Janet Petro’s Final Embrace The Challenge Update – 18 July 2025

Last week, President Trump announced Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy will serve as NASA’s next acting administrator. Since then, my focus has been on ensuring a smooth transition. I’m also pleased to share I’ll be returning home to Kennedy Space Center as its center director – rejoining my colleagues and continuing our vital work, hand in hand with our new NASA leadership to propel our ambitious goals.

Being called by the President to serve as your acting administrator and championing your extraordinary work over these past six months has been the honor of my career. It’s been a fast-paced, eye-opening experience, and I’ve truly valued the opportunity to work at this level of the agency.

I have every confidence in acting Administrator Duffy’s ability to lead this agency forward with vision and purpose. His commitment to public service and experience in executive leadership uniquely equip him to build upon the President’s vision to usher in a Golden Age of Innovation and Exploration. As he steps into this new role, I know you will offer him the same commitment to mission and excellence that defines NASA.

I want to thank Vanessa Wyche for stepping up to serve as acting associate administrator –without a doubt, one of the toughest jobs in the agency. I’m also grateful to Casey Swails for her steady leadership and to all of you for the support you’ve shown me throughout this journey.

Shortly after I arrived in this role, I brought a sign with me from my office at Kennedy that says, “We can do hard things.” It’s something I believe to my core. I’ve seen it in action every day – across teams, across centers, and across missions.

In fact, here are just a few of the highlights from the past two weeks:

Our high-altitude WB-57 aircraft took to the skies to support ongoing flood operations recovery near Kerrville, Texas. With satellite views blocked by clouds, the flights are helping teams on the ground by providing critical data for search, rescue, and resource planning.

We continue energizing the space economy and fostering American ingenuity. Last week, NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research & Small Business Technology Transfer programs awarded $44.85 million to 299 small business teams across 43 states to develop cutting-edge technologies for our missions. This week, we released NASA’s 2025-2026 Software Catalog – opening over 1,200 free software programs to business owners, entrepreneurs, and innovators looking to use NASA’s expert systems to reduce costs, expedite product development, and generate mission-proven solutions.

Teams at Langley, Ames, and Glenn earned top honors in the agency’s 2025 Invention and Software of the Year awards, recognizing technologies with significant mission and community impact. Highlights include Langley’s improvements to Schlieren imaging and Glenn’s GRX-810, a 3D-printable alloy for extreme environments. Ames and Langley also shared the Software of the Year award for new aircraft modeling software and a new electronic, external vision system for the X-59.

The NASA-supported fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, Axiom Mission 4, completed its flight as part of the agency’s efforts to demonstrate demand and build operational knowledge for future commercial space stations. The four-person crew safely returned to Earth, splashing down off the coast of California at 2:31 a.m. PDT on July 15, aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. Peggy Whitson, former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, and ESA (European Space Agency) project astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland, and Hungarian to Orbit (HUNOR) astronaut Tibor Kapu of Hungary, completed about two and a half weeks in space.

Technicians at Goddard installed solar panels on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope as one of the final steps in assembling the observatory. At this point, the observatory is about 90% complete and currently on track for launch several months earlier than the promised May 2027 date. Once the team finishes assembly, they’ll run it through testing. NASA’s Beaming Energy for Air Mobility team successfully completed a first-of-its-kind power beaming test at NASA Glenn. Later this year, the tested transmitter will be used in a demonstration to wirelessly transmit power using microwaves to a custom power receiver — a step toward gap-filling technology that could one day deliver power on the surface of the Moon or Mars.

As I head back to Kennedy, I promise to continue embracing the challenge and lean into what’s new and unfamiliar. It’s in those moments of discomfort that we grow. My north star – duty, honor, country – has guided me since my days at West Point, and it will continue to guide me in service to this agency and our mission, now with acting Administrator Duffy at the helm.

We have the most inspiring mission in the federal government and the best people to carry it out. Your dedication, your leadership, and your spirit are what make the NASA family so strong and so special.

Thank you for everything.

Embrace the Challenge,

Janet