NASA has appointed Stephen Cash to lead Marshall Space Flight Center, with the change taking effect October 19. The engineer returns to the Alabama center where he began his agency career. Marshall manages major rocket and lunar-landing programmes and employs more than 5,000 civil servants and contractors. Cash succeeds acting director Rae Ann Meyer, who returns to her deputy role.
NASA, the US space agency, has appointed Stephen Cash director of its Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The change takes effect October 19. Cash returns to the center where he began his agency career and succeeds Rae Ann Meyer, who has served as acting director since September 2025. Meyer returns to her position as deputy center director.[1], [2]
The appointment places Cash in charge of more than 5,000 civil servants and contractor employees working across propulsion, space systems, scientific research and technology development. Marshall manages the Space Launch System rocket and the Human Landing System programme for Artemis, NASA’s lunar exploration effort. Its portfolio also includes nuclear power and propulsion. Established in 1960, the center developed the Saturn rockets that carried Apollo astronauts to the Moon.[1]
Cash joined Marshall in 1982 and spent 34 years at NASA. He managed the center’s Space Shuttle Propulsion Office through the shuttle programme’s final missions. From 2011 until retiring in 2016, he directed Marshall’s Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate, responsible for safety, reliability and quality engineering. He subsequently worked in aerospace, including as vice president for advanced space systems at Axient. NASA’s announcement identifies manufacturing, structural loads and dynamics, and propulsion among the capabilities being strengthened at Marshall.[1]
