NASA’s Scott Tingle to Serve as Agency’s Chief Astronaut

NASA has named astronaut Scott Tingle chief of the astronaut office at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, effective November 10. A decorated spaceflight veteran and former U.S. Navy captain, Tingle has logged more than 4,500 flight hours in 51 different aircraft and served as a flight engineer aboard the International Space Station.

As Chief Astronaut, Tingle is responsible for managing astronaut resources and operations. It will also help develop astronaut flight crew operations and conduct crew assignments for future human spaceflight missions, including the Artemis missions to the Moon.

“Our Johnson Space Center team congratulates Scott on his selection as Chief of the Astronaut Office. We wish him well in his exciting new leadership role,” said Vanessa Wyche, director of the Johnson Space Center. “I extend my sincerest thanks to Joe Acaba, for his dedicated service to the Astronaut Office, as he accomplished the enormous task of preparing our astronaut corps for daring missions to and from the International Space Station and integrated their space expertise and knowledge to develop and test future technologies, software and procedures making space travel safer and more accessible for our nation’s explorers.

A native of Randolph, Massachusetts, Tingle was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2009. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Southeastern Massachusetts University and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Tingle most recently served as a flight engineer aboard the space station, spending more than six months in orbit during Expedition 54/55. He was flight engineer and U.S. operational segment manager for the mission, which launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard a Soyuz spacecraft on December 17, 2017 and concluded with a landing on June 3, 2018. Since returning to Earth, he has supported the Astronaut Office in a variety of roles, including mission support, technical direction and crew readiness activities.

Before joining NASA, Tingle worked for The Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, California, where he served as a technical staff member supporting the company’s propulsion department. He was commissioned as a naval officer in 1991 and had a distinguished career, achieving the rank of captain before retiring. Follow Tingle on X.

Tingle succeeds NASA astronaut Joe Acaba, who served as Astronaut Office Chief since February 2023. Acaba joined the Center Director’s team, where he provides technical guidance on mission planning and strategy to NASA Johnson. In this new role, he leads the center’s alignment with NASA’s strategic plan and human spaceflight priorities, supports the agency’s STEM workforce goals, and advances collaboration with commercial space, academia, and other government partners as NASA continues its exploration beyond low Earth orbit.

Learn more about the International Space Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station

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Shaneequa Vereen

Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111

shaneequa.y.vereen@nasa.gov