Full Name
Lisa Watson-Morgan
Job Title
Human Landing System Program Manager
Company (Please input the full name of your organization)
Marshall Space Flight Center, AL
Speaker Bio
Lisa Watson-Morgan is program manager of the NASA Human Landing System Program at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
Appointed to the position in July 2019, she oversees the integrated lunar landing systems, to include vehicles and systems that will transport astronauts to the Moon’s south pole. Working with U.S. industry, her agency-wide team will deliver a sustainable landing system to ferry crew to and from the lunar surface. The landing system is a key element of NASA’s bold new Artemis Program, which will leverage NASA’s Space Launch System and Orion crew spacecraft with the goal to return explorers to the Moon by 2024, and, via the lunar Gateway orbital platform, enable a long-term human presence there, reigniting America’s leadership in crewed exploration of the solar system and taking the next giant leap toward human exploration of Mars.
Watson-Morgan previously was deputy director of Marshall’s Engineering Directorate from 2018 to 2019, helping oversee an organization of more than 2,300 civil service and contractor personnel supporting development, testing and delivery of flight hardware and software associated with space transportation and spacecraft systems, science instruments and payloads under development at Marshall. She joined NASA in 1989 and has supported and led a variety of NASA programs and projects, including serving as manager of Marshall’s Chief Engineer’s office from 2011 to 2013 and director of the Spacecraft and Vehicle Systems Department from 2015 to 2018. She was appointed in 2013 to the Senior Executive Service, the personnel system covering top managerial positions in federal agencies.
A native of Huntsville, Watson-Morgan graduated from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville with a master’s degree in industrial and systems engineering in 1994 and a doctorate in engineering management in 2008. She has received numerous NASA awards, including the Exceptional Service Medal in 2001, Exceptional Achievement Medal in 2010 and a Meritorious Presidential Rank Award in 2018. Watson-Morgan and her husband live in Huntsville and have three children.
Appointed to the position in July 2019, she oversees the integrated lunar landing systems, to include vehicles and systems that will transport astronauts to the Moon’s south pole. Working with U.S. industry, her agency-wide team will deliver a sustainable landing system to ferry crew to and from the lunar surface. The landing system is a key element of NASA’s bold new Artemis Program, which will leverage NASA’s Space Launch System and Orion crew spacecraft with the goal to return explorers to the Moon by 2024, and, via the lunar Gateway orbital platform, enable a long-term human presence there, reigniting America’s leadership in crewed exploration of the solar system and taking the next giant leap toward human exploration of Mars.
Watson-Morgan previously was deputy director of Marshall’s Engineering Directorate from 2018 to 2019, helping oversee an organization of more than 2,300 civil service and contractor personnel supporting development, testing and delivery of flight hardware and software associated with space transportation and spacecraft systems, science instruments and payloads under development at Marshall. She joined NASA in 1989 and has supported and led a variety of NASA programs and projects, including serving as manager of Marshall’s Chief Engineer’s office from 2011 to 2013 and director of the Spacecraft and Vehicle Systems Department from 2015 to 2018. She was appointed in 2013 to the Senior Executive Service, the personnel system covering top managerial positions in federal agencies.
A native of Huntsville, Watson-Morgan graduated from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville with a master’s degree in industrial and systems engineering in 1994 and a doctorate in engineering management in 2008. She has received numerous NASA awards, including the Exceptional Service Medal in 2001, Exceptional Achievement Medal in 2010 and a Meritorious Presidential Rank Award in 2018. Watson-Morgan and her husband live in Huntsville and have three children.
