SpaceCom 2018

Mike Read
Manager, International Space Station National Lab Office
NASA Johnson Space Center


Michael E. Read is the manager of the International Space Station National Lab Office. In this capacity he leads the effort to develop the non-traditional stream of researchers to utilize the International Space Station as a national lab for scientific, technical, and educational purposes, and to seek innovative partnering arrangements to increase the value of the station to the U.S. economy. He participates in the strategic and tactical research planning, facilitates coordination with payload integration and operations, and sponsors all research that is developed by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS). Read is the NASA technical officer for the cooperative agreement with CASIS, the non-profit organization selected to operate the U.S. national lab. Read began his NASA career in 1989 as an analyst in the Space Shuttle Program Control Office, where he was instrumental in implementing unique cost-saving measures under the Rockwell Systems Integration contract. He joined the International Space Station program in 1996, named to be the first business manager for the fledgling Payloads Office. In 1998, he accepted the position of Increment Payloads Manager, responsible for the end-to-end integration and operation of all research investigations scheduled to be flown and operated during a given expedition. In this capacity he was a formal member of the ISS Mission Management Team during real-time operations, serving as the IPM for Increments 0, 4, and 8. In 2005, Read joined the ISS External Integration Office, where he served as the lead negotiator and subject matter expert on all barters and contracts with the Russian space agency Roscosmos, RSC-Energia, and other Russian entities. He planned negotiation and valuation strategies for numerous barters, totaling more than $3 billion in goods and services exchanged between the two agencies, along with many contractual agreements. He continues to serve as subject matter expert on many program-level agreements with Russian entities. Read received a bachelor of science in business administration, with a major in finance, from Kansas State University in 1983, and a master of public administration degree, also with an emphasis in finance, from Wichita State University in 1990.

Sessions :