We had two Mission Control areas fully staffed that day; one at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, CA and one at Lockheed Martin in Denver, CO (LM was our spacecraft contractor for Juno). I saw NASA as having a mandate to explore our solar system and the universe as a whole… just the kind of thing that Star Trek was doing, only in real life! (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.10'; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); Posted by Tracy Drain on Saturday, October 8, 2016. It also serves as a communications relay for the rovers currently exploring Mars. Community. It will feature JPL Systems Engineer Tracy Drain. MRO is still orbiting Mars and returning valuable science data about the red planet. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.”. That knowledge will help scientists learn more details about the early history of our solar system. In her 17 years at JPL, she has participated in the development and operation of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (a science and relay orbiter at Mars), the Kepler mission (searching for Exoplanets) and the Juno mission to Jupiter. