Ken Hale
Mission Assurance Manager
NASA Launch Services Program
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

Kenneth Hale is a Mission Assurance Manager with the NASA Launch Services Program Office at the Kennedy Space Center. As such, he is responsible for assuring mission success through the overall management, planning, technical direction, and insight of Expendable Launch Vehicle safety and quality.

After serving as a cooperative intern, Hale began his career in 1989 with NASA at the Kennedy Space Center. He worked for eight years in the Space Shuttle Engineering directorate, Guidance, Digital and Software Systems division as a software engineer responsible for managing the maintenance and integration of the application software used for real-time control and monitoring of Space Shuttle ground operations including launch. He then served for five years on the Checkout and Launch Control System project as technical lead and supervisor for the Real-Time Control Application software development office. In 1999, he was privileged to receive a Space Flight Awareness Honoree Award. He joined the Safety and Mission Assurance office of the Launch Services Program in December, 2002.

Hale was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky and graduated in 1989 from the University of Louisville with a Bachelor of Engineering Science degree in Engineering Math and Computer Science. He lives in Titusville and enjoys hiking, kayaking, and U.S. military history. He also has been a volunteer with the Florida Audubon Society’s Center for Birds of Prey in Maitland since 1991.