Lt. Gen. James was the Air Force deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance in Washington before retiring from active duty and coming to JPL. Earlier in his career, he trained as an Air Force payload specialist for the Space Shuttle Program. James also served as vice commander of the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center in Los Angeles and as commander of the 14th Air Force at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, where he was responsible for all Department of Defense satellite and launch systems.

“I’ve been a space enthusiast from an early age, so it’s been a privilege to have been part of JPL,” said James. “Although my time here is done, I’m eager to see the full manifest of missions and projects that we’ve been working on come to fruition, and I know Leslie will thrive in her new role. As for me, I’ll be taking a new position in Australia to help build their space capabilities and continue to strengthen the U.S.-Australia partnership.”

A division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL began in 1936, going on to build and help launch America’s first satellite, Explorer 1, in 1958. By the end of that year, Congress established NASA, and JPL became a part of the agency. Since then, JPL has managed such historic missions as Voyager, Galileo, Cassini, the Mars Exploration Rover program, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, and many more.