Re
-
entry
“
Since I had realized there were
only a couple years left in the
Shuttle program, I knew I couldn’t
do that forever,” recalls From, “but
I knew I wanted to stay at NASA.”
He was soon moved to the Inter-
national Space Station program,
where his new job involved
working with astronaut crews to
manage logistics, including food,
oxygen, fuel, and waste.
“
Every few months the crew would
come down and a new one would
go up,” he explains, “so one of the
highlights for me was educating
the new crew on what to expect.”
Since this role involved only limited
training, From knew he wanted
to do more. “My personal calling
is education. Teaching people,” he
says. “I wanted to do what I loved.”
New
mission
After receiving a lead from a former
co-worker, From applied for an
opportunity that would once again
involve training, this time for
satellite controllers at NASA’s God-
dard Space Flight Center. The fit
was ideal, and the job was his.
As simulation director, From now
trains controllers for the Landsat
8
satellite, which is scheduled to
launch February 11, 2013. The
satellite, in its first launch since
1999,
will orbit 438 miles above the
Earth’s surface in the thinnest part
of the atmosphere. From says that
Landsat 8 will be the first satel-
lite using a quantam well infrared
photodetector, which will be used
to create a thermal image of the
planet.
“
It’s definitely crunch time. We’re
doing our ‘full up’ training simula-
tions, but instead of data coming
from the real thing, it’s coming
from a simulator,” he says. “We’re
doing everything we can to pre-
pare satellite controllers so they
know how to function, what to
expect, where to turn if there’s a
problem.”
Inspiring
tradition
Since 1972, the Landsat program
has involved a series of Earth-
observing satellite missions jointly
managed by Goddard and the U.S.
Geological Survey. As NASA’s lon-
gest running satellite program, it is
the source for many of the earliest
(
as well as the most current) im-
ages of what Earth looks like.
“
Landsat satellites have been going
up for 40 years,” notes From. “It’s an
incredible tradition.” And that tradi-
tion is part of what drew him to
NASA when he was just a child.
“
To me,” he says, “one of the great-
est things about the U.S. space
program is the overall benefit to
all of mankind. NASA does things
purely for understanding our world
and everything about it.”
“
It gets to the core of knowledge
for the intrinsic value of learning
and knowing. It inspires people to
dream of doing the kind of work
that I do.”
Read more about From’s work at
the Goddard Space Flight Center:
www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard
NASA