TWO MINUTES WITH

Libby Jackson

How did you come to work at NASA Mission Control?

I was in Year 12 at school, aged 17. I had always been fascinated by space so I emailed NASA’s Johnson Space Center to ask if I could visit them, never expecting that they’d agree. When they emailed back a few weeks later and said yes, I was gobsmacked and had to explain to my parents what I’d done! I’ll never forget the first time I sat in Mission Control and watched a Shuttle simulation. I knew there and then that I wanted to work in Mission Control one day myself.

What was your aim in writing this book?

Spaceflight is still, sadly, quite a maledominated arena and the history books even more so. But this is changing. Since the beginning, women have played their part in getting humans into space and it’s important that their stories are told, to remind everyone that we achieve the best results by including everyone in our efforts. I hope the book will help readers, particularly young people, see that nothing is impossible.

Were there any important people you had to leave out of the book?

Space technology underpins our everyday lives, from satellite navigation to space exploration, from studying our atmosphere to the communications networks that keep us all talking to each other. There are so many more amazing scientists, astronomers, engineers and others who make these things possible, with countless amazing stories to be told.

LIBBY JACKSON is the Human Spaceflight and Microgravity Programme Manager for the UK Space Agency