Ginger Kerrick | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1970 |
| Alma mater | Texas Tech University (BS, MS) |
| Known for | First female Hispanic flight director at NASA |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | Johnson Space Center |
| Thesis | Infrared deep level transient spectroscopy (1993) |
Ginger Kerrick is an American physicist at NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. She is the first Hispanic female to be flight director at NASA. [1]
Kerrick graduated second in her class from Hanks High School in El Paso, Texas, and was named El Paso Female Athlete of the Year. [1] [2] She started her college degree at the University of Texas at El Paso, where she walked onto their women's basketball team. [2] During the first game of the season, she blew out her knee, ending her basketball career. [2] She then transferred to Texas Tech University to get her Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in physics. [3] Her 1993 master's thesis was entitled Infrared deep level transient spectroscopy. [4]
Kerrick was a summer intern at NASA in 1991, which led to first a co-op position and then full-time employment as a materials research engineer with NASA in May, 1994. [5] [6] Kerrick interviewed for the astronaut program, but was disqualified for kidney stones. [7] She became the first non-astronaut Capsule Communicator (Capcom), [5] first Russian-training-integration instructor, [6] and the first Hispanic female NASA flight director in 2005. [8] [1] [9] She served as flight director with NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center from 2005 to 2012. [10] [11]
There, she created plans for scenarios of astronauts in space which assisted ISS and shuttle operations, making her a dual-certified flight director. [8] [5] She currently is the division chief of the Flight Integration Division in FOD (Flight Operations Directorate) since August 2016. [10] Kerrick is a member of the American Physical Society (APS).
In November 2021 Kerrick decided to quit her engagement at NASA and moved to Barrios Technology, LTD in Houston, Texas where she took over the role as Chief Strategy Officer. [12]
STS-51-F was the 19th flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program and the eighth flight of Space Shuttle Challenger. It launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on July 29, 1985, and landed eight days later on August 6, 1985.
Sally Kristen Ride was an American astronaut and physicist. Born in Los Angeles, she joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983 became the first American woman and the third woman to fly in space, after cosmonauts Valentina Tereshkova in 1963 and Svetlana Savitskaya in 1982. She was the youngest American astronaut to have flown in space, having done so at the age of 32.
The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight in Houston, Texas, where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late US president and Texas native, Lyndon B. Johnson, by an act of the United States Senate on February 19, 1973.
Guion Stewart Bluford Jr. is an American aerospace engineer, retired United States Air Force (USAF) officer and fighter pilot, and former NASA astronaut, in which capacity he became the first African American to go to space. While assigned to NASA, he remained a USAF officer rising to the rank of colonel. He participated in four Space Shuttle flights between 1983 and 1992. In 1983, as a member of the crew of the Orbiter Challenger on the mission STS-8, he became the first African American in space as well as the second black person in space, after Cuban cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez.
Pamela Ann Melroy is an American retired United States Air Force officer and NASA astronaut serving as the deputy administrator of NASA. She served as pilot on Space Shuttle missions STS-92 and STS-112 and commanded mission STS-120 before leaving the agency in August 2009. After serving as deputy program manager of Space Exploration Initiatives with Lockheed Martin, Melroy joined the Federal Aviation Administration in 2011, where she was a senior technical advisor and director of field operations for the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation.
Charles Frank Bolden Jr. is a former Administrator of NASA, a retired United States Marine Corps Major General, and a former astronaut who flew on four Space Shuttle missions.
Ellen Louise Shulman Baker is an American physician and a former NASA astronaut. Baker is a veteran of three shuttle flights and logged more than 686 hours in space. Baker served as Chief of the Education/Medical Branch of the NASA Astronaut Office until her retirement in 2011 after more than 30 years of service to NASA.
Linda Maxine Godwin is an American scientist and retired NASA astronaut. Godwin joined NASA in 1980 and became an astronaut in July 1986. She retired in 2010. During her career, Godwin completed four space flights and logged over 38 days in space. Godwin also served as the assistant to the director for exploration, Flight Crew Operations Directorate at the Johnson Space Center. Since retiring from NASA, she accepted the position of professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Missouri.
Susan Jane Helms is a retired United States Air Force lieutenant general and NASA astronaut. She was the commander, 14th Air Force ; and commander, Joint Functional Component Command for Space at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Ellen Ochoa is an American engineer, former astronaut and former director of the Johnson Space Center. In 1993, Ochoa became the first Hispanic woman to go to space when she served on a nine-day mission aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. Ochoa became director of the center upon the retirement of the previous director, Michael Coats, on December 31, 2012. She was the first Hispanic director and the second female director of Johnson Space Center.
Kathryn Ryan Cordell Thornton is an American scientist and a former NASA astronaut with over 975 hours in space, including 21 hours of extravehicular activity. She was the associate dean for graduate programs at the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science, currently a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.
John Daniel "Danny" Olivas is an American engineer and a former NASA astronaut. Olivas has flown on two space shuttle missions, STS-117 and STS-128. He performed EVAs on both missions, totaling 34hrs 28min.
Heidemarie Martha Stefanyshyn-Piper is an American Naval officer and former NASA astronaut. She has achieved the rank of Captain in the United States Navy. She is also a qualified and experienced salvage officer. Her major salvage projects include de-stranding the tanker Exxon Houston off the coast of Barbers Point, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, and developing the plan for the Peruvian Navy salvage of the Peruvian submarine Pacocha.
J. M. Hanks High School, commonly referred to as Hanks High School, is one of seven public secondary schools in Ysleta Independent School District, which encompasses much of east El Paso, Texas. Hanks' primary feeder school is J.M. Hanks Middle School. Additionally, many students from nearby Eastwood Middle School go on to attend Hanks High School.
NASA Astronaut Group 9 was a group of 19 NASA astronauts announced on May 29, 1980, and completed their training by 1981. This group was selected to supplement the 35 astronauts that had been selected in 1978, and marked the first time that non-Americans were trained as mission specialists with the selections of ESA astronauts Claude Nicollier and Wubbo Ockels. In keeping with the previous group, astronaut candidates were divided into pilots and mission specialists, with eight pilots, eleven mission specialists, and two international mission specialists within the group.
Prabhakar Misra is an American physicist, who researches and teaches at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and is currently a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Christina Hammock Koch is an American engineer and NASA astronaut of the class of 2013. She received Bachelor of Science degrees in electrical engineering and physics and a Master of Science in electrical engineering at North Carolina State University. She also did advanced study while working at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Just before becoming an astronaut, she served at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as station chief for American Samoa.
Chryssa Kouveliotou is a Greek astrophysicist. She is a professor at George Washington University and a retired senior technologist in high-energy astrophysics at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)