We Put People In Space
https://www.facebook.com/notes/carbon-flight-ed-van-cise/we-put-people-in-space/675465852811403
People ask me what I do for a living and I get to reply with a straight face, “I help put people into space - and make sure they come home safely.” For me, it’s the best, most fun, most challenging, and most exciting job there is out there. I’m blessed and grateful for the opportunity to do something I’ve wanted to do since the 3rd grade. I am the 78th certified Flight Director in NASA's Human Spaceflight history, selected in the Flight Director Class of 2009. Each NASA Flight Director is allowed to choose a symbol/color to represent his team. I pretty much grew up wanting to work for NASA and the human spaceflight program. I started at the NASA Johnson Space Center as a cooperative education student while attending the University of Michigan. I spent 1 semester working in JSC's Engineering Directorate and the rest of my tours learning about Mission Operations of the fledgling International Space Station. I was hired full time at JSC as an Operations Support Officer (OSO) in ISS Mission Operations in 2000. I've been a certified OSO and TITAN flight controller for ISS. In 2009, was selected as a Flight Director and certified for ISS operations at the Flight console in January 2010. As a Flight Director, I worked the STS-131/19A shuttle mission to ISS, Lead Flight Director for Expedition 28 (May - September 2011), Lead Flight Director for HTV-4 (Summer 2013), and Lead Flight Director for Expedition 41 (Fall 2014). I have led 3 US EVAs from ISS. I supported numerous ISS cargo missions as well. I worked 5 shifts during the Artemis I mission (Fall 2022). I worked three CST-100 Starliner missions as a Boeing Mission operations Flight Director: OFT, OFT-2, and CFT, I was the overall Boeing MO Lead FD for OFT-2 and the Rendezvous Lead for both OFT-2 and CFT (the first ever docking of Starliner to ISS and the first ever docking of Starliner with crew onboard, respectively). In September 2024, after ~14.5 years as a Flight Director, I hung up my headset and moved to NASA's Gateway Program. I am now the "CMV Integration Manager" - responsible for the final assembly, test, verification, delivery, and launch of the first element of the Gateway lunar space station. Biography:
* Born in Bay City, MI, in 1977
* Attended Valley Lutheran High School
* Attended University of Michigan, BSAE 2000
* Started working at NASA Johnson Space Center as a co-op in 1998
* Hired full time as an "OSO" flight controller in April 2000, later moved to be a "TITAN" flight controller
* Hired as manager of "RAM" group in 2007
* Selected as Flight Director with class of 2009
* Selected as Gateway Program CMV Integration Manager in 2024
Awards:
* NASA Exceptional Leadership Medal, Feb 2015, awarded after successful completion of Increment 41 of the International Space Station, where I was the Increment Lead Flight Director.
* NASA Exceptional Service Medal, Feb 2014 , awarded after successful completion of the HTV4 cargo mission to the International Space Station, where I was the NASA Lead Flight Director.
* NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, October 2011, awarded after successful completion of Increment 28 of the International Space Station, where I was the Increment Lead Flight Director.
* Inductee - Space Camp Hall of Fame, June 2012
** http://spacecamphalloffame.com/space-camp-hall-of-fame-inductees/
** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r1EyZ5LFaQ
** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDfpe5dgBOg
