Grant Watson

Institutional Safety Management Division Director

Grant Watson is the director of the Institutional Safety Management Division in the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance. In this role, Watson is responsible for facilitating a team dynamic across the centers, advocating for centers at the Headquarters level, establishing delegated safety program leads, driving policy direction and change, and implementing Institutional Safety Authority.

Prior to this role, Watson was the Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) director at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. In this role, he was the senior management official responsible for the health and safety of over 3,600 engineers, technicians and scientists. He also was responsible for facility assurance of research facilities valued at more than $3.3 billion.

Langley, founded in 1917, is the nation’s first civilian aeronautical research facility and NASA’s oldest field center. Langley was the first federal facility to achieve the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Voluntary Protection Programs Star status in 1998, and was re-certified in 2002, 2007 and 2012. This recognition by OSHA is indicative that Langley’s health and safety program is world-class. Watson has played a role in implementing, developing and leading this world-class health and safety program since 1995.

Watson has more than 20 years of SMA experience, performing or leading work in the following areas: Occupational Safety, industrial hygiene, health and medical, facility assurance, Fire Protection, emergency services, System Safety, Reliability, and Quality Assurance. He has held key SMA positions at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and Langley, worked in private industry, and supported the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation. He also contributed to the mission success of numerous space shuttle launches, the Ares 1-X vehicle, and the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System instruments.

Watson is a graduate of the Florida Institute of Technology where he received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering. He received a master’s degree in engineering management from Old Dominion University and is a recipient of the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal.

He currently resides in Yorktown, Virginia, with his wife and enjoys running and spending time with his daughters.

Don Helton

Nuclear Flight Safety Officer

Donald "Don" Helton is the Nuclear Flight Safety Officer in the NASA Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, responsible for reviewing the Nuclear Launch Safety Approval Requests submitted by programs and projects that plan to launch radioactive material in to space, in accordance with NASA directives and requirements. In this role, he also coordinates the Interagency Nuclear Safety Review Board, which evaluates the quality of the safety analysis associated with nuclear missions that meet criteria specified in NSPM-20, “Presidential Memorandum on Launch of Spacecraft Containing Space Nuclear Systems,” issued Aug. 20, 2019.

Prior to his current role, Helton was a senior reliability and risk analyst at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). In this role, he performed risk assessment activities related to the significance determination of inspection findings and emergent conditions for operating commercial nuclear power plants, contributed to broad agency activities in Risk-Informed Decision Making, and supported the development of regulatory guidance relating to the use of risk-informed regulation. During his 18 years at the NRC, Helton developed and reviewed probabilistic safety assessments for spent fuel wet storage, including its use in both safety basis activities and National Environmental Policy Act activities; served as the NRC-appointed technical adviser for the nuclear launch safety review of the Mars 2020 Interagency Nuclear Safety Review; contributed to risk assessment consensus standard development; and served as a Subject Matter Expert in Level 2 Probabilistic Risk Assessment for an International Atomic Energy Agency review mission. Separately, Helton served in varying roles as a responder for the NRC’s Emergency Operations Center. He was a recipient of the NRC's Meritorious Service Award.

Helton has a master’s degree in nuclear engineering from Texas A&M university, focused on the use of computational fluid dynamics in nuclear applications, including a traineeship at France’s Le Commissariat a L’Energie Atomique’s Centre Saclay. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering from North Carolina State University, which included research in the area of reactor physics. He was born and raised in Union County, North Carolina. Helton currently resides in Rockville, Maryland, with his wife and two daughters. He spends his free time fishing, biking, volunteering and playing guitar.

Matt Forsbacka

Mission Assurance Standards and Capabilities Division Director

Dr. Matthew “Matt” Forsbacka is the Mission Assurance Standards and Capabilities Division director, responsible for the development and maintenance of NASA directives and standards pertaining to SMA, as well as related methods, tools and guidance.

Previously, Forsbacka served as the Nuclear Flight Safety Assurance Manager (NFSAM) for the Safety and Requirements Division of the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA). He was responsible for reviewing the Nuclear Launch Safety Approval Requests submitted by programs and projects that plan to launch radioactive material in space. In this role, he also coordinated ad hoc Interagency Nuclear Safety Review Panels, which evaluate the risk to the public and environment for any mission containing radioactive materials above the prescribed threshold. Forsbacka also was the OSMA representative for the Nuclear Systems, Space Radiation and Space Protection Working Groups.

Forsbacka also previously served as the Micrometeoroid and Orbital Debris (MMOD) program executive. As the program executive for MMOD, Forsbacka was responsible for program execution of NASA’s Procedural Requirements for limiting Orbital Debris. 

Forsbacka did a detail at NASA Glenn Research Center as chairman of the Standing Review Board for NASA’s Radioisotope Power Systems program. As chairman, he led review teams that report findings to Glenn’s Center Management Council, the leadership of NASA's Science Mission Directorate (Planetary Science Division) at NASA Headquarters, the NASA administrator and the NASA Agency Program Management Council. He presented issues and proposed solutions to NASA senior management.

In addition, Forsbacka was a lecturer at the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering. He developed the “Innovative Reactor Design” course for the master’s degree in nuclear engineering, which he then taught. He also taught “Verification and Validation of Systems Engineering Projects” and “Reactor and Radiation Measurements Laboratory.”

Prior to his current role, Forsbacka was an engineering supervisor for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. In this role, he led a group of Subject Matter Expert engineers in the fields of nuclear, mechanical, electrical, seismic, structural, civil and materials engineering that perform safety reviews of major DOE projects at all phases of the life cycle throughout design and construction. Projects included Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex, Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement Project for the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site, and the Permanent Ventilation System for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. In this role, he also was responsible for strategic planning and program development within his area of responsibility as well as for the implementation of review plans conducted by the technical staff. This involved developing, reviewing and providing proposed program requirements for safety oversight activities, as well as projections of expected results and budgetary/resource estimates. He reviewed and approved staff work products before submission to the presidentially-appointed board members for action in advising the secretary of energy on safety issues.

Before joining the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, Forsbacka worked for the Department of Homeland Security’s Domestic Nuclear Detection branch. Here he served as the deputy assistant director, a position in which he led a group of 40 senior engineers and scientists to develop anti-terrorism and radiological emergency response nuclear detection systems for use by the Department of Homeland Security law enforcement officers responsible for securing U.S. borders and coastal regions.

Forsbacka also has a history of working for NASA, having been the program executive for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter from 2005 to 2007. He was responsible for all aspects of NASA Headquarters’ mission oversight of this project. Prior to that role, he was the acting director for the Prometheus nuclear systems technology, responsible for all cross-discipline efforts in nuclear power and propulsion technologies for NASA. He also was the program manager for nuclear systems and the program executive for fission systems.

As a captain in the U.S. Air Force, Forsbacka held various roles, which included program manager for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, master instructor of physics for the U.S. Naval Academy and reactor operations supervisor for the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute.

Forsbacka has a doctorate in nuclear engineering from the University of Virginia and both a master’s and bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Florida. Forsbacka resides in Silver Spring, Maryland with his wife and three daughters and is an avid bicycle commuter.

NASA has one Nuclear Flight Safety Point of Contact (PoC). For more information, contact the PoC below.