NASA’s Associate Administrator, Jim Free, announced his retirement will take effect on Saturday, February 22. In his role, Free has served as a senior advisor to NASA’s Acting Administrator, Janet Petro, while also overseeing the agency’s ten center directors and mission directorate associate administrators at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He has effectively acted as the chief operating officer for over 18,000 employees and managed an impressive annual budget exceeding $25 billion.

Since assuming the position of associate administrator in January 2024, Free has made significant strides for NASA, including the addition of nearly twenty new signatories to the Artemis Accords. Under his leadership, the agency achieved its first Moon landing through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which is aimed at advancing NASA’s scientific endeavors on the lunar surface. Furthermore, he spearheaded the launch of the Europa Clipper mission, dedicated to studying the icy moon of Jupiter, and played a key role in the discovery of organic molecules in asteroid Bennu samples brought back to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.

Petro praised Free’s contributions, stating, “Jim has exemplified the role of a servant leader, consistently prioritizing NASA’s mission and its people. As an outstanding engineer and a decisive leader, he merges extensive technical knowledge with a steadfast dedication to our goals. Jim’s legacy is built on selflessness, resolute leadership, and faith in the potential of individuals.”

Throughout his distinguished career at NASA, Free has made numerous contributions to the nation’s space exploration efforts. He championed new methods for returning samples from Mars prior to crewed missions, supported the International Space Station crews as they engaged in hundreds of experiments, and fostered innovative public-private partnerships for NASA’s VIPER mission (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) on the lunar surface.

Reflecting on his time at NASA, Free stated, “It has been a privilege to serve NASA and collaborate with a workforce that addresses complex engineering challenges, seeks new scientific insights about the universe, and develops technologies for future exploration—all while maintaining safety for everyone involved, whether on the ground, in the air, or in space. I am thankful for the opportunity to be part of the NASA family and to contribute to its mission for humanity’s benefit.”

With over 30 years of service, Free has held various leadership positions within the agency. Prior to his role as associate administrator, he was the associate administrator of the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, where he successfully oversaw the Artemis I mission and was instrumental in establishing NASA’s Moon to Mars framework, which encompasses the systems development for Artemis missions and deep space exploration planning.

Free began his career at NASA in 1990 as an engineer focused on Tracking and Data Relay Satellites at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. He subsequently moved to the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, taking on numerous roles supporting the International Space Station and the Orion spacecraft before transitioning to the Johnson Space Center in Houston in 2008. Free returned to NASA Glenn in 2009 and was elevated to chief of the Space Flight Systems Directorate, where he managed the center’s space initiatives. He was named deputy center director in November 2010 and later served as center director from January 2013 to March 2016, before taking on the position of deputy associate administrator for Technical in the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters.

A proud native of Northeast Ohio, Free holds a bachelor’s degree in aeronautics from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and a master’s degree in space systems engineering from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

His accolades include the Presidential Rank Award, NASA Distinguished Service Medal, NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, NASA Exceptional Service Medal, NASA Significant Achievement Medal, and many more.

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Kathryn Hambleton / Cheryl Warner
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
kathryn.hambleton@nasa.gov / cheryl.m.warner@nasa.gov