Maynette Smith

My Dad was an engineer and the proud parent of two girls. Early on, he instilled the belief in each of his daughters that we could aspire to be whatever we wanted to be. He loved math and science and was very active in our schooling, particularly in those areas. My Dad and I were both science fiction fans and he let me stay up late to watch the original Star Trek series. Star Trek spurred my interest in space. While a little too young to remember watching John F. Kennedy talk about the United States sending a man to the moon and returning him safely to the Earth, the memory of the crew of Apollo 8 reading from the Book of Genesis as they orbited the moon on Christmas Eve still resonates with me. At 8 years of age, I sat with my Dad watching Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. From that point on, I dreamed of working for NASA.

As I grew up, my Dad took me along on his engineering jobs as he travelled around the state. In school, I discovered a love of and aptitude for science and math. By junior year in high school, I had decided that I wanted to pursue a career in engineering. I entered Vanderbilt University’s Engineering School in 1979, with a major in Electrical Engineering with a focus in Biomedical Engineering. During my senior year, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center came to Vanderbilt to interview for jobs at the Center. I was hired, and on June 13, 1983, I became a NASA Employee at the John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC).

My first week at Kennedy Space Center was especially memorable. On June 18, STS-7 launched; on board was Sally Ride, the first American woman astronaut. My first job was working Spacelab, where I was immediately given responsibilities as a test engineer for payloads that would be flying on the Space Shuttle. My first two experiments that I was responsible for testing were the Solar Array Experiment (SAE) and Dynamic Augmentation Experiment (DAE), which flew on STS-14 (STS-41D). Judy Resnik was the Mission Specialist responsible for the experiments. She treated me like I had been working at NASA for ages. I went on one trip to California where engineers were testing the Solar Array and some journalists who were present for the test mistook me for Judy Resnik. I politely informed them I was not her, but it was extremely humbling to be mistaken for an astronaut.

I was the test engineer for several other experiments that flew on the Space Shuttle before I moved into Project Engineering, where my responsibilities included working across multiple engineering disciplines. I worked on the Tethered Satellite System -1 (TSS-1) payload, which was a joint effort with the Italian Space Agency and multiple NASA Centers. It was exciting and challenging to work with such a diverse team — an experience I don’t think I could have gotten anywhere else than at NASA.

In 1991, I joined the ranks of supervision and management, which was a huge transition from working technical issues to working with people to help them achieve their goals. In 1996, I started working International Space Station (ISS) Utilization, and helped set up the infrastructure to process ISS experiments at KSC and at the shuttle landing sites. In 2003, I joined Kennedy Space Center Director’s Staff as Strategic Planning Manager. In this role, I gained a whole new perspective of KSC and the Agency as a whole. I returned to my ISS roots in 2006 and helped with the procurement of the Institutional Services Contract to provide all the institutional services at KSC – no small proposition since KSC is the size of a city. In 2008, I moved to the Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate where I have served in multiple supervisory and lead positions supporting space flight programs, including ISS, Orion, and Commercial Crew.

Throughout my career at NASA, I have had the opportunity to work with individuals who are passionate about their work, to personally contribute toward projects that are of benefit to humankind, and to continually push the boundaries of my knowledge. It has been an experience that has exceeded my childhood dream.