Federal Contractors | Technology 2023: CLAYTON TURNER

DIRECTOR, NASA LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER, HAMPTON

Published August 30, 2023 by Virginia Business

Turner reaches for the stars every day. A 30-year NASA veteran, he is at the helm of NASA’s celebrated Langley Research Center as scientists work to send astronauts back to the moon by 2025 and prepare for the momentous manned mission to Mars.

For the past three decades, Turner has served in various engineering and leadership roles leading the agency’s contributions to the Space Shuttle program’s return to flight, the flight test of the Ares 1-X rocket, and the entry, descent and landing segment of the Mars Science Laboratory, among other projects.

A 1990 graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology, he began his NASA career as a design engineer. In 2019, he was named director of the center, where he leads a team of 3,400 scientists, engineers, researchers and staff. Turner’s many awards include the Presidential Rank Award and the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal.

PERSONAL MOTTO: Reach for new heights, to reveal the unknown, for the benefit of humankind.

FIRST JOB: Stock boy at Sears

ONE THING I’D CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: Be more united. Sometimes it feels like there are four Virginias.

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