Mr. Barney is currently the Director of the Safety and Mission Assurance at the Goddard Space Flight Center. He is responsible for the safety of over 10,000 people, 100% success for space and earth science missions totaling over $5B, engineering workforce technical development and assuring a diverse and inclusive culture.
Throughout his 35 career at NASA, Mr. Barney has led mission and instrument teams from around the world in the development of new technologies and state-of-the-art space flight hardware and software. Specifically, he developed several new science instruments flown aboard NASA Space and Earth science missions such as the Cosmic Background Explorer, Broad Band X-Ray Telescope, Cassini-Huygens, Spitzer Telescope, Astro-E, Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite, Hubble Space Telescope, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Aquarius mission.
Mr. Barney received a bachelor's degree in Aerospace and Ocean Engineering from Virginia Tech in 1986 while participating in the Cooperative Education program with NASA. He also earned a masters degree in Engineering Management from George Washington University in 1992.
Rich holds two US Patents and has been honored with several awards including two NASA Outstanding Leadership Medals.
