By Richard Tew/Contributing Writer
Recently, JSC welcomed its newest certified flight director Garrett Hehn to its ranks.
Born in Charlotte, NC, NASA’s 107th Flight Director Garrett Hehn says his interest in engineering had its seeds sown early in his life.
“I think my parents would tell you that the amount of Lego’s in our house pretty much guaranteed I was going to be an engineer of some sort,” said Hehn. “I always had that hands-on passion.”
After moving to Pittsburgh, PA., Hehn says his interest in both sports and science grew. He entered a model rocket competition in school. He attributes his interest in rockets to the event. He also played soccer and was a competitive swimmer for his school.
“Swimming really taught me a lot about work ethic and team dynamics, which really paid off down the line,” said Hehn. “I think it helped set me apart and get the opportunities that I eventually got at NASA.”
While a college student at Virginia Tech, Hehn was a member of the swim team, something he says would change his life and set him up for success later at NASA.
While competing, Hehn noticed his performance was not what it should be and he found himself placing last at competitions. He says his results were “crushing” and says a lot of his identity was based on his abilities as a swimmer. It was then Hehn decided to retire from competitive swimming. He says he was convinced he would never come back. His coaches had other plans for him. They suggested Hehn join the coaching staff and assist the swim team.
“It ended up being one of the serious challenges that shaped who I am in that I was living that dream and at the same time swimming terribly,” said Hehn. “I was consistently coming in dead last and doing times I had not done since I was 13.”
Though his competitive swimming days had come to an end, a chance to stay in the program wearing a new hat appealed to him. Hehn says he immediately recognized the opportunity before him.
“It was kind of a dream come true to be part of a top 25 swim program,” said Hehn. “It was a tough transition. I was in a great environment for it. I told the team, ‘hey, I’m not swimming anymore but you’ll still see me; I’ll be one of your coaches.'”
Hehn says he “got a taste of how fulfilling it could be to help other people fulfill their dreams.” He says it also helped him learn the valuable lesson of how to lead, motivate and hold accountable one’s peers.
“I really think that was one of the key experiences that ultimately allowed me to become a flight director,” said Hehn.
Outside of swimming Hehn’s interest in math and science continued to grow. When choosing between the various career paths in engineering, Hehn says talk of supersonic jets and space was all it took.
“I was all in,” said Hehn.
Hehn would go on to earn a Bachelor’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering from Virginia Tech.
Eventually, Hehn would be hired as a flight controller at JSC, working on the Flight Trajectory Team.
“My favorite part of mission control is that it’s really all about teamwork,” said Hehn. “Our missions are so complicated; you really got to have a well-rounded team to be able to succeed.”
“And that was the path I really threw myself at,” said Hehn. “I recognized the uniqueness of that in mission control and I recognized the opportunity that’s there. It was unlike anything else I’d experienced.”
Hehn says it is the diversity of the job he enjoys the most.
“Every day is different, which is one reason I really love what I do,” said Hehn. “When you are in mission control, it’s very hyper-focused.”
Describing a flight director as more like a conductor, Hehn says his responsibilities are made easier by being able to pull from the various specialty teams in mission control.
“Our job in mission control can have the ultimate consequence,” said Hehn. “That’s kind of a guiding principle that everyone has to have in their minds when they walk in. There are times that if we do not perform, there is loss of human life. To me, that call sign really encapsulates all these things. It’s something I get to put on the board and my whole team gets to see when they start a shift with me, so that’s what I’m trying to evoke every time they see it.”
Hehn says the first shift a certified flight director works is the time they announce their team’s call sign, a time-honored tradition which dates back to the first flight directors at NASA. Hehn’s call sign is “Kinetic Flight.”
“Kinetic is a physics term which means bodies in motion,” said Hehn. “That was a correlation on how I like to lead. To me, it also represented a really nice idea that those of us in mission control are just a small subset of the massive 1,000’s of people who put in hour after hour after making those missions happen. I really keyed in on those themes when I introduced it (call sign) to the team to try to give them this idea that this is a privilege.”
Photo cutline: Garrett Hehn, NASA’s 107th flight director. Photo by NASA.
