South Texas Native Helps NASA Reach for the Moon

HOUSTON, Dec. 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — From Edcouch and Harlingen, Texas, to outer space, South Texas native Humberto Sanchez is helping NASA take the next steps in space exploration. Recently his career shifted gears from helping NASA send humans 240 miles above Earth to sending astronauts to live on the moon.

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Sanchez is one of thousands of people nationwide working to realize the goals of NASA’s Constellation Program. Constellation is developing America’s newest space transportation system that will help NASA establish a sustained human presence on the moon as a platform for continued space exploration to Mars and beyond. Sanchez is part of Constellation’s Operations and Test Integration Office, which develops the operational and testing requirements.

“I am currently supporting the Constellation Virtual Mission Project. It involves simulating flight exercises to test and validate ground operations in preparation for future missions,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez’s engineering roots developed at the University of Texas in Austin, where his interests in heat transfer, physics and mechanics led him to earn a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering. He then launched his career in 1980 at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston as a space shuttle training instructor.

For the past 10 years, Sanchez worked in the Mission Operations Directorate to help plan space shuttle and International Space Station missions and ensure astronauts were trained for the missions they would fly. Today he’s planning the next mission to the moon — from ground operations to launch and landing.

As Sanchez helps NASA take the next steps in space exploration, he recalls the first step that propelled America as a world leader in science and technology.

“I remember watching the Apollo 11 mission at my grandmother’s house on a small black-and-white television,” said Sanchez. “Now here we are again, striving to go back to the moon. What I really hope for is to be around when we go to Mars. Now that would be awesome.”

For photos and video of Sanchez and more information on NASA’s Constellation Program, visit:

www.nasa.gov/constellation/stars

SOURCE NASA