Pam Melroy entered the US Air Force from the Reserve Officers' Training Corps and went on to earn an MSc in earth and planetary sciences. She has logged over 5,000h in 50 aircraft types, including 200 combat and support hours in Panama and the Persian Gulf, and as an astronaut spent 38 days in space piloting two Space Shuttle missions and commanding a third.
Pilot, air force officer, astronaut, scientist - how would you like to be remembered?
More than anything, I hope to be remembered as someone who had integrity. Professional opportunities have a strong element of luck, but integrity is always a choice.
In your working life so far, what are you most proud of?
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I am most proud of working on learning all that we could from the Columbia mishap to try to make human spaceflight safer.
And, what's been your biggest mistake?
Gosh, I've made countless mistakes. I've just tried to learn from them, and do my best to recover from them. I don't have any regrets about any of my decisions.
After some 25 years with the air force and NASA, how does it feel to be working in private industry? Any surprises so far?
The biggest surprise is to discover that making business decisions really isn't any different from making technical decisions - you get the data you need, you weigh risks, and then you know what to do.
What are the main projects you're working on at the moment?
I'm with the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) team, and we are engaged in designing and testing the Orion vehicle for NASA. It will go to the International Space Station and all the way to the Moon eventually. It's great to continue to be a part of human spaceflight!
When you got started in college and the US Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps, did you have a career plan and, if so, has it worked out that way?
I'm a little embarrassed to say yes, pretty much exactly. When I was in high school, in fact, I decided I would be an air force pilot, a test pilot, and an astronaut. There were definitely some challenges and opportunities to change the path, but I stuck with it. I was sort of shot out of a cannon at this job from a very early age.
If you met a young person today who reminded you of yourself 25 years ago, what advice would you give them?
My advice would be choose the biggest dream or vision you can imagine to pursue, and then to never quit. The road may not look exactly like you expected, and it may not all happen exactly the way you planned, but the journey will take you exactly where you need to go.
Source: Flight International
