By Richard Tew/NASA Correspondent for The Post Newspaper
Over the last month, JSC has seen the addition of both a new flight director and chief flight director.
Growing up in south Florida, JSC’s newest ISS flight director says he witnessed nearly a dozen space shuttle launches, something which would inspire him to eventually pursue a career at NASA.
Myrmo says while many want to be astronauts, he was interested in the behind-the-scenes work in Mission Control.
“While going to space would be a lot of fun, supporting the astronauts on the ground, solving complicated problems sounded amazing,” said Myrmo.
With a degree in computer science from the University of Central Florida, Myrmo says he found himself at JSC working in flight operations then into mission control before becoming a flight controller supporting the computer equipment on the International Space Station (ISS). After that, he worked as a group lead to help develop procedures for aspects of the Artemis I Mission.
Nearly a year ago, Myrmo was selected as a flight director before entering a training school for all flight directors. He is the 103rd flight director in the agency’s history.
“Here, it was everything I expected,” said Myrmo. “It’s all these things I wanted to do as a kid and this is it. Everyone is super-excited to be here.”
When flight controllers are promoted to flight directors they pick a call sign, and a team name, Myrmo’s is “Cerberus Flight” which is the three-headed dog from Greek mythology
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JSC’s new Chief Flight Director Emily Nelson says her path to NASA was different than many of her contemporaries.
“I’m not one of the folks who decided as a little kid that they wanted to do space stuff,” says Nelson.
Nelson described her path in college as a “winding road,” before she earned her mechanical engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. She says it was a friend’s experience from an interview at JSC that got her thinking about a possible career at JSC.
“She came back just raving about the workplace, and the job and everything,” said Nelson. “It was just awesome.”
When the United Space Alliance conducted interviews at UT the following semester, Nelson was there to apply. Her efforts merited her a position with the NASA contractor and started her career for the agency.
Nelson’s first assignment was as an ISS flight controller handling thermal control systems. From there, she went on to become a flight director and choose the call sign “Peridot Flight” before eventually moving into flight director management.
As chief flight director, Nelson oversees 31 active flight directors at JSC, she is also involved with the extensive training program all new flight directors go through before taking the helm within the flight control room. She says the training is ever-evolving in order to make the process more efficient and also to address newer technologies and operations procedures.
Nelson and Myrmo consider their co-workers at JSC as family.
“At my church, my pastor refers to ‘2 a.m. friends,'” said Nelson. “The people that when you really, really need help, who is it that you are going to pick up the phone and call? I think for most of us that list of people are either in the office or in the flight operations directorate.”
Cutline: Emily Nelson (L) NASA/JSC’s new Chief Flight Director. Elias Myrmo (R) NASA/JSC’s 103rd flight director.. Photos by Richard Tew for The Post Newspaper.
When he is not writing on NASA, Richard Tew teaches Irish dance to all ages in Clear Lake. Learn more at http://www.tewirishdance.wordpress.com.
