{"id":37989,"date":"2021-01-04T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-04T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?migration=converted-node-467336"},"modified":"2024-03-07T10:47:18","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T15:47:18","slug":"chief-of-safety-and-mission-assurance-w-russ-deloach","status":"publish","type":"people","link":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/people\/chief-of-safety-and-mission-assurance-w-russ-deloach\/","title":{"rendered":"W. Russ DeLoach"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-bio-intro maxw-full width-full padding-y-6 padding-x-3 hds-module hds-module-full wp-block-nasa-blocks-bio-intro\">\n\t<div class=\"hds-bio-intro-container grid-row grid-container grid-container-block padding-0\">\n\t\t<div class=\"grid-col-4 desktop:grid-col-3\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"hds-bio-thumbnail width-10 tablet:width-card desktop:width-card-lg\">\n\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"hds-media-background  \"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"479\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/deloach_portrait_1041x1300_cropped.jpg?w=640\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large\" alt=\"Russ DeLoach\" style=\"transform: scale(1); transform-origin: 63% 23%; object-position: 63% 23%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/deloach_portrait_1041x1300_cropped.jpg 1028w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/deloach_portrait_1041x1300_cropped.jpg?resize=300,224 300w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/deloach_portrait_1041x1300_cropped.jpg?resize=768,575 768w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/deloach_portrait_1041x1300_cropped.jpg?resize=1024,766 1024w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/deloach_portrait_1041x1300_cropped.jpg?resize=400,299 400w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/deloach_portrait_1041x1300_cropped.jpg?resize=600,449 600w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/deloach_portrait_1041x1300_cropped.jpg?resize=900,673 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" loading=\"eager\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"grid-col-7 desktop:grid-col-9 grid-row margin-0 padding-0\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"grid-col-12 desktop:grid-col-8 margin-bottom-2 desktop:margin-bottom-0\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"margin-bottom-1 desktop:margin-bottom-2\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"display-60 display-block width-full\">W. Russ DeLoach<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"p-lg padding-0 margin-0 color-carbon-60\">Chief of Safety and Mission Assurance<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"grid-col-12 desktop:grid-col-4\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n<p>W. Russ DeLoach is NASA\u2019s chief of safety and mission assurance (SMA). Appointed to this role in January 2021, DeLoach is responsible for the development, implementation, and oversight of SMA policies and procedures for all NASA programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prior to this assignment, DeLoach served as the SMA director at NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center, where he led a dedicated team of experts in assuring workforce safety and collaborating on smart solutions to human spaceflight risks since February 2019. His team worked to identify, characterize, mitigate, and communicate risk to accomplish safe and successful human space exploration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He previously held the same role at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center, where he was responsible for the planning and execution of center and program activities. In this capacity, he developed transformative SMA approaches to enable the success of Kennedy as the world\u2019s premier multi-use spaceport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>DeLoach began his NASA career in 1987, on assignment as an intern in the Army Material Command\u2019s Quality and Reliability Engineering training program. Returning to Kennedy, he conducted Reliability and System Safety analyses, as well as technical reviews and assessments of integrated ground systems, equipment, and operations for the Space Shuttle and International Space Station programs. In 2000, he was selected as the SMA branch chief within the Shuttle Processing Directorate, providing surveillance of space shuttle ground operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As his career progressed, he served as the shuttle processing mission assurance manager supporting ground processing, launch, and landing. In 2006, DeLoach stood up the SMA Support Office for the emerging Constellation Program and later oversaw the transition of Constellation efforts to support Orion and the Space Launch System. After the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011, he was instrumental in the transformation of Kennedy to a thriving multi-user spaceport, developing an approach to enable public-private partnerships in a manner that maintains an acceptable risk posture for NASA, while allowing flexibility and innovation for commercial interests. He became Kennedy\u2019s deputy director of SMA in 2012 and then SMA director in 2014. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>DeLoach holds a bachelor\u2019s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Florida in Gainesville. He is married to Janice, a retired educator, and they have three grown children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>W. Russ DeLoach is NASA\u2019s chief of safety and mission assurance (SMA). Appointed to this role in January 2021, DeLoach is responsible for the development, implementation, and oversight of SMA policies and procedures for all NASA programs. Prior to this assignment, DeLoach served as the SMA director at NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center, where he led [...]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":219,"featured_media":34653,"template":"","meta":{"nasa_hds_core_meta_l10n":"en-US","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_editor":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_contacts":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_topic":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_linked_locations":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_related_articles":[],"hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_id":"","hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_type":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_x":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_y":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_gallery_images":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_people_facebook_url":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_people_twitter_url":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_people_instagram_url":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_people_linkedin_url":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_people_title":"Chief of Safety and Mission Assurance"},"categories":[2883,2668],"news-tags":[],"internal-terms":[],"coauthors":[10473],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"WebPage","headline":"W. 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