Nicholas Cummings Email & Phone Number

Hawthorne, California, Us

Lead development of new launch, in space, and interplanetary applications and programs for civil and national security space.

Hawthorne, California, Us

Responsible for the development of new missions and programs for NASA and other civilian space customers. This includes leading SpaceX’s successful new efforts in support of NASA’s Human Landing System and Gateway Logistics Programs, developing new science applications for SpaceX’s satellite technologies, and growing the of the use of Falcon launch vehicles for NASA science missions.

Washington, District Of Columbia, Us

Serve as senior science and space advisor to Commerce Committee Ranking Member Bill Nelson and minority staff lead for the Space, Science, and Competitiveness Subcommittee.Lead policy development for civil space, national security space, commercial space, science, and technology. Review and oversee federal science and civil space agencies including NASA, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Standards and Technology, and White House Office of Science and Technology. Prepare space and science related speeches, press releases, and other official communications for the Senator.

Washington, Dc, Us

Co-led a collaborative and distributed systems engineering team for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development programs, which saved NASA the annual cost of approximately 300 full-time engineers.-Guided and integrated the efforts of approximately thirty teams comprised of several hundred engineers developing systems engineering and integration, mission management, and systems safety products. -Set priorities, established work scope and product definitions, recruited personnel and negotiated for resources, managed deliverables, tracked performance, and coordinated cross-team interdependencies.-Coordinated program lifecycle reviews to identify and resolve issues in integrated technical products. -Ensured appropriate traceability between cross-program technical products and lower level specifications. -Developed and monitored cross-program risks and managed technical integration schedules. Performed executive and program management functions as staff to Ground Systems Development and Operations Program Manager through development, construction, and initial activation of the launch complex. -Contributed to programmatic and organizational strategic planning and management.-Advised the Program Manager on critical technical, programmatic, acquisition, and organizational decisions. -Served as back-up chair for program and cross-program technical review and risk management boards.-Engaged strategically with agency and industry senior executives, members of Congress, and the media.

Washington, District Of Columbia, Us

Advised the Senator on all scientific and technical matters. Drafted speeches, correspondence, press releases, legislation, and policy positions. Prepared hearing materials and provided real time advice and support for the Senator during hearings.

Washington, Dc, Us

-Led a cross-discipline technical team to develop innovative launch site operational approaches and architectures that substantially reduced NASA human exploration costs, improved reliability and availability, advanced U.S. commercial space capabilities, and helped transform Kennedy Space Center into a multi-use spaceport. -Planned and managed schedules and a budget of over $100M for launch processing operations and facilities.-Negotiated and managed support contract task orders and served as program advisor and proposal evaluator for over $1B Kennedy Space Center operations contract acquisition effort.-Authored portions of the program’s systems engineering plan and championed process improvements to develop more effective requirements, technical metrics, operational concepts, and verification plans with considerably reduced overhead.-Recruited and cultivated a team of nationally-recognized experts in operations simulation and design analysis, ultimately achieving dramatic improvements in launch availability, ground processing cost, recurring infrastructure cost, and ground processing and launch timelines, all at minimal additional development cost.-Improved exploration system architectures and designs by developing and allocating operability-focused system requirements and technical performance metrics, embedding operations experts in system design teams, and using operations analysis and simulation tools to provide credible assessments of designs during program reviews and budget planning cycles.-Led customer-focused technical studies with commercial launch providers for use of NASA launch complexes.-Assessed vehicle system needs, pad and integration facility capabilities, and developed solutions to transform Kennedy Space Center’s former Space Shuttle infrastructure into a multi-use spaceport.

Washington, Dc, Us

-Planned and coordinated assembly, testing, anomaly resolution, hazardous fluid servicing, and launch preparations for over 100,000 lbs. of International Space Station (ISS) hardware, as well as for the payloads on a Space Shuttle research mission and a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.-Teamed with ISS and Space Shuttle contractors in a “badge-less” environment and developed extensive experience working in and on human space flight hardware.-Developed assembly, test, and servicing approaches, schedules, resource estimates, and support requirements for several ISS outboard truss segments that had been delivered to the launch site substantially incomplete.-Planned and provided real-time operations coordination and support for flight system testing and hazardous fluid servicing operations under critical schedule constraints.-Coordinated processing, testing, support requirements, and Space Shuttle integration for the payload complements of the STS-109 (Hubble Servicing Mission 3B) and STS-107 (SpaceHab/Freestar) Space Shuttle missions and conducted payload late stow operations at Launch Complex-39 during launch countdown.

Charlotte, North Carolina, Us

Led continuous improvement initiatives at a gas turbine repair and overhaul facility, resulting in considerable improvements in production efficiency, engine turnaround time, and shop layout; achieved Honeywell “Six Sigma Plus Greenbelt” certification.

B.S. Aerospace Engineering, Aerospace, Aeronautical And Astronautical Engineering

Master Of Science (M.S.), Industrial Engineering (Engineering Management Focus)