Kelly Fast

Kelly Fast

Acting Planetary Defense Officer and Near-Earth Object Observations Program Manager

Kelly Fast is the Acting Planetary Defense Officer and 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.

Planetary defense coordination office team

Lindley Johnson

Planetary Defense Officer

Kelly Fast

Program Manager

Doris Daou

Strategic and Professional Communications

Michael Kelley

Program Scientist

Thomas Statler

Program Scientist

Andrea Riley

Program Executive

Leviticus Lewis

FEMA Detailee

William Knopf

Program Executive

Joshua Handal

Program Analyst

Linda Billings

Consultant

Patricia Talbert

Multimedia Specialist