Mary Lawrence was recently named Director of the Commercial Crew Office within the Low Earth Orbit Program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. In this role, she leads NASA’s partnerships with private industry to ensure safe, reliable, and cost effective astronaut transportation to and from the International Space Station, overseeing program strategy, certification, safety, budgeting, and mission readiness across NASA’s commercial crew missions. Previously, Lawrence managed the International Space Station Vehicle Office, guiding sustaining engineering, logistics, and program management efforts that maintain and upgrade station hardware and systems to support astronaut safety and on orbit science. From 2015 to 2021, she was one of approximately 30 NASA Flight Directors, responsible for directing operations for all human spaceflight programs from Mission Control. She led teams across the globe through cargo missions, software upgrades, and the station’s complex battery replacement project involving coordinated robotics operations and two spacewalks. In 2018, she received the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal for her exemplary service as lead Flight Director for Expedition 54. A native of Wattsburg, Pennsylvania, Lawrence earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Penn State Behrend in 2001, where she was a member of the women’s volleyball team and the first-ever women’s water polo team. She was inducted into the Penn State Behrend Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010 and received the Penn State Behrend Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award in 2023. Lawrence lives in League City, Texas, with her husband Andrew, also a Penn State alumnus, and their two children.