Engineering alumnus instrumental in NASA Artemis mission
John McCullough has worked at NASA for more than 36 years
Space, rockets and NASA have been a lifelong fascination for John McCullough, a 1989 graduate of the University of Cincinnati.
After watching the moon landing as a child and learning about the engineers that made it possible, his future career took shape. He's been an aerospace engineer and manager at NASA for more than 36 years, playing key roles in many missions including Artemis I and the most recent Artemis II mission to the moon.
John McCullough has spent more than 30 years working at NASA. Photo/Provided
Determined to become an aerospace engineer, McCullough only applied to one school after high school graduation: the University of Cincinnati. The reputation of the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics and the fact Astronaut Neil Armstrong was a former professor made it the only place he wanted to be.
He earned his degree from the College of Engineering and Applied Science and worked for McDonnell Douglas Corp. before moving to NASA, where he has been ever since.
"I remember watching the moon landing and thinking, 'That's what I want to do.' The idea that I've done it — that I've helped put people on the other side of the moon and go farther than they've ever been — is full circle for my career," McCullough said.
His time at NASA has been colored with historic experiences across the agency, including the space shuttle, Hubble Space Telescope, International Space Station and human exploration programs, originally Constellation and now Moon-to-Mars' Artemis Campaign.
It was a childhood dream come true for me; UC's co-op program really made a difference to build relationships, get experience, and have the opportunity to work at NASA
John McCullough, UC alumnus
After many years as a flight controller and flight director, from 2008 to 2012 McCullough served as chief flight director for human space flight for the agency. He was responsible for selecting and assigning flight directors, working with programs, overall certification of operations flight readiness, and participating in astronaut candidate selections. The lead flight director for Artemis I, that flew in 2022, was originally assigned by McCullough.
"I have amazing relationships not only from the work that I've done surrounding Artemis and the other missions, but also because I have been able to mentor and help enable the successful development of many of the people involved," he said. "I am particularly proud of the team we have."
NASA's Orion is the human-rated spacecraft responsible for carrying the crew on Artemis missions. Photo/Provided
Artemis would not be possible without Orion, the spacecraft that has carried and sustained the crew on these missions. For seven years, McCullough led vehicle integration for Orion. It was his responsibility to ensure all of the vehicle requirements were correct, necessary, and traceable, and that the systems were built, tested, and certified to create not only a viable spacecraft, but one that was safe for human occupation as well.
"Human rating a new deep-space vehicle is a unique exploration challenge to Artemis," McCullough said. "Orion was the first in that challenging environment beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo, but human landers, rovers, and lunar habitats are also currently being developed, and they all must work together. If there's an issue on a cargo or robotic flight, it's an issue of mission success, not typically life or death as it is with crewed flights."
With people onboard, the standards and requirements surrounding complex life support, thermal, flight control systems, overall redundancy, vehicle control, aborts, and spacecraft capability are much higher. There are more interfaces as well. For Orion, these standards are the responsibility of the Vehicle Integration Office, which McCullough led during the formative period of spacecraft definition through a 2014 flight test and prep for Artemis I. In this position, he led the charge in getting the vehicle's mass to an acceptable level. To do this, there must be trade-offs in redundancy and risk acceptance, ensuring risk is even across all parts of the vehicle.
McCullough was part of the flight director team for the Artemis II mission. Photo/Provided
While McCullough was in Orion, many of the key decisions leading to the final as-flown design were baselined, including modifications to the inside of the vehicle which maximized crew effectiveness and available space, the addition of external cameras on the solar arrays, and updates to the heat shield to be sure they could safely fly the crew.
"We all feel very close as a team and family when it comes to making sure that our crews are safe, we really take that to heart in everything we do," he said.
This sense of camaraderie has spanned across all of his positions at NASA. As the Johnson Space Center Director of Exploration from 2019 to 2023, his role expanded. He was responsible for six divisions and offices which all supported Artemis and the broader Moon to Mars program. Responsibilities for Artemis included mission-level systems integration support across programs and integrated exploration mission analysis. His area also included the Commercial Lunar Payload System, which lands science and cargo on the lunar surface, the agency orbital debris program, space suit development and research and curation of all NASA lunar samples.
Artemis is one of many missions John McCullough has played a role in during his time at NASA. Photo/Provided
"In my career I have had many outstanding opportunities to contribute to human spaceflight, and I just love it," he said. "It was a childhood dream come true for me; UC's co-op program really made a difference to build relationships, get experience, and have the opportunity to work here at NASA."
Following the successful launch of Artemis II, he shared that plans and hardware for future Artemis missions as well as lunar base are in the works. Exciting times are ahead for future engineers, McCullough says.
McCullough now serves as the deputy associate administrator for Integration in NASA's Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, which oversees all of human exploration for the agency, including Artemis and the Moon base. In this NASA HQ senior management role, he has continued to develop teams, integrate, and enable our human exploration missions.
Read about another UC engineering alumnus' work on NASA's Artemis program. Alex Apyan, an aerospace engineering graduate and former Bearcats' football athlete, works in mission planning and analysis for the Orion program.
Featured image at top: UC engineering alumnus John McCullough played a key role in the Artemis I and Artemis II missions. Photo/Provided
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