Dr. Sandra Magnus

Dr. Sandra H. “Sandy” Magnus most recently served as the Chief Engineer for the Traffic Coordination System for Space in the Office of Space Commerce in the Department of Commerce working to establish a civil space traffic coordination system. She is also affiliated with the Georgia Institute of Technology as part time of Professor of the Practice. Dr. Magnus retired from federal service as the Deputy Director of Engineering in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for the Undersecretary of Research and Engineering.

Prior to joining the DoD, she served as the Executive Director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the world’s largest technical society dedicated to the global aerospace profession. Selected to the NASA Astronaut Corps in April 1996, Dr. Magnus flew in space on the STS-112 shuttle mission in 2002, and on the final shuttle flight, STS-135, in 2011. In addition, she flew to the International Space Station on STS-126 in November 2008, served as flight engineer and science officer on Expedition 18, and returned home on STS-119 after four and a half months on board. She has extensive experience working with the global space community.