NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Director Brian Hughes (at podium) conducts a swearing-in ceremony for NASA’s latest civil servants on Monday, Sept. 21, 2026, inside the Astronauts Memorial Foundation’s Center for Space Education at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. The ceremony featured the swearing-in of employees formerly from the Consolidated Operations, Management, Engineering, and Test (COMET) contract, as well as outside hires, as part of the administrator’s workforce directive to restore technical core competencies within the civil servants ranks.

New NASA civil servants pose for a photograph with NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Director Brian Hughes (front, center) following their swearing-in ceremony on Monday, Sept. 21, 2026, inside the Astronauts Memorial Foundation’s Center for Space Education at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. The ceremony featured the swearing-in of employees formerly from the Consolidated Operations, Management, Engineering, and Test (COMET) contract, as well as outside hires, as part of the administrator’s workforce directive to restore technical core competencies within the civil servants ranks.

NASA’s newest civil servants participate in a swearing-in ceremony on Monday, Sept. 21, 2026, inside the Astronauts Memorial Foundation’s Center for Space Education at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. The ceremony featured the swearing-in of employees formerly from the Consolidated Operations, Management, Engineering, and Test (COMET) contract, as well as outside hires, as part of the administrator’s workforce directive to restore technical core competencies within the civil servants ranks.

NASA’s newest civil servants participate in a swearing-in ceremony on Monday, Sept. 21, 2026, inside the Astronauts Memorial Foundation’s Center for Space Education at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. The ceremony featured the swearing-in of employees formerly from the Consolidated Operations, Management, Engineering, and Test (COMET) contract, as well as outside hires, as part of the administrator’s workforce directive to restore technical core competencies within the civil servants ranks.