He was based with NASA's mission control centre as an ascent and entry CapCom (spacecraft communicator) awaiting assignment as pilot of a space shuttle flight. Loria worked on the X-33 prototype of a reusable vehicle, intended to replace the space shuttle, at the Dryden Flight Research Center from July 1994 to June 1995 before being selected as an astronaut in 1996. He was assigned to the Endeavour flight of November 2002 to the International Space Station but had to withdraw because of an injury. In 2002 and 2003, he was chief of flight testing for the Orbital Space Plane programme, and went on to become a NASA Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, studying for a masters degree in public administration.