Cynthia Hall, support scientist for the Early Career Research Program in NASA’s Earth Science Division, speaks to the Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) cohort, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington, DC. The Earth Science Division’s Early Career Research Program’s Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) is a year-long STEM engagement and experiential learning opportunity for educators and students from high school to graduate level. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Cynthia Hall, support scientist for the Early Career Research Program in NASA’s Earth Science Division, right, and Yaítza Luna-Cruz, a program executive in the Earth Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and program manager for the Early Career Research Program speak to the Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) cohort, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington, DC. The Earth Science Division’s Early Career Research Program’s Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) is a year-long STEM engagement and experiential learning opportunity for educators and students from high school to graduate level. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Kate Calvin, NASA’s Chief Scientist, speaks to the Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) cohort, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington, DC. The Earth Science Division’s Early Career Research Program’s Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) is a year-long STEM engagement and experiential learning opportunity for educators and students from high school to graduate level. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Kate Calvin, NASA’s Chief Scientist, speaks to the Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) cohort, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington, DC. The Earth Science Division’s Early Career Research Program’s Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) is a year-long STEM engagement and experiential learning opportunity for educators and students from high school to graduate level. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Matthew Pearce, education officer at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and project lead for the Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI), speaks with the CCRI cohort, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington, DC. The Earth Science Division’s Early Career Research Program’s Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) is a year-long STEM engagement and experiential learning opportunity for educators and students from high school to graduate level. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Jack Kaye, associate director for research in the Earth Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, speaks with the Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) cohort, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington, DC. The Earth Science Division’s Early Career Research Program’s Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) is a year-long STEM engagement and experiential learning opportunity for educators and students from high school to graduate level. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Members of the Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) cohort discuss their research during a poster session, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington, DC. The Earth Science Division’s Early Career Research Program’s Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) is a year-long STEM engagement and experiential learning opportunity for educators and students from high school to graduate level. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Members of the Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) cohort listen as Karen St. Germain, director of the Earth Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate speaks, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington, DC. The Earth Science Division’s Early Career Research Program’s Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) is a year-long STEM engagement and experiential learning opportunity for educators and students from high school to graduate level. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Members of the Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) cohort discuss their research during a poster session, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington, DC. The Earth Science Division’s Early Career Research Program’s Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) is a year-long STEM engagement and experiential learning opportunity for educators and students from high school to graduate level. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Members of the Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) cohort listen as Karen St. Germain, director of the Earth Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate speaks, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington, DC. The Earth Science Division’s Early Career Research Program’s Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) is a year-long STEM engagement and experiential learning opportunity for educators and students from high school to graduate level. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

The Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) cohort poses for a group photo, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington, DC. The Earth Science Division’s Early Career Research Program’s Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) is a year-long STEM engagement and experiential learning opportunity for educators and students from high school to graduate level. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Members of the Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) cohort discuss their research during a poster session, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington, DC. The Earth Science Division’s Early Career Research Program’s Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) is a year-long STEM engagement and experiential learning opportunity for educators and students from high school to graduate level. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Matthew Pearce, education officer at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and project lead for the Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI), speaks with the CCRI cohort, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington, DC. The Earth Science Division’s Early Career Research Program’s Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) is a year-long STEM engagement and experiential learning opportunity for educators and students from high school to graduate level. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Jack Kaye, associate director for research in the Earth Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, speaks with the Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) cohort, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington, DC. The Earth Science Division’s Early Career Research Program’s Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) is a year-long STEM engagement and experiential learning opportunity for educators and students from high school to graduate level. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Members of the Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) cohort discuss their research during a poster session, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington, DC. The Earth Science Division’s Early Career Research Program’s Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) is a year-long STEM engagement and experiential learning opportunity for educators and students from high school to graduate level. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Members of the Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) cohort discuss their research during a poster session, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington, DC. The Earth Science Division’s Early Career Research Program’s Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) is a year-long STEM engagement and experiential learning opportunity for educators and students from high school to graduate level. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Members of the Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) cohort discuss their research during a poster session, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington, DC. The Earth Science Division’s Early Career Research Program’s Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) is a year-long STEM engagement and experiential learning opportunity for educators and students from high school to graduate level. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Yaítza Luna-Cruz, a program executive in the Earth Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and program manager for the Early Career Research Program, speaks to the Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) cohort, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington, DC. The Earth Science Division’s Early Career Research Program’s Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) is a year-long STEM engagement and experiential learning opportunity for educators and students from high school to graduate level. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Karen St. Germain, director of the Earth Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, speaks with the Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) cohort, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington, DC. The Earth Science Division’s Early Career Research Program’s Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) is a year-long STEM engagement and experiential learning opportunity for educators and students from high school to graduate level. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Karen St. Germain, director of the Earth Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, speaks with the Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) cohort, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington, DC. The Earth Science Division’s Early Career Research Program’s Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) is a year-long STEM engagement and experiential learning opportunity for educators and students from high school to graduate level. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

