Kelly Fast

Kelly Fast is the Near-Earth Object Observations Program Manager for NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office. She earned her B.S. in Astrophysics from UCLA and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Maryland. She investigated ozone and atmospheric chemistry on Mars, winds on Titan, and the effects on Jupiter’s stratosphere of small body impacts as an astronomer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center before coming to NASA Headquarters in 2011. Dr. Fast previously served as Program Scientist for the MAVEN mission to Mars and she led NASA’s Solar System Observations, Planetary Astronomy and Planetary Atmospheres research programs.

Main-belt asteroid 115434 (2003 TU2) was renamed “Kellyfast” in honor of Dr. Fast’s contributions to planetary science. Known for belting out a song and producing YouTube’s “Hotel Mauna Kea”, she also enjoys Star Trek, Space:1999, crochet, and ham radio, holding Amateur Extra license class callsign N3XUJ.