Nicholas G. Chrissotimos
Associate Director of Flight Projects
Mr. Chrissotimos has 32 years of project/program management experience at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). He is currently the Associate Director of Flight Projects for Heliophysics where he is the Program Manager for Explorers, Living with a Star and Solar Terrestrial Probes.
Mr. Chrissotimos joined GSFC full-time in 1974 after receiving a BSEE from Pratt Institute. He also has a MSEE from the University of Maryland. He first developed Ground Systems hardware for the NASA STDN tracking stations. Then designed and developed spaceflight hardware while supporting flight projects including, LANDSAT, SARSAT, SEASAT and COBE.
He served on the TDRS Project for eight years as Payload Manager, Spacecraft Manager, and Assistant Project Manager leading to the successful development and launches of TDRS 3 - 7. He later served as the TDRS H,I,J SEB Chairman.
He also has served as the Deputy Project Manager on the EOS Chemistry and Special Flights Project, and as the Earth Systems Science Pathfinder (ESSP) Project Manager where he led the definition, development and implementation of the ESSP program. He then served as the Earth Explorers Program Manager where he managed the development, launch and operations of ESSP and Earth Explorer missions; QuickScat, GRACE, SORCE, QuikTOMS, CALIPSO and CloudSat.
In 2003 Mr. Chrissotimos was appointed as the STEREO Project Manager where he led the project to a successful launch in October 2006. In addition, at that time he was serving as the Deputy Program Manager for the Sun Earth Connection Programs where he was the Living With a Star (LWS) Program Manager responsible for the SDO and Geospace missions.
He recently served as the Associate Director of Flight Projects for the Exploration and Space Communications Projects Division. There he was responsible for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Project, TDRS Project, Space Network and Ground Network Projects and GSFC Constellation Program support.
Mr. Chrissotimos is a recipient of the Meritorious Presidential Rank Award, the NASA Medal for Outstanding Leadership, and Goddard's Exceptional Achievement Award.
Mark Goans
Deputy Program Manager for Explorers
Mr. Goans serves as the Deputy Program Manager for the Explorers Program providing programmatic guidance and institutional support to a variety of Heliophysics and Astrophysics projects and missions. Prior to his move into this position and starting in 2010, he served as the Deputy Program Manager for Strategic Projects within the Explorers and Heliophysics Projects Division, responsible for projects such as Parker Solar Probe (PSP), Van Allen Probes, and the Heliophysics Environmental and Radiation Experiment Suite (HERMES) to be flown on the Artemis Gateway.
Mark joined the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in 1983 providing flight systems support to the Sounding Rocket Division. Later reorganized to the Special Payloads Division, he served as engineering lead and technical manager responsible for the development, flight implementation, and maintenance of reusable Shuttle-attached payload carrier hardware and Shuttle interface hardware for free-flyer spacecraft used by the Get Away Special (GAS), Hitchhiker, and Spartan programs.
From 1988 to 2001, he was employed in the private sector providing engineering and management services to the aerospace industry with expertise in spacecraft systems architecture and engineering trade studies; flight structures and mechanisms design and analysis; and project/engineering management application systems and services.
Returning to NASA in 2001 within Systems Review Office of the Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate, he was responsible for managing and chairing independent review teams for the conduct of technical and programmatic assessments of spacecraft and instrument systems developed for scientific research and operational purposes. Soon appointed Office Chief, Mark supervised a multidiscipline staff responsible for conducting milestone reviews that encompassed products from in-house developers, other NASA Centers, private industry and universities, and foreign governments working under cooperative international agreements.
He has served as the Standing Review Board Chair for the Aquarius project, Soil Moisture Active-Passive (SMAP) project, NASA Jupiter Icy moons Explorer (JUICE) project and the Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) Pathfinder project. He also served as the Deputy Chair for the Libera project Standing Review Board.
Mark holds a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the West Virginia University and a Master's Degree in Engineering Administration from the George Washington University.
Christine Hinkle
Program Business Manager, Explorers Program
Ms. Christine Hinkle is the Explorers Program Business Manager in the Explorers and Heliophysics Projects Division (EHPD). Christine joined the EHPD in December of 2009, as the Deputy Program Business Manager for Explorers, supporting the IRIS, NuSTAR, SAM, Astro-H, and GEMS missions. In March of 2011, she moved to the position of Program Business Manager, currently supporting the GOLD, TESS, ICON, IXPE, XRISM, and GUSTO missions.
Before joining the EHPD, Christine supported the Exploration and Space Communications Division, for over 20 years in various business leadership roles in several projects and offices, including the Near Earth Network Project, Space Network Project, Technology and Standards, the Guam Remote Ground Terminal Project, and the Second TDRSS Ground Terminal Project.
Christine has a Bachelor of Science degree from University of Maryland, University College.
Bob Jenkens
Deputy Program Technical Manager
Coming Soon!
