Colonel Shannon DaSilva is the Deputy Director of Operations, Space Systems Command (S3) and the AA3/5/8 for the Assured Access to Space (AATS) mission at Patrick SFB, Florida. She leads the team responsible to the Field Command Commander for enterprise integration, space access, and future operations.

Prior to her current job, Col DaSilva worked on the Headquarters Space Force Staff as the Director for Joint Matters, and for the first Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy as the Deputy Director of Space Strategy and Plans. In both staff roles, she advised the nation’s most senior civilian and military space leaders during the standup of the Nation’s newest armed service focused on the space domain.

Colonel DaSilva entered the Air Force in 2003 as a Distinguished Graduate of the Boilermaker Reserve Officer Training Corps at Purdue University. Her assignments include missile operations crew culminating in Senior Combat Crew Commander Instructor duty, and spacelift range certifications as both a Range Control Officer and a Mission Flight Control Officer providing on-console public safety oversight for over 20 spacelift missions including flyout of the Space Shuttle and first-ever Falcon 9 NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services mission. Colonel DaSilva also served four years in the National Reconnaissance Office at the Aerospace Data Facility Colorado, working program management, flight operations and mission operations. She commanded the 2d Space Warning Squadron, leading 110 active duty, reserve and multinational personnel responsible for 24/7 operations and maintenance of the $32.2B Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS), charged with decisive first-detect, first-report assessment of worldwide missile launches to combatant commanders, allies, the Secretary of Defense and the President. Colonel DaSilva transferred to the United States Space Force in October 2020.

Colonel DaSilva and her husband, Rick, have 4 children: Ryder (9), Skyelar & Dylan (7) and Alayna (4).