Q&A with Gateway: Meet Victoria Stowe, Risk Manager for the Safety and Mission Assurance Office
The Gateway, a multipurpose outpost orbiting the Moon and vital part of NASA’s Artemis program, is built with sound engineering and operational principles that will serve as a staging point for deep space exploration and model for future missions to Mars. As the Gateway program risk manager, Victoria Stowe plays a major role in ensuring astronaut safety on Gateway. Stowe leads teams that cover a range of risk-management processes to ensure effective communication, integration, and mitigation of safety, performance, cost, and schedule risks.
Keep reading to learn more about Victoria, and don’t forget to follow the Gateway on Facebook and Twitter for the latest news, milestones, and activities!
What does your office do for the Gateway program?
Gateway’s Safety and Mission Assurance Office ensures safety in the areas of systems, environmental, industrial, range, and processing and launch-site safety. Our work also covers reliability, maintainability, and hardware quality assurance and software assurance across the Gateway lifecycle.
What are you most excited to share about Gateway and what it will do for human exploration as part of the Artemis program?
Mars is enticing, but first, the Moon. Or, to be more precise, near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO). By putting Gateway in NRHO, we will have a platform for long-term human exploration of the Moon and deep space. I’m very excited about that!
How has your personal background influenced your work in the Gateway program?
My father set an example of having a strong work ethic. I like to think that some of his drive and integrity rubbed off on me.
What has been your favorite memory while working at NASA?
Flying on the zero-gravity plane was pretty darn cool.
Being surrounded by such a high-performing group of people, what’s a great piece of advice you’ve learned?
Do the right thing, not the easy thing … and max out your Thrift Savings Plan.
In line with JSC’s DARE | UNITE | EXPLORE, how do you see yourself fitting into the vision?
Dare: Being a risk manager means having constant reminders of the how daring our work is.
Unite: I facilitate risk integration and communication, and I accomplish it through teamwork.
Explore: I hope that my contribution has a positive impact on reducing risks so that we can successfully reach our goals for exploring the universe.
More about Victoria:
Where did you grow up?
I’m a hometown gal, born and raised in Houston.
If you could temporarily live (or visit) in another part of the world, where would that be?
Easy. Western Europe. I’ve been to Italy and would love to see other countries in that part of the world.
How long have you been at JSC?
I’ve been with NASA’s Johnson Space Center for 34 years. The time flies.
Describe yourself in five words:
Empathetic, cooperative, sincere, conscientious, analytical.
Favorite thing(s) to do to unwind:
If the weather is nice, walk my dog. If not, snuggle up with a book.
How has the pandemic shaped your work style?
While I miss face-to-face interactions of being on-site, I find that I focus better at home. I also find that it’s hard to stop working at the end of the day.
Name one thing we would be surprised to learn about you.
I’m good at training dogs, and my poodle does party tricks.
At Johnson, we are laser-focused on the next: going forward to our lunar neighbor to build outposts in uncharted territory while revolutionizing the strategies and technologies that will eventually open up the universe. The Gateway is a critical component of the Artemis program and embodies Johnson's DARE | UNITE | EXPLORE vision: We dare to expand frontiers. We unite with our partners to complete bold missions. We explore space to benefit humanity.
DARE | UNITE | EXPLORE
