NASA Flight Director

When you live on the International Space Station (ISS), some 400 kilometers (250 miles) above Earth, you can’t go to the store for groceries or call an electrician to fix the solar panels. It takes a team of people on the surface of the planet to send supplies, assist with repairs, and help transport the astronauts to and from their home away from home. Missions aboard the ISS require careful planning and coordination. That’s where people like Pooja Jesrani come in.

Jesrani is a flight director at NASA. She’s the first-ever woman of South Asian descent to hold the position. It’s her job to make sure that all operations aboard the ISS go off without a hitch. From the mission control room at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, she and her team monitor the crew to help them accomplish their missions safely. She spoke with Science World about her work overseeing what happens on the ISS.

I manage a team of people known as flight controllers. Each of them is responsible for one aspect of the station. For example, one controller is in charge of the life-support systems that supply the crew with water to drink and oxygen to breathe. Another oversees the onboard computers.

The ISS is basically a science laboratory that orbits high above Earth. The crew runs experiments there while also maintaining and updating the station. My job is to support them through daily tasks and other events like installing new solar panels, receiving cargo deliveries, or coordinating visits from SpaceX—a rocket and spacecraft company contracted by NASA to carry astronauts and supplies to the ISS. In the months leading up to an installation, repair, or other operation, I work with the flight controllers to identify potential problems and create a plan.

Monitoring the ISS is a nonstop job, so NASA has about 25 flight directors who take turns leading operations from the mission control room. We call that being “on console.” When I’m on console, I’m the final decision maker who is ultimately responsible for the success of the mission and the safety of the crew.

Luckily, there are a lot of people there to help. I also wear a headset that lets me communicate with NASA controllers across the U.S. who are experts in different aspects of the mission. And because crew members aboard the ISS come from all over the world, I’m also talking to space agencies in Russia, Europe, and Japan. I can have up to 20 conversations happening in my ear at once!

Once I was on console when the crew heard an alarm notifying them of a fire and depressurization—a sudden loss of air. My heart skipped a beat. We started emergency procedures, but luckily, it turned out to be a false alarm.

Helping ensure the safety of seven lives aboard a $150 billion spacecraft is a huge responsibility. So I make every effort to be prepared for any event. For this job, you need to be able to handle stress well and act quickly in a crisis, on top of having the right technical and leadership skills.

My dad was really interested in space. He helped me develop a love for space and a curiosity to discover what else was “out there.” In college I studied aerospace engineering and did an internship at NASA. After I graduated, I got a job as a flight controller. It took a few years before I felt ready to apply to be a flight director, but I was selected on my first try. Most people apply multiple times. Becoming a flight director is extremely competitive. There have been more than 350 astronauts in NASA history, but only 101 flight directors. Of these, just 19 have been women.