Full Name
Michael L. Sarafin
Job Title
Artemis Mission Manager
Company
NASA
Speaker Bio
PERSONAL DATA: Michael Sarafin was born in 1972 in Herkimer, N.Y., and graduated from Richfield Springs Central School in upstate New York in 1990. He considers Richfield Springs, NY his home town and currently resides in Washington, DC with his wife, Angela.
EDUCATION: Sarafin received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering from Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y. in 1994.
EXPERIENCE: Mr. Sarafin currently serves as the Artemis Mission Manager at NASA Headquarters. In this role he serves as the Mission Management Team (MMT) chairman for uncrewed and human spaceflight missions involving the Artemis program comprised of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, Orion spacecraft and launching from the ground systems at the Kennedy Space Center.
Prior to assuming his current role, he served as one of eighty-seven individuals who have led human spaceflight operations as a NASA Flight Director. In that role he accumulated a decade of experience as a Flight Director with overall responsibility for safety and success of assigned Space Shuttle, International Space Station (ISS) and Orion flight test mission operations from within Mission Control, located in Houston, TX.
Experience to date totals sixty-four (64) human spaceflight missions including forty-three (43) Space Shuttle missions, twenty (20) International Space Station (ISS) Expeditions of American, Canadian, European, Japanese and Russian astronauts and cosmonauts and one (1) Orion uncrewed flight test. Thirty-three (33) of those missions were supported as a Flight Director (12 Space Shuttle, 20 International Space Station, 1 Orion) and Thirty-one (31) of those missions were supported as a Space Shuttle Guidance, Navigation and Flight Control officer (call-sign “GNC”) mission controller. During those missions he executed launch, landing, rendezvous and docking operations of the Space Shuttle with the former Russian Space Station Mir and the present day International Space Station. He also led flight testing of the uncrewed Orion spacecraft onboard a Delta-IV Heavy rocket, conducted assembly and repair operations of the ISS, servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), deployment and recovery of unmanned satellites and enabled missions dedicated to science and human research.
Mr. Sarafin is presently tasked as the Mission Manager for the impending Artemis missions to return to the moon. Artemis I will serve as the maiden flight test of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with an uncrewed Orion spacecraft flying into proving grounds about the moon. As the MMT chair for Artemis I, he serves as the launch decision authority giving the final “GO” to proceed with launch, providing risk acceptance at the agency level and oversight of mission operations across all flight phases (launch, in-space and recovery) and has requirements change authority. In his current and previous role as Flight Director he represents the United States government and NASA’s human spaceflight programs and partnerships around the globe during mission operations. Prior to mission execution he serves as a senior technical leader that integrates mission requirements, mission planning, operations and flight readiness leading to mission execution.
Additionally, Mr. Sarafin completed a one year rotational assignment at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC in 2011 as a program analyst. He also supported the Space Shuttle Columbia Accident Investigation and Recovery effort by performing parallel vehicle recovery and flight reconstruction accident investigation activities.
SPECIAL HONORS:
• Two (2) NASA Outstanding Leadership Medals, 2007, 2014
• Three (3) NASA Exceptional Service Medals, 2008, 2009, 2010
• NASA 25-Year Civil Service Award, 2018
• Woodstock Award, Clarkson University, 2014
• NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal, 2005
• Mission Control Plaque Hanging Honors for support of STS-111 Space Shuttle mission, 2002
• Astronaut’s Personal Achievement Award (Silver Snoopy), 2000
EDUCATION: Sarafin received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering from Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y. in 1994.
EXPERIENCE: Mr. Sarafin currently serves as the Artemis Mission Manager at NASA Headquarters. In this role he serves as the Mission Management Team (MMT) chairman for uncrewed and human spaceflight missions involving the Artemis program comprised of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, Orion spacecraft and launching from the ground systems at the Kennedy Space Center.
Prior to assuming his current role, he served as one of eighty-seven individuals who have led human spaceflight operations as a NASA Flight Director. In that role he accumulated a decade of experience as a Flight Director with overall responsibility for safety and success of assigned Space Shuttle, International Space Station (ISS) and Orion flight test mission operations from within Mission Control, located in Houston, TX.
Experience to date totals sixty-four (64) human spaceflight missions including forty-three (43) Space Shuttle missions, twenty (20) International Space Station (ISS) Expeditions of American, Canadian, European, Japanese and Russian astronauts and cosmonauts and one (1) Orion uncrewed flight test. Thirty-three (33) of those missions were supported as a Flight Director (12 Space Shuttle, 20 International Space Station, 1 Orion) and Thirty-one (31) of those missions were supported as a Space Shuttle Guidance, Navigation and Flight Control officer (call-sign “GNC”) mission controller. During those missions he executed launch, landing, rendezvous and docking operations of the Space Shuttle with the former Russian Space Station Mir and the present day International Space Station. He also led flight testing of the uncrewed Orion spacecraft onboard a Delta-IV Heavy rocket, conducted assembly and repair operations of the ISS, servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), deployment and recovery of unmanned satellites and enabled missions dedicated to science and human research.
Mr. Sarafin is presently tasked as the Mission Manager for the impending Artemis missions to return to the moon. Artemis I will serve as the maiden flight test of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with an uncrewed Orion spacecraft flying into proving grounds about the moon. As the MMT chair for Artemis I, he serves as the launch decision authority giving the final “GO” to proceed with launch, providing risk acceptance at the agency level and oversight of mission operations across all flight phases (launch, in-space and recovery) and has requirements change authority. In his current and previous role as Flight Director he represents the United States government and NASA’s human spaceflight programs and partnerships around the globe during mission operations. Prior to mission execution he serves as a senior technical leader that integrates mission requirements, mission planning, operations and flight readiness leading to mission execution.
Additionally, Mr. Sarafin completed a one year rotational assignment at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC in 2011 as a program analyst. He also supported the Space Shuttle Columbia Accident Investigation and Recovery effort by performing parallel vehicle recovery and flight reconstruction accident investigation activities.
SPECIAL HONORS:
• Two (2) NASA Outstanding Leadership Medals, 2007, 2014
• Three (3) NASA Exceptional Service Medals, 2008, 2009, 2010
• NASA 25-Year Civil Service Award, 2018
• Woodstock Award, Clarkson University, 2014
• NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal, 2005
• Mission Control Plaque Hanging Honors for support of STS-111 Space Shuttle mission, 2002
• Astronaut’s Personal Achievement Award (Silver Snoopy), 2000
