Speakers 2024

Ms. Janet Karika is a recognized senior leader within the National Security and Civil space communities, who has demonstrated exceptional performance and clear vision in her over 40 year aerospace career. She is a retired member of the NASA Senior Executive Service who recently served as the NASA Chief of Staff. Ms. Karika is a recognized Subject Matter Expert on space policy; space transportation, including launch vehicles and spaceport operations; interagency collaboration; export control; and non-proliferation issues.
As Chief of Staff of NASA, Ms. Karika was responsible for coordinating the management and execution of initiatives, missions, programs, and policies in critical areas of concern for the $25B Agency and ensuring the strategic goals and objectives established by the President and Administrator were achieved. She provided oversight for the Agency’s activities, orchestrating activities of the 10 NASA Centers and their facilities throughout the U.S. She directly interacted with the Executive Office of the President on NASA initiatives, including the resumption of flying American astronauts on American rockets from American soil, the renewed push to return U.S. astronauts to the Moon, the re-establishment of the National Space Council, the creation of the Artemis Accords, and investments in the Nation’s critical space infrastructure.
Ms. Karika most recently served as the NASA Principal Advisor for Space Transportation, where she led the Agency-wide, post-flight Artemis I Lessons Learned Team. She monitored and advised NASA’s space transportation programs to include the Artemis Moon to Mars Program, the Commercial Crew Program, the Launch Services Program, and Cargo Resupply Services. In this role and throughout her time supporting NASA, she spearheaded interagency collaboration with Government space transportation stakeholders to include the National Space Council, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Departments of Commerce, Defense, and State, the U.S. Air Force, Space Force, and Space Command.
Previously, Ms. Karika supported numerous space organizations including the NASA Launch Services Organizations, the Air Force Secretary for Space Acquisition, and the Secretary of Defense’s Space Systems Office. During her Air Force career, she was the Director for Launch Programs for the Air Force Program Executive Office for Space where she oversaw the transition from the Titan II, Delta II, and Titan IV heritage launch programs to the National Security Space Launch (formerly Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV)) Program’s Atlas V and Delta IV programs. She represented the Nation as a Missile Technology Control Regime delegate, was a Thermal Protection Materials Research Scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, commanded a nuclear detection operations center, and developed ICBMs and launch vehicle upper stages.
Ms. Karika holds a B.S. and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis in ultra-high temperature composites used in space systems. She served on the FAA’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) and chaired its Operations Working Group. She is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). She is a member of Women in Aerospace (WIA) and served as their Board of Directors Vice Chairperson.