 Initially, Leinbach was a lead design engineer for various launch pad systems, including weather protection and the Emergency Egress Slide Wire system.In 1988, Leinbach became a NASA Test Director (NTD), responsible for directing daily operations at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Launch Complex.In 1991, he was named Shuttle Test Director, and conducted the terminal countdown and launch of seventeen shuttle missions, in addition to being responsible for all planning activities associated with pre-launch.