William Kerslake, a combustion researcher at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory, examines the setup of a transparent rocket in a Rocket Laboratory test cell. Kerslake joined NACA Lewis the previous summer after graduating from the Case Institute of Technology with a chemistry degree. His earliest professional research concentrated on combustion instability in small rocket engines. While at Case the quiet, 250-pound Kerslake also demonstrated his athletic prowess on the wrestling team. He continued wrestling for roughly a decade afterwards while conducting his research with the NACA. Kerslake participated in Olympic competitions in Helsinki (1952), Melbourne (1956), and Rome (1960). He won 30 national championships in three different weight classes and captured the gold at the 1955 Pan American Games in Mexico City. Kerslake accomplished all this while maintaining his research career, raising a family, and paying his own expenses. As his wrestling career was winding down in the early 1960s, Kerslake’s professional career changed, as well. He was transferred to Harold Kaufman’s Electrostatic Propulsion Systems Section in the new Electromagnetic Propulsion Division. Kaufman was developing the first successful ion engine at the time, and Kerslake spent the remainder of his career working in the electric propulsion field. He was heavily involved in the two Space Electric Rocket Test (SERT) missions which demonstrated that the ion thrusters could successfully operate in space. Kerslake retired in 1985 with over 30 years of service.

STS133-S-001 (June 2010, Revised January 2011) --- The STS-133 mission patch is based upon sketches from the late artist Robert McCall; they were the final creations of his long and prodigious career. In the foreground, a solitary orbiter ascends into a dark blue sky above a roiling fiery plume. A spray of stars surrounds the orbiter and a top lit crescent forms the background behind the ascent. The mission number, STS-133, is emblazoned on the patch center, and crew members' names are listed on a sky-blue border around the scene. The space shuttle Discovery is depicted ascending on a plume of flame as if it is just beginning a mission. However it is just the orbiter, without boosters or an external tank, as it would be at mission's end. This is to signify Discovery's completion of its operational life and the beginning of its new role as a symbol of NASA's and the nation's proud legacy in human spaceflight. The NASA insignia design for space shuttle flights is reserved for use by the astronauts and for other official use as the NASA Administrator may authorize. Public availability has been approved only in the forms of illustrations by the various news media. When and if there is any change in this policy, which is not anticipated, the change will be publicly announced. Photo credit: NASA

“It was part of my career, but then it was also personal. I was doing it on a volunteer basis, but it was part of my work because I was bringing my service dog in training everywhere with me, which meant to work every day and to meetings at NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). And I was taking the dog across the country to meetings over at Ball Aerospace; that was all part of the training of a service dog. That was an incredible time. I really enjoyed it. “The fact that I was able to do the two combined, that to me was just such an accomplishment. To some people, it could be they got permission to do it and then that’s all they focused on was the dog, but no. I had my job I had to do. I’ve always gotten a distinguished rating in my performances my entire career, and it didn't change when I was training this service dog. “It was a challenge for sure. “After I had to turn back over the service dog I trained, it was really very difficult because the dog was with me for two years, even though I knew it was for a wonderful cause. I ended up going out and getting my own dog who I’ve trained to be a therapy dog, so now we do therapy visits with veterans, elderly, and others. ” Jean Wolfe, Program Executive for the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-R Series Program at NASA Headquarters, poses for a portrait with Bonnie, who was named for U.S. Air Force Reserve Major Bonnie Carroll, Ret., Friday, Dec. 18, 2020 at the Warrior Canine Connection in Boyds, MD. “Warrior Canine Connection enlists service members and veterans with combat stress in the critical mission of training service dogs for fellow Wounded Warriors.” Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

At Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, NASA employee Eric Fernandez stands by a preserved concrete section from the Space Launch Complex2 Mobile Service Tower counterweight, saved during demolition to retain the NASA insignia. The artifact was part of Delta and Delta II launches for decades before demolition, with its last launch for the agency being NASA’s ICESat2 on Sept. 15, 2018.

At Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, Eric Fernandez stands in front of Building 836, where he performs work as a telemetry engineer for NASA.

JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Houston - STS133-S-001 ---- The STS-133 mission patch is based upon sketches from the late artist Robert McCall; they were the final creations of his long and prodigious career. In the foreground, a solitary orbiter ascends into a dark blue sky above a roiling fiery plume. A spray of stars surrounds the orbiter and a top lit crescent forms the background behind the ascent. The mission number, STS-133, is emblazoned on the patch center, and crewmembers' names are listed on a sky-blue border around the scene. The Shuttle Discovery is depicted ascending on a plume of flame as if it is just beginning a mission. However it is just the orbiter, without boosters or an external tank, as it would be at mission's end. This is to signify Discovery's completion of its operational life and the beginning of its new role as a symbol of NASA's and the nation's proud legacy in human spaceflight. The NASA insignia design for shuttle and space station flights is reserved for use by the astronauts and for other official use as the NASA Administrator may authorize. Public availability has been approved only in the form of illustrations by the various news media. When and if there is any change in this policy, which is not anticipated, it will be publicly announced. Photo credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration

George Edward Alcorn, a pioneering African American physicist and engineer, is credited with dozens of inventions over the course of a distinguished career in private industry and at NASA, for which he earned eight patents. Alcorn joined Goddard Space Flight Center in 1978 and held numerous leadership roles in both research and administration until his retirement in 2012. One of Alcorn’s signature accomplishments at NASA was developing a smaller, more sensitive X-ray spectrometer, changing the way scientists were able to use the powerful tool in deep space exploration missions. His tool, which uses thermomigration of aluminum, can gather information about remote solar systems; for the invention, Alcorn was honored as the NASA Goddard Inventor of the Year in 1984. In addition to his groundbreaking contributions as an inventor and innovator, Alcorn also championed efforts to hire more women and minorities at Goddard, for which he was honored with the NASA Equal Opportunity Medal, and taught students at Howard University and the University of the District of Columbia. He also founded the Saturday Academy, an honors program in math and science for underserved middle school students. He earned many accolades over the years from NASA and beyond. These include, in 2010, the Robert H. Goddard Award for Merit, for his outstanding innovation and significant contributions to space science, technology, and NASA programs, as well as recognition in 1994 at Howard University’s Heritage of Greatness awards ceremony. He was also inducted into the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame in 2015. Alcorn passed away in 2024 at the age of 84.

“Some people [may say], 'You have too many cooks in the kitchen,’ but I think there's a line. It's good to have a lot of input because people bring many different perspectives that you would never even consider if you just pushed an idea forward with one person. This is especially true in the area we work in with digital [communications], which is changing so frequently; you constantly have to innovate, so including diverse voices and thoughts is important. “I'm an older sister, and I don't know if some of that [leadership style] comes from when we were kids, always making sure that I involved her. My sister had trouble pronouncing words when she was younger, so I was her translator, ensuring people could understand what she wanted or needed. And maybe that translated into who I am, making sure people have voices and are heard [at NASA]...I've achieved a lot that I didn't even know I wanted to accomplish because I couldn't have imagined this career progression for myself. “But now that I'm here, I would like to achieve more in terms of what NASA looks like internally, especially after getting involved with the NASA Science IDEA working group and diversity efforts. I would love to one, help people outside of NASA realize that they could work here and two, push people internally to the forefront so that they can be considered for higher-level things and progress.” NASA Science Mission Directorate Digital Manager Emily Furfaro poses for a portrait on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)