Lindley Johnson

Lindley Johnson is assigned to NASA Headquarters Science Mission Directorate, Planetary Science Division, and is NASA’s Planetary Defense Officer Emeritus for the Planetary Defense Coordination Office, tasked with warning and response to any potential impact of Earth by an asteroid or comet.

Prior to NASA he served 23 years of Air Force active duty, obtained the rank of lieutenant colonel and was awarded numerous military honors and decorations while working on a variety of national security space systems.

NASA’s Near-Earth Object Observations program has discovered over 36,000 near-Earth asteroids and comets since Lindley became its manager, over 94% of the total known.  He led the establishment of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office at NASA in January 2016. 

Lindley has received the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal for his work on comet and asteroid missions, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal for his efforts to establish the Planetary Defense Program in the United States and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal for his two decades of dedicated work for the Agency.  Asteroid 5905 (1989 CJ1) is named “Johnson” to recognize Lindley’s efforts in detecting Near Earth Objects