Kent Rominger was elected to The Aerospace Corporation’s Board of Trustees on March 11, 2026, bringing decades of experience as a former space industry executive, a NASA astronaut, and a U.S. Navy veteran. Rominger retired in 2022 from Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems having held numerous positions—including vice president of Strategic Programs, responsible for the Navy’s Fleet Ballistic Missile Program, the United States Air Force’s Ground Based Strategic Deterrent pursuit, and Minuteman II Sustainment. Other roles include director of Missile Programs and vice president and capture lead for the OmegA launch system. Rominger joined Northrop Grumman in 2006 as vice president of Advanced Programs.
Previously, Rominger was vice president of Strategy and Business Development at Orbital ATK and before that, vice president of Orbital’s Test and Research Operations within its Propulsion Systems Division. At ATK, he served as vice president of Advanced Programs.
Prior to that, Rominger’s varied experience includes distinguished careers with NASA and the United States Navy. Selected as a NASA astronaut in 1992, Rominger is a veteran of five space shuttle flights, including two serving as mission commander. After logging more than 1,600 hours and traveling nearly 27 million miles in space, Rominger’s NASA career culminated in his role as chief of the Astronaut Office at Johnson Space Center.
Rominger began his 26-year career with the U.S. Navy in 1979 as a commissioned naval officer, serving as an F-14 Tomcat pilot with fighter squadrons VF-2 and VF-211 and as a Navy test pilot. While with VF-211, he completed a deployment to the Arabian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm. He has logged more than 8,500 flying hours in 35 different types of aircraft and has completed nearly 700 carrier landings.
Rominger has received numerous awards in recognition of his exemplary service and skills, including the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal. A distinguished graduate of the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School (Top Gun) and the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, Rominger was named Naval Air Test Center Test Pilot of the Year (1988) and received the Society of Experimental Test Pilots Ray E. Tenhoff Award. He was nominated and inducted into the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame and the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame. He is a member of the Association of Space Explorers, the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Association of Naval Aviation, The Mars Generation, and the Chi Epsilon Civil Engineering Society. Rominger is a member of NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel.
Rominger received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Colorado State University and a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School.