Dan’s career in human spaceflight operations and management has, thus far, spanned 49 years. Joining the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center in 1966 as an Apollo Command Module Simulator Instructor, Dan trained the Apollo 1-15 crews while duty-stationed at the Kennedy Space Center. Transitioning to the Johnson Space Center in 1971, Dan worked with the Apollo 16 and 17, crewmembers, other NASA engineers and researchers, and U.S. Geological Survey scientists in developing the lunar surface EVA operations timelines and procedures for these final two Apollo missions. Following Apollo 17, Dan continued his work with the JSC Mission Operations Directorate in development of the joint U.S./Russian flight operations timelines and procedures used on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mission. He later served as the first Space Shuttle Flight Data File Manager through STS-4, was a member of the inaugural Space Station Skunk Works team as well as NASA’s Space Station Operations Task Force. Dan managed the Space Station Operations Requirements Development Office within the JSC Level II Space Station Program Office at JSC, later transitioning to the Lunar/Mars Exploration Office tasked with defining NASA Headquarters’ deep space exploration strategies. From 1990 until his retirement from NASA in 1994, Dan served as Manager of the Commercial Middeck Augmentation Module (CMAM) Project Office, managing NASA's first commercial contract with SPACEHAB, Inc., developer and builder of pressurized cargo and laboratory modules which operated within the Space Shuttle Cargo Bay.
Dan’s private sector career path following his departure from NASA in 1994 led him to serve as the Senior Vice President of Flight Operations at SPACEHAB, Inc. through 2006. He then joined JAMSS America, Inc. (JAI), the American subsidiary of the Japan Manned Space Systems Corporation (JAMSS), Tokyo, Japan, as President, then Chief Executive Officer. JAI’s current business base includes ISS flight operations support to JAMSS and JAXA, support to Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Cygnus spacecraft mission operations program, support to the Mitsubishi Regional Jet flight test and certification program and now the Principal Investigator organization for the GLobal AIS on Space Station (GLASS) research project which will provide global commercial ship tracking information to the international maritime industry. Though Dan retired from full time employment with JAI in 2014, he remains the company’s Senior Advisor and represents JAI on the SpaceCom Industry Advisory Council.