Primary Job Title Program Director Primary Organization Explore Mars
Location Lothian, Maryland, United States Regions Greater Baltimore-Maryland Area, East Coast, Southern US Gender Male
LinkedIn View on LinkedIn
Until his retirement in December 2012, after more than 20 years with NASA, Doug McCuistion was the Director of the Mars Exploration Program. As Mars Exploration Program Director he oversaw the major science goals, technologies and missions of the Program, lead development of future Program and mission strategies, including robotic exploration and
preparing for human exploration of Mars. As the senior NASA official directly responsible for the Mars Exploration Program, the missions in his portfolio included the Odyssey orbiter, the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and most recently, the highly successful Mars Science Laboratory mission and Curiosity Rover.
Prior to being Mars Program Director he held positions in earth and space science at NASA HQ and Goddard Space Flight Center, including GOES, TDRS, LDCM and engineering line management. He is also a retired Naval Officer, beginning his career flying F-14 Tomcats and later working on Navy Space missions such as Geosat Follow-On in the Space and Naval warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR), retiring after 21 years of service.
At present Doug is a private consultant working for Stinger, Ghaffarian Technolgies, Inc. (SGT), in Greenebelt, MD.
