Kerrick looks back at life and career with NASA

JUDD WEIL
Hutch Post

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Prior to speaking at the 42nd Ray and Stella Dillon Lecture Series at Hutchinson Community College on Feb. 21, NASA veteran and STEM ambassador Ginger Kerrick answered questions about herself and her career at a press conference. 

Kerrick is now a member of the Board of Regents for the Texas Tech system. Since retiring from NASA, she now works for woman-owned aerospace company, Barrios Technology.  

When asked if she thought more funding should be allocated to overall space efforts in the U.S., Kerrick said she was satisfied with what was already available.  

“I actually think we're doing pretty well on the amount of funding that the federal government does give us, both to NASA and to stimulate the commercial spaceflight industry,” Kerrick said.  

Kerrick said there is funding being allocated to help start different companies in the spaceflight industry. She believes one of the reasons the money from that funding is put to good use is because she sees the benefits from those investments. An example being figuring out how to keep astronauts viable on long term missions. 

“On Earth you see that because we have to do that and because we've invested funds in that, now there's different treatments for osteoporosis or different treatments for ailments for people on the ground,” Kerrick said.  “If you go to ISS Benefits for Humanity, that's the International Space Station Benefits for Humanity, you'll get to see all those. I just wish that NASA would advertise that.”  

To encourage interest in NASA and space as possible careers, Kerrick recommends the STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) section at the NASA website.  

 “It's got information for educators and it's broken down by level so that they can at least provide information for teachers to go off and include that in the classroom,” Kerrick said. “And there's a lot of outreach. When I worked for NASA, I did a lot of outreach at the different schools, and they encouraged that they have outreach programs at each one of the NASA centers where people can request a speaker, including astronauts.”  

Kerrick, who was the first female Hispanic flight director in the history of NASA when she earned the title in 2005, believes the more that kids see people from their hometowns or people that look like them, the more it will resonate and encourage a career choice. 

Kerrick grew up competing, as she played basketball at a high level when she was young.

“I always loved to play ball,” Kerrick said. “My dad bought me a basketball when I was five, and I wanted to go play in a league.”  

Unfortunately for a young Kerrick, there were no basketball leagues for little girls. She said her father took her to the YMCA, where she was able to join a boys league.  

She made the girls basketball team in middle school and played in high school. When she graduated high school, Kerrick was named Female Athlete of the Year for the City of El Paso.  An injury while at the University of Texas El Paso changed her path.  

“I had an academic scholarship there and then I went through all preseason training and I was ready,” Kerrick said. “And two days before the first game, I'm going in for a layup and this girl undercuts me and I tumble and I try to get up and I can't and I look and my kneecap is on the side.”  

After hearing and disliking the doctor’s recommendation for treatment, Kerrick decided to focus on her dreams of being an astronaut and moved on to Texas Tech. Occasionally she would play intramurals at Texas Tech, but didn't play on their team. Kerrick said her dream to work for NASA began the same time, at age five, as her basketball dreams, when she read a book called ‘Astronomy and Astronauts.’  

She eventually joined a co-op program with NASA through Texas Tech 

“Unfortunately, I was 19 and it was my first semester away from home and I was not as focused as I probably should have been and I partied my little patootie off and I spent way too much time in the rec center and not in class,” Kerrick said.  

After raising her GPA, she was able to get into NASA on a summer internship, but not on a co-op. Eventually, with help from her internship’s boss, she was able to co-op with NASA. 

“NASA was supposed to give me a permanent job when I graduate,” Kerrick said. “Two months before graduation, I get a letter that says, 'we regret to inform you, but NASA has put a hiring freeze on all civil servants', so we won't be able to offer you a job when you graduate.”  

Throughout the hiring freeze, Kerrick would call NASA every Friday at 1 p.m.  from Texas Tech University to inquire about the status of the hiring freeze. Eventually, her persistence and dedication won out and she was able to be hired after the hiring freeze.  

“I was happy that I was persistent and because I loved my career,” Kerrick said.  

When asked how she thought her career has impacted young Hispanic people and other people of color, especially young women, Kerrick said she believes she has helped people.  

“You know, when I was growing up, and this is contrary to what people today growing up look for, I didn't want to see anybody that looked like me because that would mean that somebody that was like me already did it and I wanted to be the first, and so I don't need to see somebody that looks like me,” Kerrick said. “I don't, but there's a whole generation of people that do. So if I can be that person for someone, awesome sauce.”  

Kerrick said she would like to see people being more independent thinkers. Regardless, she said she is happy to be an inspiration. 

Kerrick cited experiencing her father’s death when she was a child as a great source of her resiliency throughout her life and career. She applied this resiliency to when she experienced the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003.  

“I was in Mission Control,” Kerrick said. “There are two separate Mission Controls. There is a shuttle Mission Control and there's a space station Mission Control. I was in the space station.”  

Columbia did not visit the space station, Kerrick explained, but the day before she had arranged a ship-to-ship communication.  

