After completing a thorough training program that includes functional leadership and risk management, along with the technical elements of flight control and spacecraft systems, these future flight directors will lead human spaceflight missions from the Mission Control Center at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston.
In this role, these people will lead groups of flight controllers, research study and engineering professionals, and support workers around the globe, making the real-time decisions critical to keeping NASA astronauts safe in area.
” These highly certified individuals will be accountable for keeping astronauts safe and carrying out human spaceflight objectives,” said NASA Director of Flight Operations Norm Knight. “There were numerous exceptional prospects, both from within the firm and across the spaceflight industry, which is a great indication of the significant skill we have here at NASA and within the growing spaceflight community.”.
An image of NASAs 2022 class of flight directors who will supervise operations of the International Space Station, industrial crew, and Artemis objectives to the Moon. The inductees from delegated right: Heidi Brewer, Ronak Dave, Garrett Hehn, Diana Trujillo, Elias Myrmo, Chris Dobbins, Nicole McElroy. Credit: NASA.
NASAs flight directors lead objectives to the spaceport station and are preparing for lunar objectives for NASAs Artemis program. The total variety of agency flight directors is now 108 because the namesake of the Mission Control Center, Christopher C. Kraft Jr., became the firms first flight director in 1958. The new class will be at the forefront of whatever people perform in space, following in the footsteps of Apollo-era flight directors, consisting of Glynn Lunney, Gene Kranz, and Kraft.
Ending up being a NASA flight director needs years of research study and devotion, along with a background of professional experience in a high-stress environment, needing busy decision-making.
” I am honored to invite the flight director class of 2022. “These flight directors and the experience they bring with them will be critical in mankinds return to the Moon and future exploration of Mars.
Meet NASAs most recent class of flight directors:.
Diana Trujillo.
In that role, she supported mission operations for NASAs continuous expedition objectives on the surface area of Mars as well as the prepared Mars Sample Return mission. She served as a surface flight director throughout the early surface area operations of the Mars Perseverance rover, consisting of rover commissioning and the release of Ingenuity, the first helicopter to run on another world.
Trujillo was born and raised in Cali, Colombia, and made a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland in College Park, with additional studies at the University of Florida in Gainesville. She likewise is a graduate of Miami-Dade College in Florida and the NASA Academy at NASAs Langley Research Center in Virginia. In 2021, she received the Cruz de Boyacá, the greatest honor that the federal government of Colombia bestows upon civilians.
Elias Myrmo.
Elias Myrmo signed up with NASA in 2008 in the Flight Operations Directorates Mission Systems Division, working on Mission Control Center systems and details technology facilities. Myrmo became a communication radio frequency onboard network utilization expert in 2010, logging more than 2,000 hours at console in assistance of International Space Station Expeditions 32 through 50. Since 2016, he has actually functioned as lead of the Exploration Flight Dynamics and Operations Group, responsible for the training and accreditation of flight dynamics officers for Artemis missions. The group likewise is responsible for security of the general public on launch day through range security, along with day-of-launch upgrade operations for the firms Space Launch System rocket during Artemis missions.
Myrmo was raised in Naples, Florida, and graduated from the University of Central Florida in Orlando, with a Bachelor of Science degree in computer technology.
Nicole (Lewis) McElroy.
Nicole McElroy joins the NASA flight director team from Virgin Orbit in Long Beach, California, where she worked as the launch director. McElroy first began her work at Virgin Orbit as an intern, and after that returned full-time as a propulsion systems engineer creating the propellant and pressurant management systems. She later on qualified those systems for flight, leading the very first phase and second phase test campaigns. McElroy eventually joined the launch operations team as the rocket systems operator for LauncherOnes very first two flights. She served as launch director for the 3rd and 4th flights, where she was accountable for the entire launch operation timeline.
McElroy was born in England and raised in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. She finished valedictorian from the Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science in New York, making a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering in 2015.
Garrett Hehn.
