{"id":251788,"date":"2025-07-15T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?p=887083"},"modified":"2025-07-15T20:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T10:00:00","slug":"melissa-harris-shaping-nasas-vision-for-a-future-in-low-earth-orbit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=251788","title":{"rendered":"Melissa Harris: Shaping NASA\u2019s Vision for a Future in Low Earth Orbit"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"A<\/a><\/figure>
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Melissa Harris\u2019 official NASA portrait. <\/div>\n
NASA\/Robert Markowitz<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

With over 25 years of experience in human spaceflight programs, Melissa Harris has contributed to numerous programs and projects during key moments in NASA\u2019s history. As the life cycle lead and Independent Review Team review manager for the Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program, she guides the agency through development initiatives leading to a new era of space exploration.  <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Harris grew up near NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center <\/strong>in Houston <\/strong>and spent time exploring the center and trying on astronaut helmets. She later earned her bachelor\u2019s degree in legal studies from the University of Houston, master and subject matter expert certifications in configuration management, and ISO 9001 Lead Auditors Certification. When the opportunity arose, she jumped at the chance to join the International Space Station Program. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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\"Twin<\/a><\/figure>
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Harris (right) and her twin sister, Yvonne (left), at the Artemis I launch. <\/div>\n
Image courtesy of Melissa Harris<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Starting as a board specialist, Harris spent eight years supporting the space station program boards, panels, and flight reviews. Other areas of support included the International Space Station Mission Evaluation Room and the EVA Crew Systems and Robotics Division managing changes for the acquisition and building of mockups in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory and Space Vehicle Mockup Facility in Houston. She then took a leap to join the Constellation Program, developing and overseeing program and project office processes and procedures. Harris then transitioned to the Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Project Office where she was a member of the EVA 23<\/a> quality audit team tasked with reviewing data to determine the cause of an in-orbit failure. She also contributed to the Orion Program and Artemis campaign. After spending two years at Axiom Space, Harris returned to NASA and joined the commercial low Earth orbit team. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Harris said the biggest lesson she has learned during her career is that \u201cthere are always ups and downs and not everything works out, but if you just keep going and at the end of the day see that the hard work and dedication has paid off, it is always the proudest moment.\u201d  <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Her dedication led to a nomination for the Stellar Award by the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement Foundation.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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\"A<\/a><\/figure>
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Harris and her son, Tyler, at the Rotary National Award Banquet in 2024.<\/div>\n
Image courtesy of Melissa Harris<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Harris\u2019 favorite part of her role at NASA is working \u201cclosely with brilliant minds\u201d and being part of a dedicated and hard-working team that contributes to current space programs while also planning for future programs. Looking forward, she anticipates witnessing the vision and execution of a self-sustaining commercial market in low Earth orbit come to fruition. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Outside of work, Harris enjoys being with family, whether cooking on the back porch, over a campfire, or traveling both in and out of the country. She has been married for 26 years to her high school sweetheart, Steve, and has one son, Tyler. Her identical twin sister, Yvonne, also works at Johnson. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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\"Two<\/a><\/figure>
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Harris and her twin sister Yvonne dressed as Mark and Scott Kelly for Halloween in 2024.<\/div>\n
Image courtesy of Melissa Harris<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Learn more about NASA\u2019s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program at: <\/p>\n

www.nasa.gov\/commercialspacestations<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With over 25 years of experience in human spaceflight programs, Melissa Harris has contributed to numerous programs and projects during key moments in NASA\u2019s history. As the life cycle lead and Independent Review Team review manager for the Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program, she guides the agency through development initiatives leading to a new [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15606,15634,15662],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-251788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-johnson-space-center","category-people-of-johnson"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=251788"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":251901,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251788\/revisions\/251901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=251788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=251788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=251788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}