William H. Gerstenmaier

Early life Gerstenmaier was born in Akron, Ohio, in September 1954 and graduated from East High School in 1973. As a teenager he followed the early space programs of Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo.

Career

Gerstenmaier graduated with a bachelor of science in aeronautical engineering from Purdue University School of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1977, and joined the Lewis Research Center (now called the John Glenn Research Center) in Ohio, beginning his career with NASA. Initially doing research with supersonic wind tunnels, developing air data curve information used during entry on the Space Shuttle. Gerstenmaier continued his education, obtaining his master's degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Toledo in 1981.

In 1980, Gerstenmaier moved to Houston, Texas, to work at the Johnson Space Center, researching propulsion related to the Space Shuttle, and was involved in the earliest phases of the International Space Station design. In 1984, he was a semi-finalist in the selection for NASA Astronaut Group 10. In 1988, he first served as manager of Space Shuttle Program Integration, and then went on to serve as head of the Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle Operations Office. Following that, he became Director of Space Shuttle and Space Station Freedom Assembly Operations, and was named Chief of the Projects and Facilities Branch of the Flight Design and Dynamics Division.

In 1995, Gerstenmaier returned to NASA as the Shuttle/Mir Program Operations Manager, and was the liaison to the Russian Space Agency for operations and protocols. For the first half of 1996, he was stationed in Russia to support astronaut Shannon Lucid, who spent six months aboard Mir.

In December 2000, Gerstenmaier was named Deputy Manager of the International Space Station Program. In June 2002, Gerstenmaier was promoted to Program Manager of the International Space Station, overseeing the management, development, operation, and integration of the station for NASA. Gerstenmaier's time with the ISS team, came as the first crews began to occupy the station and the US Orbital Segment was under heavy construction.

Gerstenmaier was promoted to Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations in 2005.

He would oversee the Commercial Crew Program that would see NASA pivot from the traditional model of government-owned and operated spacecraft, to one where the agency would act as a customer, purchasing flights as needed.

In one particularly critical decision, Gerstenmaier pushed back when Boeing had lobbied NASA for a sole-source contract, arguing that it needed the Commercial Crew Program's full budget to develop its Starliner capsule. While Gerstenmaier considered the Starliner proposal as stronger, he was hesitant to award a sole-source contract. The multi-year Commercial Crew Program had been designed to foster competition and redundancy, and Gerstenmaier believed that selecting just one company would undermine these goals. Through his efforts, he successfully convinced NASA to delay the CCtCap announcement and secure additional funding to support two competing efforts.

After four decades with the agency, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced on July 10, 2019, that Gerstenmaier was being reassigned to a "special advisor" roles, which are typically considered a demotion and a way to push civil servants who can not be fired out of the agency. No reason was given for the reassignment.

SpaceX hired Gerstenmaier away from NASA in February 2020 in what was originally announced as a role as a consultant to Hans Koenigsmann, the company's vice president of mission assurance. When Koenigsmann announced he was retiring in February 2021, SpaceX said that Gerstenmaier had agreed to join the company as its Vice President of Build and Flight Reliability. In this role, Gerstenmaier has the responsibility for the safe completion of SpaceX missions.

In 2006, the Huntsville National Space Club awarded him the Von Braun Award.

In 2007, The Federation of Galaxy Explorers honored Gerstenmaier with the 2007 Space Leadership Award, and Purdue University honored him with the Distinguished Alumni Award, "For outstanding accomplishments in a career dedicated to the human exploration of space and international cooperation in space." In November 2008 he was honored again at Purdue as an Old Master in the 2008 Old Masters Program.

Gerstenmaier received the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement's National Space Trophy in 2010, Space Transportation Leadership Award, 2011, the 2011 AIAA von Braun Award for Excellence in Space Program Management and the AIAA von Karman Lectureship in Astronautics in 2012.

Gerstenmaier was elected as a member into the National Academy of Engineering in 2018 for technical contributions and leadership in national and international human spaceflight programs.