PEOPLE VanessaWyche Johnson Space Center director
LIFE THROUGH TIME AND SPACE
Wyche has been with NASA for over 30 years and has worked in di erent positions during her time there.
Attends Clemson University 1981 Joins NASA as engineer 1989 Becomes deputy director of Johnson Space Center on Aug. 8 2018
BY SIERRA ROZEN
After more than 60 years of being the hub for NASA’s center for human space ight, the Johnson Space Center in Clear Lake is looking toward the future of space travel. At the head of this is its new director, Vanessa Wyche.
WHAT IS YOUR VISION FOR JSC FOR THE NEXT FEWYEARS? I am just so super excited about the Johnson Space Center—our future, where we’re going. My vision is really twofold. One is to maintain the excellence that we have provided and conducted in human space ight for now our 60th year as well as transforming and being a part of the creation of a space economy that’s happening in low Earth orbit. First, using the International Space Station, then with these new plans for having free- ying space stations that are commercially on as well as then activities at the moon. Over the course of the next decade, we will be doing a lot of activities at the moon and then also preparing to go to Mars. …We’ve been working on our exploration goals for a number of years, especially here at Johnson Space Center, where we have respon- sibility for the Orion spacecraft. That is the spacecraft that will be on top of the Space Launch System rocket, and they both are now integrated at the pad at Kennedy Space Center for a test ight that will happen early summer. Then we will have our rst landing on the moon since Apollo. … WHAT DOES ITMEAN TO YOU TO SERVE AS THE FIRST AFRICANAMERICANWOMAN
DIRECTOR OF THE JOHNSON SPACE CENTER? I started my career here over 30 years ago, and a lot has changed in terms of females and people of color being in positions of leadership. For me, it demonstrates that our country is a really great place, and being able to go from being a project engineer to being director of this entire center in that course of time is that when the opportunities came, I was prepared and took advantage of all the opportu- nities that I had. And now to be able to be here and be the director, it means a lot because I know that others can now look and they can say, ‘Well, if Vanessa could do that, then I can, too.’ HOWDID YOUR INTEREST IN SPACE EXPLORATION BEGIN, ANDHOWDID YOU END UP JOINING NASA? My brother was a ‘Star Trek’ Trekkie. I would watch with him, and I was saying, ‘Wow, that’s really great’ because ‘Star Trek,’ it was very diverse. These people were being beamed up and had all kinds of things to do with science ction. I thought, ‘OK, well, it could be possible someday,’ but I never really thought that I would be working in space. I grew up in South Carolina; there’s not a space center nearby. It really wasn’t until I was working after
JSC in June 2021
Becomes director of
COURTESY JOHNSON SPACE CENTER
I was in the shuttle program to be a manager of shuttle missions and mis- sions that actually assemble the space station. [It’s] super exciting because now I see the space station as it goes over our heads. It’s still there, and it’s orbiting, and it’s functioning, and it’s a real laboratory where work is being done. That’s inspiring to me. And then we’ve been, like I said, putting these plans together to go to the moon again, for over 15 years, at least in my career time. … To be on the cusp of going to the moon again, it is super inspiring. WHATADVICEDOYOUHAVE FORWOMENORGIRLSWHO ARE LOOKINGTOGO INTO STEM RELATEDFIELDS? I believe that STEM jobs are fun because that’s what I do, and I would love for them to know that if they have any desire to have any career in a STEM eld, that they certainly should pursue it. ... I always encourage them to say if it’s your passion, if this is really what you want to do, don’t let anybody tell you you’re not good at this or that. Go for it. ...
I got a master’s degree in bioengi- neering and working for the Food and Drug Administration in Washington, D.C., and actually met someone that was from Texas, a native Houstonian. He asked me to marry him, and we decided that if we were going to do that we needed to move to Houston because of the cost of living, and then I had to nd a job and begin my search of looking for positions, and that was how I actually found out that it was a perfect match between the skills that I had and being able to kind of work in ... human space ight. OUTOF THEMANYMISSIONS ANDEXPLORATIONTHATNASA HAS GONEON,WHICHONEHAS INSPIREDYOUTHEMOST? We’ve done a lot of really very interesting research in space. Some of the things that I personally was a part of, I think, probably resonate the most because doing experiments on astronauts and getting the data and understanding how the body works in space was certainly very fascinating. I actually had the opportunity when
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BAY AREA EDITION • APRIL 2022
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