Two Former Astronauts, Including Commercial Crew Official, Leave NASA

WASHINGTON — Former astronauts Clayton Anderson and Brent Jett, the latter of whom was deputy program manager for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, have left NASA, the agency announced Feb. 4 in separate press releases.

Jett, a Navy-trained aviator who joined NASA in 1992, had been deputy manager for the Commercial Crew Program since 2010. He left NASA in January, according to his official NASA bio.

Jett flew his fourth and most recent space mission in 2006 aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis’ STS-115 mission. That mission marked the resumption of construction on the international space station, which had been halted after the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003.

Before joining the Commercial Crew Program as deputy program manager, Jett was director of Flight Crew Operations at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. In that capacity, he oversaw the agency’s astronaut selection and training programs.

Anderson, an aeronautical engineer and physicist by training, joined NASA in 1983, according to his official agency bio. He was selected as an astronaut in 1998 and most recently flew in space in 2010 aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on the STS-131 station resupply mission.

Anderson’s first spaceflight was in 2007. He flew to the international space station on the Space Shuttle Atlantis for a 152-day tour as flight engineer and mission scientist for Expedition 15.