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Release: 01-335

Uniting business, technology, and education
Sandra C. Coleman named chief operating officer at National Space Science and Technology Center

Proof that business, technology, and education are a winning combination, Sandra C. Coleman has been named chief operating officer at the National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC) in Huntsville, Ala. and selected for government Senior Executive Service.

In this role, she will be responsible for strategic planning and facility operations at the NSSTC.  Opened in 2000, the NSSTC unites government, industry and academia to further science and engineering research.

A collaboration that enables scientists, engineers and educators to share research and facilities, it a partnership with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama universities and federal agencies.  It focuses on research space science, Earth sciences, information technology, optics and energy technology, propulsion, biotechnology and materials science.

“Education is key to upward mobility,” says Coleman, who graduated from college after more than 15 years in the workforce.  While employed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, she earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s degree in engineering — a combination that offers Coleman a unique perspective on the NSSTC’s mission of uniting different groups toward common goals.

“From a business standpoint, we must make sure everyone meets their objectives,” she said.  “And from an engineering perspective, we need to look at new ways to enhance the research and research processes.  Leveraging our resources enables us to bring the best team together, creating a win-win for everyone.”

On special assignment to Marshall’s Science Directorate, Coleman has spent the last two years managing NSSTC operations during its critical start-up period.  In this role, she led development of the NSSTC’s business plan, long-range strategic plan, and plans to purchase, renovate, and move into the center’s core facility at 320 Sparkman Drive in Huntsville.  At full capacity, the NSSTC will top 200,000 square-feet (18,580 square-meters) and house approximately 550 people.

Her appointment to chief operating officer at the NSSTC is in conjunction with her promotion to the level of Senior Executive Service at the Marshall Center.  The Senior Executive Service is the personnel system that covers most of the top managerial, supervisory, and policy positions in the executive branch of the federal government.

Coleman joined NASA in 1965, working in Marshall’s Saturn program office, supporting the effort that launched Americans to the Moon.  In 1969, she became a member of the Space Shuttle Task Team and served in three of the four main project offices — External Tank Project, Solid Rocket Booster Project and Reusable Solid Rocket Motor Project (RSRM). 

In the Shuttle Projects Office, she served as business manager, assistant project manager and deputy project manager of the RSRM office.  In this role, Coleman became the first woman from Marshall to monitor and verify flight-readiness for a Space Shuttle launch from the Main Firing Room “hot seat.”  In 1997, she was appointed deputy chief financial officer for resources at the Marshall Center.

Formerly Sandra Cooley, Coleman earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and her master’s degree in industrial engineering

from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa – a degree that resulted from Coleman being one of the first women selected for Marshall’s highly competitive full-time graduate study program.

She has received numerous awards, including NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal, Exceptional Service Medal and the Silver Snoopy, awarded by astronauts to recognize outstanding contributions to human space flight missions.  A resident of Arab, Ala., she and her late husband of 34 years, Loyd Coleman, are the parents of one married daughter, Christy, and two grandchildren, Emily and Hannah.