Dr. George C. Nield is a senior aerospace executive who traveled to space on the fourth human flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket. Dr. Nield now serves as President of Commercial Space Technologies, LLC, the company he founded to encourage, facilitate, and promote commercial space activity.

Dr. Nield previously led the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation as Associate Administrator from 2008 to 2018, where he was responsible for licensing and regulating all launches and re-entries conducted by U.S. industry, while championing a safe and innovative commercial‐space ecosystem.

Prior to the FAA, Dr. Nield was Senior Scientist for the Advanced Programs Group at Orbital Sciences Corporation and earlier, Manager of the Flight Integration Office for NASA’s Space Shuttle Program at the Johnson Space Center. His career has also included assignments as an astronautical engineer with the Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Organization, a flight-test engineer at Edwards AFB, and an assistant professor and research director at the U.S. Air Force Academy; he later supported both the Shuttle-Mir and International Space Station programs.

A graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Dr. Nield holds an M.S. and Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from The George Washington University. He is a Flight Test Engineering graduate of the USAF Test Pilot School, a registered Professional Engineer, and a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.  He also served two terms as a member of NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel.

As we transition from a time in which almost everything that happened in space was done by governments, to a time in which private industry is playing an increasingly important role, The Hague Institute for Global Justice’s Off-World Approach reminds us of the importance of norms of behavior and the tremendous potential of international collaboration.

– Dr. George Nield

Dr. Nield is on the Council of The Off-World Approach.