International Women’s Day is Out of This World at NASA

Three women with three different approaches to working for NASA.

Dan Carney, Senior Editor

March 3, 2022

4 Min Read
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Rebekah Anchondo (L), Suzanne Hansen (C), and Amy Ross (R).Image courtesy of NASA

What more high-profile way to showcase women’s contributions to science, technology, and engineering than the International Space Station, which most of us can see periodically if we look up at the sky at the right time?

NASA has a trio of women whose contributions to ISS program led to the agency providing some details on their work on the agency’s web site. They are Rebekah Anchondo, Suzanne Hansen, and Amy Ross, who each contributes to a different area of the ISS’s operations.

Anchondo holds a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering and a master’s in systems engineering (both from the University of Texas), which she employs in her role as a private astronaut mission integrator in the ISS Program’s Commercial Integration Office. She likes to remind students that they don’t have to be classic tinkerers to become NASA engineers.

“I was never the type of person to tinker with machines or build extravagant structures with toy blocks, Anchondo explained in NASA’s post. “However, I did love solving problems and doing puzzles, which is likely why I love the problem-solving aspect of engineering. The engineering industry is incredibly broad, and it is not ‘one size fits all.’ The important thing is finding a career that interests you and inspires you to come to work every day and solve problems.”

Related:See the 9 Different Ways NASA is Testing AR/VR on the Space Station

Anchondo’s on-ramp for an engineering career at NASA was working as a co-op intern for NASA contractor United Space Alliance. She trained as a Space Shuttle Propulsion Systems Flight Controller for that internship and upon graduation, she joined USA, where she worked until joining NASA as the ISS’s vehicle configuration lead in 2019.

Anchondo advises aspiring engineers to talk to people working in various industries to get a feel for which area will interest them. “By speaking to people in the petroleum and aerospace engineering industries, I was able to gain insight into examples of work that may be performed,” she said. “Additionally, participating in engineering camps during high school gave me exposure to different aspects of engineering to further help me determine which specialty to pursue.”

Suzanne Hansen came to the space program as a student intern for a contractor too. She worked for Boeing, first as a student and then after graduation in the Vehicle Integrated Performance and Resources (VIPER) console in mission control’s Mission Evaluation Room (MER). She helped develop plans for feathering the station’s solar panels to prevent them from overloading or getting contaminated during dynamic manuevers.

Related:Want it to Work in Space? Better Test it Frequently on Earth

This led to Hansen’s promotion to managing the MER for NASA before ultimately moving on to becoming a NASA civil servant. Not everyone who would like to attend NASA’s famous Space Camp is able to go,  but Hansen says that she was motivated just by watching the Space Camp movie as a kid.

When it came time to pick a major in college, she recognized some of the tasks from space camp, which made it easier, she said. “I saw aerospace engineering in the list. It seemed like the perfect fit, particularly when I saw the list of classes that I would be taking including orbital mechanics and mission design.”

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The International Space Station.

Amy Ross, on the other hand, was born into the NASA family, as the daughter of an astronaut and a NASA support employee. Today Ross is a spacesuit designer for NASA. However, Ross emphasizes to students that this familiar proximity is not necessary for getting a technical job with the space agency.

“We come in all shapes and sizes from all kinds of places,” she stated. “One of my colleagues is from a small town in Kansas. She didn’t have the benefit, as I did, of knowing the people who worked at NASA first-hand as my neighbor, Sunday school teacher, et cetera. People in her community didn’t know that someone like her, from a little town like theirs could do it. She decided she would and she did.”

Having that proximity might have sparked Ross’s interest, but she still worked to earn her way in, with Mechanical Engineering undergraduate and Master’s degrees from Purdue University and a Master’s in Space Studies from University of North Dakota.

“It can sound out-of-reach because it’s intimidating,” Ross noted. “I was not a math whiz in high school. I found English to be a much easier subject than physics, chemistry, or calculus. Hard work compensates for a lack of innate talent.”

About the Author

Dan Carney

Senior Editor, Design News

Dan’s coverage of the auto industry over three decades has taken him to the racetracks, automotive engineering centers, vehicle simulators, wind tunnels, and crash-test labs of the world.

A member of the North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year jury, Dan also contributes car reviews to Popular Science magazine, serves on the International Engine of the Year jury, and has judged the collegiate Formula SAE competition.

Dan is a winner of the International Motor Press Association's Ken Purdy Award for automotive writing, as well as the National Motorsports Press Association's award for magazine writing and the Washington Automotive Press Association's Golden Quill award.

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He has held a Sports Car Club of America racing license since 1991, is an SCCA National race winner, two-time SCCA Runoffs competitor in Formula F, and an Old Dominion Region Driver of the Year award winner. Co-drove a Ford Focus 1.0-liter EcoBoost to 16 Federation Internationale de l’Automobile-accredited world speed records over distances from just under 1km to over 4,104km at the CERAM test circuit in Mortefontaine, France.

He was also a longtime contributor to the Society of Automotive Engineers' Automotive Engineering International magazine.

He specializes in analyzing technical developments, particularly in the areas of motorsports, efficiency, and safety.

He has been published in The New York Times, NBC News, Motor Trend, Popular Mechanics, The Washington Post, Hagerty, AutoTrader.com, Maxim, RaceCar Engineering, AutoWeek, Virginia Living, and others.

Dan has authored books on the Honda S2000 and Dodge Viper sports cars and contributed automotive content to the consumer finance book, Fight For Your Money.

He is a member and past president of the Washington Automotive Press Association and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers

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