Josh Handal

Josh Handal is an Executive Officer for NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office at NASA Headquarters in Washington. In his role, he works closely with the Acting Planetary Defense Officer to oversee the diverse and multidisciplinary portfolio NASA utilizes to find, track, and better understand asteroids and comets that could pose an impact risk to Earth. Previously, he served as a NASA Public Affairs Officer and led strategic communications for various NASA missions, including for the agency’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission. He earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Virginia.