Problem-Solvers
NASA’s history has been defined by the solutions we have created for difficult problems. This Asian-American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we wanted to honor the individuals in our history who helped find solutions to difficult problems.
1957
Helen Ling was hired at JPL as a human computer.
1978
Ellison Onizuka was selected as the first Asian-American astronaut.
2018
Pooja Joshi Jesrani was announced as the first female South Asian flight director."Matter of fact, there’s nothing quite as satisfying as having a difficult problem and solving it. So to me, those are all of these things that we try to do to make sure things work properly is a technical challenge, and it demands a lot of your time and knowledge to make sure it works properly.”- John Hirasaki, 10 April 2009 oral history
John Hirasaki
John Hirasaki was a mechanical engineer in the Landing and Recovery Division at NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston (now Johnson Space Center). He, along with the Apollo 11 and 14 crews, were inside the Mobile Quarantine Facility upon their return. Hirasaki's responsibility was to remove the lunar samples, film, and other equipment from its interior.
After the Apollo program, Hirasaki went on to work in the Advanced Projects Office.
Learn More:
John Hirasaki Oral History 6 March 2009
Lunar Lander Conceptual Design
Kalpana Chawla, PhD
Kalpana Chawla began her career at NASA Ames in the area of power-lift computational fluid dynamics. She was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1995 with Astronaut Group 15. In 1997, Chawla flew on STS-87 as a mission specialist and prime robotic arm operator, becoming the first Indian woman in space.
In 2003, she lost her life with her STS-107 crewmates while aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia.
Learn More:
From the human computers at JPL to flight directors and Earth scientists, Asian/Pacific Americans have been instrumental to the Agency’s success. Kalpana Chawla was not only an astronaut, she was also an expert in powered-lift computational fluid dynamics, and her research focused on simulation complex air flows. She was responsible for the development and implementation of efficient techniques to perform aerodynamic optimization. After her death, NASA Ames named a supercomputer after her in honor of her achievements. In the beginning of John Hirasaki’s career at NASA, he was tasked with doing the failure modes and effects analysis, which is the process for identifying all possible failures in a design. He was responsible for designing simulations for situations that might or might not ever happen, such as being in the Pacific Ocean for 48 hours, or what solar radiation the spacecraft could potentially experience. This required creativity as well as research, calculation, design, and even participating in the studies.
NASA is made stronger in our diversity. The NASA History Division works to contextualize the stories of our greatest asset—our people—into the broader story that we may learn from those that were there.
