Space NASA Organizational Structure

NASA stands for "National Aeronautics and Space Administration". NASA is a governmental agency. It was created in 1958 when President Eisenhower adopted the National Aeronautics and Space Act. NASA, effective October 1st, 1958 became the -civilian- core of U.S. space research and launch, allowing to a more unified way to space, which, until then, was parted into the USA three military services. NASA is headquartered in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to understand and protect our home planet, to explore the universe and search for life, and to inspire the next generation of explorers

To render NASA more adequate to the new Vision for Space Exploration as expressed by the US President George Bush in 2004, calling for a return to the Moon, then Mars and beyond, and thus defining the new long-term program for the agency, NASA organizational structure has been transformed as of June 2004. The space agency will thus be streamlined as it will be better positioned to better implement the new US space goals. Changes became effective August, 1st 2004. The National Space Council -- a institution from the time of the beginnings of the space age -- on a other hand, was reinstated by administration Trump by June 2017. The National Space Council historic roots go back to the earliest days of NASA when the agency was established in 1958. Through 1973, it was known as the 'National Aeronautics and Space Council.' From 1989 to 1993, the group was the 'National Space Council,' guiding NASA and helping achieve the agency's ambitious milestones. The council indeed, laid dormant for a quarter of a century. The National Space Council's role is to advise the president on America's space policy and strategy, and review the nation's long-range goals for space activities. The council includes leaders in government from both civil and military space programs as it is chaired by the U.S. Vice President

NASA organizational structure. click to a larger picture. diagram site 'Amateur Astronomy'

Four main Mission Directorates are replacing the NASA's former "Strategic Enterprises": Aeronautics (aeronautics research and development for safe, reliable, and efficient aviation systems); Science (science exploration of Earth, Moon, Mars, and beyond; bring daily life the benefits of such an exploration); Exploration Systems (research and development about human and robotic technology; long duration flight crew health); Space Operations (space flight ops, launches, space communications, integrated systems in low-Earth orbit and beyond). During the summer of 2011, NASA has announced the creation of the Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate. The new organization, which combines the Space Operations and Exploration Systems mission directorates, will focus on International Space Station operations and human exploration beyond low Earth orbit. A Space Technology Mission Directorate has been created in February 2013 like a recognition of the critical role that space technology and innovation are to play in the future

Mission Support Offices are the functional offices providing administrative and technical assistance to NASA activities as NASA centers are field centers where NASA's policies translate into practice. They are dedicated to launch, mission management, or to science and technology research. Such centers are bound to become Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC) managed under a long-term federal contract by a university or a non-profit or for-profit organisation. for more about NASA centers, see NASA Field Centers. The Office of Program Analysis and Evaluation (PA&E), reporting directly to the Administrator, was added in June 2005 as a way to help the agency's chief decision-making process with independent studies and analysis, as, as of 2008, the role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and the Internet has been stressed, with systems thus seamlessly deployed and used across Center boundaries and a better access to information agency-wide (check a updated organigram of NASA by 2014 (text format only))

NASA, generally, since its inception, has been working with major U.S. economic actors like the providers and manufacturers of both the launchers, or satellites of the U.S. space program. Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp. are the top three U.S. contractors to NASA's programs, as another aspect of the U.S. space program is a form of close link between the civilian, and the military aspect of the space conquest. The three firms quoted above serve too like the main defense contractors to the Pentagon. More recently, some critics have pointed to the ill-management of NASA's space programs as well as to the secret, military satellite programs and they are calling for budgetary discipline and respect of schedules. 20 percent of the U.S. military space might come under the disguise of agencies -like NASA, or the NOAA- outside the Pentagon but with it part of the programs developed this way. Since the Obama administration, by 2010, NASA is abiding by the 'Open Government Directive', trying to be more collaborative, transparent and participatory for the professional users of the agency

As far as NASA's employees are concerned, things changed between the time of the origins and now. In the 1960's, the high-tech world basically revolved around NASA and defense, as, nowadays, a much lot of career opportunities springs up for engineering graduates, like Boeing and Lockheed, the smaller aerospace companies like Ball Aerospace, or smaller entrepreneurial options as well, like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, or even tech companies like Google and Apple. NASA policy in terms or recruiting graduates is focusing on internship, with students alternating semester in their college with three to six work tours in full-time jobs at NASA's centers. More than 50 universities are partnering with NASA on that co-op program, which started in 1961. The thing to know is that most of interns eventually return to work like at NASA as full time employees. NASA's workforce however remains mostly a baby-boomer one with few young people hired! NASA is employing 18,000 employees as the top directorial team of NASA has to be able to confront with managerial, engineerial, and political connections