NASA has taken a great step to promote gender equality as it has disclosed on Wednesday that it has appointed the first woman to lead the Kennedy Space Center for the first time ever. NASA administrator Bill Nelson revealed that Janet Petro will eventually replace Bob Cabana as the new director of the Kennedy Space Center.
Petro worked as deputy director of Kennedy since 2007 before being appointed acting director in May after Cabana was elevated to NASA’s associate administrator serving directly with Nelson at headquarters in Washington, D.C. Furthermore, it has been disclosed that Petro has started her professional career as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army.
She got her graduation degree in 1981 from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. She did a Bachelor of Science in engineering and was in the second class of West Point graduates to include women. Petro also has a master’s degree of Science in business administration from Boston University’s Metropolitan College.
Additionally, Petro will supervise the center’s spaceport at Kennedy. She will back both commercial customers and NASA’s science and human exploration missions. Nelson also named Vanessa Wyche director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Wyche has worked as the acting director of Johnson since May 3 after Ellen Ochoa retired who was the first Hispanic director of Johnson. Wyche is the first African American woman to lead a NASA center.