Bradley Williams
Bradley Williams began his career in aerospace at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, where he served as a Project Manager and Systems Engineer collaborating with faculty and research teams to identify proposal opportunities and develop spaceflight proposals for NASA. He went on to serve as the Director of Civil Space Programs at Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems (now Terran Orbital Corporation, LLAP), a role in which he led the development of project/program management processes that prepared the company for trading on the New York Stock Exchange. While at Tyvak, Bradley led the NASA Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator CubeSats project, which included the TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD) payload achieving a groundbreaking 200 Gigabits per second optical communications downlink. He also provided critical leadership during the design and integration phases of the CAPSTONE mission, a landmark project that continues to operate in cislunar space. Upon joining NASA, Bradley was a vital member of the OSIRIS-Rex Camera Suite (COAMS) team, contributing to both development and launch successes as a member of the systems integration and test team, management team and later as the ALTO lead and primary interface to the spacecraft team. Following the OSIRIS-Rex launch, Bradley served as Deputy Payload Manager on GUSTO, a first of its kind, balloon-borne observatory selected as a Mission of Opportunity out of NASA’s Astrophysics Division. GUSTO completed the longest duration flight from Antarctica on a long duration balloon after its launch in 2023.
In his current position at NASA, Bradley has worked on significant projects such as the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP), the Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS), the HelioSwarm mission and the Solar Cruiser solar sail technology project. He also serves as Senior Program Executive for the NASA Space Weather Program. In 2023, Bradley led the complete overhaul of a mission that was facing intense technical and schedule scrutiny as well as momentous project management challenges at the mission level. He was able to rapidly evaluate performance, identifying gaps and weaknesses in the mission implementation, and established an incremental approach to regaining confidence in the mission development plan. This ultimately resulted in a successful replan and continuation of an Explorers mission, which is on track to launch in 2025. Bradley’s success also enabled the NASA Heliophysics Division to expand its pool of small satellite providers that can and will design, build and integrate spacecraft for exploration of the Sun-Earth connection.
Outside of working hours, Bradley is a member of SSPI and a Senior Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), having served in several leadership positions, including as a leadership council member in the Tuscon section and Orange County section, a Region VI Deputy Director and the Communications Committee Chair in the Young Professionals Group. He served on the Commercial Advisory Board to the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group at the Lunar & Planetary Institute and as a member of the Southern Arizona Leadership Council, and he is currently a Fellow at the Arizona Center for Civic Leadership. Bradley frequently donates his time as a speaker inspiring the next generation to work in space and STEM fields. He gave a TED Talk in 2024 on his path to NASA and finding his place in space at the Indianapolis Children’s Museum, which was attended by hundreds.