“Because I'm like, ‘I got friends in a shuttle in space, I got friends in a space station in space, they should chat and have dinner,’” Kerrick said. “So I set up this thing and they chatted and had dinner, and so the space station crew knew the shuttle was up there, and they knew that they were meeting.”  

That day, Kerrick was working on things for the space station crew and knew the shuttle was supposed to land.  

“But I had punched off the loop because I was busy, and then I start to hear mumblings in the room and I punched back on the loop and I turn on my TV, and I can hear ‘Scorch,’ he has a real name, Charlie Hobaugh, on the Capcom calling out to the crew,” Kerrick said.  “Then I looked on CNN and I started seeing what the rest of the world was seeing,” 

Throughout the disaster, Kerrick maintained her constitution as she communicated with the space station crew.  

“That communication is open for the world to hear,” Kerrick explained. “You have to know where to look, but it's open for the world to hear. It goes to our visitor center. If I had responded, his [Hobaugh] reaction would have been out there for all of the general public and I didn't want that to happen.”  

While keeping herself controlled, Kerrick said she privatized communication with the space station and described everything she was seeing on the television the day of the Columbia disaster. 

“Everything I was hearing on the loops, and I looked up at the clock, and I'm like, ’oh my God, it's like 35 minutes until we lose signal,’ so I kept this going for 35 minutes, Kerrick said.  

After handling the disaster so far with poise from Mission Control, Kerrick left her station to go to the restroom.  

“I just stood there in front of the sink and I wanted to throw up and I wanted to cry because those are my friends, but I looked at my watch and I thought I can cry for two minutes and then I got to get back in there,” Kerrick said. “Because if I had lost it in Mission Control, everybody's going to lose it in Mission Control and we can't have that. We've got... we've got to focus on our mission.”  

Kerrick allowed herself to cry for two minutes before going back to finish her shift. 

“I think the fact that I had experienced what I experienced with my dad and being able to have so many opportunities since then to have bad events happen and not emotionally react to them really served me well in that role,” Kerrick said. “I'm glad I was there.”  

As of Feb. 1, 2023, it has been 20 years since the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.   

Now in her current career, Kerrick is passionately stringent about the safety of aerospace technology so as to not see a repeat of the Challenger or Columbia disasters.  

“'We've been OK in the past.’ I don't like to hear that now with these new programs,” Kerrick said. “So, I'm not going to accept that because I don't. No one should feel that.”  

This led into Kerrick’s thoughts on the space endeavors of other companies. 

“You said Tesla. Elon Musk launched that car he had not cleared that with [the FAA],” Kerrick said.  

She explained when someone is flying aircraft, the FAA regulates who can take off when so as to not cause accidents above the ground.  

“You need to regulate when you're launching stuff so that you don't bump into space debris, you don't bump into other satellites, you don't bump into space stations, and that one was not regulated,” Kerrick said. “And if that launch had gone poorly, it could have damaged certain things that could have fallen on people. Since then, he has learned to follow these space traffic rules, but the Tesla thing in particular, I'm like ‘no.’”  

Kerrick said she would like to see companies like Tesla design a lunar rover that is Tesla, as space programs need things like that.  

“Toyota right now is partnering with one of these companies to build a rover, and I thought, ‘oh cool, okay, that might, you know, come back and help us have really neat old cars in the future that can fly,” Kerrick said. “Amazon with Bezos and Blue Origin, great. I think it's great all these people, the Virgin Galactic, Voyager Space, Intuitive Machines, Axiom, there's all these different companies that are out there building their own private space station.”  

Kerrick applauded Intuitive Machines, who just went public. Intuitive Machines is building a lunar lander that will deliver supplies to the moon, and students from San Jacinto Community College are building it. 

She said these companies are coming up with innovative money-saving ideas because they are budget constrained.  

“Elon, when he figured out how to bring the rockets back, you saved 60% of the costs of a launch by bringing those rockets back,” Kerrick said. “NASA wouldn't have come up with that idea because NASA has different expectations with the government funds and can't take these high-risk things. So, it's great that all these commercial industries are doing that.” 

The company that Kerrick works for now, Barrios Technology, has people who have been supporting the government for the last 42 years.  

“We have expertise in systems engineering, systems integration, mission operations, and so we are reaching out to these companies, ‘let us help you because I know you can't afford to have a permanent staff for missions that only fly once a year,’ Kerrick explained. “Use my folks and let us help take our lessons, learn from the government and help you, because I want them to succeed.”  

Kerrick sees their success as maybe helping her fullfill her dream.

“It'll be...it'll be really cool if more people can go to space and maybe then I can go to space at that point too. So, a little teeny weeny selfish reason.”  

2023 is the 42nd season for the Dillon Lecture Series on the HutchCC Campus. For more information on the Dillon Lecture Series or to become a patron, visit www.hutchcc.edu/dls or call Becky Rogers at 620-665-3505.

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