Melissa Jones head shot

Melissa Jones

NASA Landing and Recovery Director for the Exploration Ground Systems Program

Melissa Jones is the NASA Landing and Recovery Director for the Exploration Ground Systems Program at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Jones is responsible for leading NASA’s efforts for nominal and contingency retrieval of flight crew and crew module hardware worldwide. In this position, she also will lead the Artemis I Recovery Team that will partner with the U.S. Navy to recover the Artemis I Orion crew module from the Pacific Ocean as the NASA Recovery Director.

Latest Planetary Radio Appearances

Artemis 1 Orion capsule comes home, and the best of Planetary Radio

Host Mat Kaplan greets the Orion capsule that has just returned from the Moon, and then presents some of the best of Planetary Radio’s 20 years.

Return to the Moon: Spacesuits and preparing for splashdown in the Pacific

Building the next spacesuit for Moon walkers, and a shipboard update on how the Artemis 1 Orion capsule will be recovered from the Pacific Ocean.

Going to Sea to Sail Through Space: Orion Ocean Recovery Testing

Join Mat Kaplan on a visit to Naval Base San Diego and the USS Anchorage, the amphibious ship that has just completed a round of Orion spacecraft recovery testing and practice.