Mark McDonald

Mark McDonald is the current Chief Operating Officer at Lunar Resources, a space industrial company pioneering space manufacturing and off-earth resource extraction.

Prior to this role, he was the Chief Technologist of Civil Space at Lockheed Martin.

His NASA career spanned 32 years, and in August 2019 he was named Chief Architect for the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) at NASA Headquarters. In this role, he provided executive leadership in establishing a long-term vision for STMD investments, with an annual investment value of $1.1 billion.

Mark McDonald was the international formulation team lead for the Gateway Lunar Architecture from 2012 through 2018. Previously, Mark McDonald served in many managerial roles at Johnson Space Center including Deputy Manager of the Design Integration Office in the Constellation program, the Branch Chief of the Avionics Systems Division’s Product Development Branch, the deputy manager of Avionics Project Management Office, and Chairman of the International Space Station Architecture Integration Team. Mark McDonald began his NASA career in 1987 as an electrical engineer at Jet Propulsion Laboratory and transferred to Johnson Space Center in 1990.

Mark McDonald has a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Texas A&M University and a Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Southern California. He has received numerous NASA awards and honors including a 2013 NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal, a 2004 Silver Snoopy Award and 2000 & 2001 Space Flight Awareness Awards.