Garrett Hehn began his profession at NASA in 2014 in the International Space Station Trajectory Operations group and became licensed as a Trajectory Operations Officer in 2016. In that role, he functioned as lead for Expedition 50, a SpaceX business resupply mission to the area station for NASA, Sierra Space Dream Chaser advancement, and Boeings Crew Flight Test. Hehn led an overhaul of a company training circulation and has actually been an instructor for other trainees given that achieving certification as a trajectory operations officer. In 2018, he expanded his scope to end up being the lead Artemis II Flight Dynamics Officer while keeping his previous functions. Previously this year, he got his flight characteristics officer certification for Artemis I.
Hehn was raised in Pittsburgh and finished from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, with a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering and minors in mathematics and Spanish.
Chris Dobbins.
Chris Dobbins also began his NASA career in 2011 in the Pathways Intern Program. He started his full-time NASA profession as an area station Environmental and Thermal Operating Systems flight controller in 2014, logging more than 2,500 hours of console time and serving as a lead for the International Space Station Expedition 56 and numerous spacewalks. He later on started supporting the Boeing Starliner spacecraft as an Emergency, Environmental, and Consumables Manager flight controller, operating in Mission Control for the businesss uncrewed flight test for NASA. He most just recently functioned as the ascent and entry lead for Boeings Orbital Flight Test-2, while assisting develop operational strategies and carry out astronaut training for the businesss crewed flight test mission, consisting of crewed automobile emergency response treatments.
Dobbins is originally from Crystal Lake, Illinois, and graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering.
Ronak Dave.
In that function, he logged more than 1,000 hours in mission control and supported a SpaceX business resupply objective to station for NASA. He supported the Boeing Starliner Orbital Flight Test-1 mission as a propulsion officer. Most just recently, he served as the climb propulsion officer for the Boeing Starliner Orbit Flight Test-2 objective, supported astronaut training for the Boeing Starliner Crewed Flight Test, and served as the primary propulsion systems officer for SLS and propulsion officer for Orion for the Artemis I objective, while leading rocket operations as a booster systems engineer for Artemis II.
Dave was raised in Secaucus, New Jersey, and finished from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, with a Bachelor of Science degree in astronautical and aerial engineering.
Heidi Brewer.
In that function, she supported 19 shuttle missions and was a lead for the final shuttle flight, STS-135. She supported more than 20 Dragon objectives for NASAs Commercial Resupply Services and Commercial Crew Programs, serving as a lead for several SpaceX resupply missions to the station for NASA, and Axiom Mission 1, the first personal astronaut objective to the space station.
Maker was raised in Marietta, Georgia, finished from Georgia Tech in Atlanta with a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering in 2005, and holds a Master of Science degree in aerial science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Flight has overall operational duty for missions and payload operations and for all choices regarding safe, practical flight. The overall number of agency flight directors is now 108 given that the name of the Mission Control Center, Christopher C. Kraft Jr., became the companys first flight director in 1958. Since 2016, he has served as lead of the Exploration Flight Dynamics and Operations Group, accountable for the training and accreditation of flight dynamics officers for Artemis objectives. He later on began supporting the Boeing Starliner spacecraft as an Emergency, Environmental, and Consumables Manager flight controller, working in Mission Control for the companys uncrewed flight test for NASA. Most just recently, he served as the ascent propulsion officer for the Boeing Starliner Orbit Flight Test-2 objective, supported astronaut training for the Boeing Starliner Crewed Flight Test, and served as the main propulsion systems officer for SLS and propulsion officer for Orion for the Artemis I mission, while leading rocket operations as a booster systems engineer for Artemis II.
Flight directors lead the flight control group. Flight has general operational obligation for missions and payload operations and for all decisions regarding safe, practical flight. This person keeps track of the other flight controllers, remaining in continuous verbal interaction with them through intercom channels called “loops.”.
Total view of the spaceport station flight control space in the Johnson Space Centers Mission Control Center as flight controllers support rendezvous and docking operations of the Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft. Credit: NASA
NASA has actually chosen seven new additions to the group of flight directors to supervise operations of the International Space Station, commercial crew, and Artemis objectives to the Moon. The conscripts in the class of 2022 include Heidi Brewer, Ronak Dave, Chris Dobbins, Garrett Hehn, Nicole McElroy, Elias Myrmo, and Diana Trujillo.
