Brian Hughes Returns to NASA in Charge of Kennedy and Wallops Launch Operations

Brian Hughes, who headed the Florida arm of President Trump’s 2024 campaign and served as NASA Chief of Staff for several months last year, is returning to the agency to oversee NASA’s launch operations at Kennedy Space Center in Florida and Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

NASA told SpacePolicyOnline.com that Hughes will not be Center Director of either Kennedy or Wallops, but will have direct responsibility for launch operations at both sites, reporting to NASA Headquarters. NASA’s press release identifies him as “senior director of launch operations.”

Janet Petro retired as Kennedy Center Director last week and her Deputy, Kelvin Manning, is Acting Center Director. David Pierce is Director of Wallops.

Hughes does not have an aerospace background, but instead a long history in Florida politics. He was Chief of Staff to the Mayor of Jacksonville, FL and CEO of the Downtown Investment Authority before becoming chief administrative officer for the City of Jacksonville. In 2023, he joined President Trump’s Florida campaign team as a senior advisor and Florida Campaign Director, working with Susie Wiles, now White House Chief of Staff. He was the White House Deputy National Security Advisor for Communications until he was appointed as NASA Chief of Staff on May 27, 2025.

He served in that position for six months as Petro, then Acting NASA Administrator, returned to KSC and Sean Duffy, Secretary of Transportation, took over as Acting Administrator. After Jared Isaacman was confirmed as Administrator in December, Hughes left NASA to join Mercury LLC, a public affairs firm. In a post on LinkedIn, he said working at NASA was a “lifelong dream” and the agency “is entering an exciting new era under Jared and President Trump.”

Now he’s decided to return. Isaacman said Hughes “brings a unique combination of operational expertise, strategic leadership, and public service experience at the highest levels of government. His track record leading complex organizations and executing high-stakes missions makes him exceptionally well-suited to help shape the future of NASA’s launch operations as we accelerate into a new era of exploration and innovation.”

NASA’s nine civil service centers — Ames, Armstrong, Glenn, Goddard, Johnson, Kennedy, Langley, Marshall, and Stennis — historically are led by government Senior Executive Service (SES) Executive Position Managers designated Center Directors, not political appointees. NASA did not immediately reply to a query as to whether a new SES Center Director also will be named.