Dr. Jan Davis is currently working part-time for the Bastion Technologies, Inc. after serving as its Program Manager for the Safety and Mission Assurance contract at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama. Prior to that, she worked as a Vice President and Deputy General Manager for Jacobs. Jacobs provides engineering, scientific, and technical support for projects and programs at Marshall. 

Dr. Davis began her NASA career at Marshall in 1979 as an aerospace engineer and supported major NASA programs and projects, including the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. After the Challenger accident, she became a team lead and lead engineer for the redesign of the Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster External Tank Attach ring.  

In 1987, Dr. Davis was selected to join the Astronaut corps at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. She spent more than 670 hours in space as a mission specialist over the course of her three Space Shuttle flights: STS-47 (1992), STS-60 (1994), and STS-85 (1997). During these flights, she orbited the Earth 445 times.  In 1998, she became the Director of the Human Exploration and Development of Space Independent Assurance Office for NASA Headquarters.   Dr. Davis returned to MSFC and served as the Director of the Flight Projects Directorate at the Marshall Center until August 2003.  Prior to retiring from NASA in 2005, Dr. Davis was the Director of Safety and Mission Assurance at MSFC leading up to the successful Return to Flight of the Space Shuttle in 2005. 

    Dr. Davis did her graduate research work in mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and is a 1971 graduate of Huntsville High School. She also has degrees from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Auburn University in biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering, respectively.  

She was elected to the Alabama Aviation Hall of Fame and the Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame. In 2002, she was given the Presidential Rank of Meritorious Executive, and she has received NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal, Space Medals, and Outstanding Leadership Medal.  In 2012, she received Auburn University’s Lifetime Achievement Award and in May 2013, she received the Christine Richard Girl Scouts Lifetime Achievement Award. She has also received the WEDC Women Honoring Women and was named in 2015 as one of the Women Who Shape Alabama.  Auburn University named her as a Distinguished Engineer in 2017.

Having served on many non-profit boards, she is currently on the board of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force. She was also one of the founders of the nonprofit organization AstraFemina for STEM outreach for girls. Recently, she authored the book Air Born: Two Generations in Flight, a memoir about her father, a WWII B-17 pilot and POW, and herself. Her husband is retired Alabama 23^rd Judicial Circuit District Judge Dick Richardson and they have two grown children and four grandchildren.