Kristie Foster, a quality engineer at NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, moved from contractor to civil servant after being hired in June as part of the agency's directive to restore technical core competencies, NASA reported on Sept. 28, 2026. She had supported NASA's work as a contractor from 2008 until the recent hire.

In her role, Foster manages quality assurance and engineering at the rocket propulsion test site, with much of her focus on the High Pressure Gas Facility and the High Pressure Industrial Water Facility. The gas facility distributes gases through a 7-mile pipeline, and the water facility uses a 66-million-gallon reservoir for cooling and sound suppression at the test stands. She also supports safety work during buildup at the Thad Cochran Test Stand (B-2), where Blue Origin is to conduct second-stage hot fire testing of its New Glenn rocket.

Foster, a Poplarville, Mississippi, resident, said her father retired from NASA last year after about 20 years at Stennis. She described Artemis III and IV as work to look forward to, following the successful Artemis II mission last April, and said she wants to see humans return to the Moon.