Paul S. Hill

Paul Sean Hill (born June 23, 1962) is the former Director of Mission Operations at the NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. He was formerly a Flight Director in the Mission Control Center for Space Shuttle and International Space Station missions under the call sign "Atlas".

Early years Paul Sean Hill was born in Orlando, Florida to Lawrence Edwin Hill and Sonya Kaye Robinson. While growing up, Hill migrated from Titusville, Florida to Dallas and Irving, Texas; Marathon and Sugarloaf, Florida; Lexington Park, Maryland; Pensacola, Florida; and back to Irving.

Hill attended nine schools in Florida (Coquina (1st grade), Sue Moore (4th), and Sugarloaf (5th) Elementary Schools, Ferry Pass Middle School (7th and 8th), and Booker T. Washington High School (9th and 10th)); Texas (Jefferson Davis (1st and 2nd) and Farina (2nd - 4th) Elementary Schools); and Maryland (Leonardtown Elementary (6th)) before graduating from Irving High School (11th and 12th) in Irving, Texas. During his service in the Air Force, Hill commanded mobile satellite communications crews providing missile launch and nuclear detonation detection, and was responsible for all facets of covert deployment planning for that system. He was also an undergraduate aerodynamics and aircraft performance instructor.

Hill led the Columbia accident investigation team responsible for detecting and locating early debris during re-entry; obtaining and analyzing all data collected by government agency sensors during entry; and coordinating radar testing with the Air Force Research Laboratory. He also led the team that developed on-orbit inspection and repair techniques for the Space Shuttle and was the lead Flight Director for its return to flight on mission STS-114.

In 2024, Hill headed up the agency's Independent Review Board (IRB) that assessed why the heat shield on the Orion spacecraft lost so much material during the 2022 uncrewed Artemis I test flight.

Personal Hill is married to the former Pam Gerber. They have two daughters who are fourth-generation Aggies. Hill enjoys skiing, traveling with his family, and playing and coaching soccer.