Station Nation: Meet Traci Charles, Private Astronaut Mission Integration and Requirements Lead

In this edition of Station Nation, we highlight Traci Charles who has worked for the agency for the past 20 years under many titles, most recently as the Private Astronaut Mission (PAM) Integration and Requirements Lead. Focusing on coordination between PAM teams to ensure safety, food requirements, operations, and more are squared away prior to launch, Charles is there in the thick of it. She found her love for space and science through a physics degree from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, where she had the chance to play with lasers. When Charles isn’t focused on software and PAMs, she enjoys sewing and wearing 1950s-era outfits made of geeky fabrics.

Where are you from?

Canton, TX

What ISS Office do you Support (e.g., Vehicle, External Integration, etc.)?

The Vehicle Office.

What is your job title?

PAM Integration and Requirements Lead

Describe what your position entails:

I lead Data Requirements Deliverable reviews, maintain the PAM schedules, and lead the requirements Verification Closure Notice process for PAM flights.

How would you describe your job to family or friends who may not be as familiar with NASA as employees who are reading this?

I coordinate with all of the teams working the PAM flights to ensure that the requirements for safety, operations, food, etc. that the PAM providers need to meet have been completed and reviewed by the appropriate NASA teams.

How long have you been working for the agency?

Twenty years.

What was your path to NASA?

I have always loved math and science and knew I wanted to work in some form of technical field, but I didn't know what. My elementary and junior high school was not one that emphasized STEM for anyone at the time, but I was fortunate to have super supportive parents who encouraged my sister and me to love learning of all types.

I went to Texas Tech University and earned my degree in physics (because I love to play with lasers), but I wasn't quite sure what to do with that degree. I signed up for graduate school to give me more time to think about what I wanted to do. A friend doing software for the space shuttle simulators  reached out to me to see if I had any interest. I left grad school and came to Houston in 2001 to work at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. While here, I have worked simulator software, robotics flight control, robotics kinematic analysis, International Space Station plug-in plan, and now Private Astronaut Missions.

Is there a space figure you look up to?

Laura Lucier, currently the Flight Operations Directorate Transformation Manager helping plot the future course for NASA and its commercial partners, was my first robotics lead when I worked HTV-1, JAXA's (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) inaugural uncrewed cargo delivery to the space station. In the field of robotics flight control, she is such an amazingly driven person and was a fantastic mentor to me.. I still look up to her 15 years later and consider her a role model.

What does diversity, equity, and inclusion mean to you? How does it guide you in your work at NASA?

I am an extreme extrovert and would really like to be friends with pretty much the entire world, and largely that is due to my outlook on diversity, equity, and inclusion. To me, diversity is what makes people interesting. We are all different enough to have unique life experiences and to have things to talk about. Equity helps me remember that our life experiences don't make us superior or inferior to others. We are all humans and equally worthy of consideration. Finally, inclusion is what I try to practice in all my interactions with people. One of the ways I practice that is by learning other languages so that I can communicate with more people in more places.

Do you have any advice for others like yourself who may be contemplating a career at NASA?

I love working out here so much that it's challenging for me to STOP giving advice to others contemplating a NASA career!

I am forever telling high school students about the High School Aerospace Scholars program and giving the advice that I had wish I had known about internships out here.

Also, I play a lead role in NASA’s presence at Comicpalooza each year. One of the comments that I get the most while supporting the event is from people who are not math and science focused and feel like they could never work at NASA. I love to tell them about our graphic designers, food team, people who sew, etc. and how there are a lot of options for working here without being a scientist or engineer.

What is your favorite NASA memory?

It would have to be the time that I was able to ride in the Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) with the STS-114, the return to flight crew. In June of 2005, I was in El Paso with my software customers, on our way to White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System Ground Terminals. NASA astronauts Eileen Collins and Jim Kelly (Vegas) were there to do some approach and landing training prior to their flight the next month.

One of my software customers, a ground controller, and I were able to ride in the STA during Vegas's training. I'm not a huge fan of flying, but when the opportunity presented itself, I just couldn't turn it down. I'm so glad I didn't!

What is the most meaningful project you've worked on during your time with NASA?

Axiom Mission 2. It was exciting to work on such a new project and see how it will benefit commercial development in low Earth orbit. It also was the first time that I have truly gotten to work with human aspects of the International Space Station (such as interfacing with the medical operations and food teams), and that has been fascinating for me!

What do you love sharing about the station to general audiences? (In regard to getting the public to understand its role and how it benefits life on Earth)

I love sharing about all the great science research we are constantly doing on the space station. From studying dark matter, to learning how cement works in microgravity, to advances in the treatment of Parkinson's, we have such a wide range of things that we can learn from this amazing, orbiting laboratory.

What are your hobbies/things you enjoy doing outside of work?

Reading, tabletop gaming, belly dancing, and being the NASA Liaison for Comicpalooza. I also love to sew and can often be found around site wearing 1950s-era outfits made of geeky fabrics.

Day launch or night launch? (Watching)

Night

Favorite Space Movie?

Space Camp

NASA Worm or Meatball logo?

Worm

Every day, we are conducting exciting research aboard our orbiting laboratory that will help us explore farther into space and bring benefits back to people on Earth. You can keep up with the latest news, videos, and pictures about space station science on the Station Research & Technology news page. It’s a curated hub of International Space Station research and digital media from NASA’s Johnson Space Center and other centers and space agencies.

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