John Bailey serves as center director of NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, a position he has held since April 2024. In that role, Bailey provides executive leadership, overall direction, and management of the center. He is responsible for implementing NASA’s mission in rocket propulsion testing, and for developing and maintaining NASA’s world-class rocket propulsion test facilities. He also oversees a unique federal city that is home to more than 50 federal, state, academic and private organizations, and numerous technology-based companies.