space Shuttle flight director assigned to a record forty flights. In 2003 following the Columbia accident, Hale joined the senior leadership of the Space Shuttle program office and later became Space Shuttle program manager. In 2008, he became the deputy associate administrator for Space Operations at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he influenced the formulation of the Commercial Crew Program, which followed the Space Shuttle. Of his many accomplishments, Hale is most proud of overseeing the transformation of NASA Space Shuttle management culture to one that prioritized safety and mission success.