Dina Contella, Deputy Manager, NASA’s International Space Station Program

Dina Contella is presently serving as the International Space Station deputy program manager. Contella shares responsibility with the International Space Station program manager for the day-to-day management, development, integration, and operation of the International Space Station.  

Prior to her role as the deputy program manager, Contella served as the International Space Station program operations integration manager. In this role, she was the chair of the International Space Station Mission Management Team and responsible for all aspects of the execution of the flight program and real-time mission for the space station, including final authority for decisions that exceeded the authority of the Mission Control flight control teams.

Contella has served in various roles for NASA’s space shuttle, Artemis, and International Space Station programs over the course of her career. She served as the operations integration and utilization manager in NASA’s Gateway Program and as the Advanced Exploration Systems lead for utilization and logistics across multiple Artemis programs. Prior to this assignment, Contella was on rotation to the International Space Station program to lead an industry study effort to further NASA’s understanding of low Earth orbit commercialization.

Contella was a flight director in the Flight Operations Directorate for nine years, leading many significant operations and missions, including serving as the lead flight director for two International Space Station Expeditions and successfully leading a large effort to recover an external space station thermal loop after a significant failure. She worked hundreds of shifts in Mission Control as a flight director during International Space Station assembly and continued operations.

Prior to becoming a flight director, she was an Extravehicular Activity (EVA), space shuttle, and International Space Station flight controller/instructor and later became the EVA Task Group lead. During her time in EVA, she led nine International Space Station assembly EVAs and was an EVA liaison to Russia. Prior to this, she was an astronaut instructor for the space shuttle’s navigation and computer systems.

In addition to many other awards over her career, Ms. Contella has earned an Outstanding Leadership Medal, three NASA Exceptional Service Medals, a Silver Achievement Medal, a Space Flight Awareness Award, and a Silver Snoopy.

Contella holds a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Texas A&M University.