Biography
Brandon Eden Brandon Eden, Manager, NASA and Civil Space Programs, United Launch Alliance Brandon Eden is the Government Operations manager of NASA and civil space programs for United Launch Alliance (ULA). In this role, Eden works with agencies and departments in the executive branch. Eden joined ULA from NASA where he was part of the Trump Administration’s “Beach Head Team” and later as a political appointee to NASA’s Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs (OLIA). While at NASA, he worked to help implement the Administration’s new human space flight initiative to the Moon that was later expressed in Space Policy Directive 1. Eden served as “sherpa” to Jim Bridenstine, Jim Morhard and Jeff Dewit who were successfully confirmed by the Senate to serve as the NASA Administrator, Deputy NASA Administrator and NASA CFO respectively. He also served as the designated federal officer of the National Space Council’s Users Advisory Group (UAG). Eden began his policy work as a legislative assistant for Congressman Richard Hanna in 2011 and helped with language for the six FAA UAS test sites in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He was hired by Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy in 2012 to support defense, veterans, transportation and space policy. While in McCarthy’s office, he worked closely with then-NASA Dryden, Mojave Air and Space Port, NAWCWD China Lake and Edwards Air Force Base. Eden helped get the Whip involved with national space policy and successfully increased commercial crew funding from $225M in 2012 to nearly $800M by 2014, which helped created many aerospace jobs. He also helped get a bill signed into law that changed NASA Dryden to NASA Armstrong to honor the late Neil Armstrong. Eden also worked to get NASA Aeronautics funding increased for the first time in years. He was then hired by incoming Congressman Steve Knight as his legislative director and deputy chief of staff. Eden worked with Rep. Knight to get many of his priorities into the FY16 and FY17 National Defense Authorization Acts and also created and oversaw the idea for Congressman Knight’s Aeronautics bill to message the need for greater funding to aeronautics R&D. He worked with the House Armed Services Committee and the Science, Space and Technology Committee for five years and successfully included several policies favorable to aerospace RDT&E. Eden served in the United States Marine Corps as a combat engineer and completed a tour in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF II_2) with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Eden later earned a bachelor of science in history from Liberty University while also doing an internship with Congressman Eric Cantor of Virginia. |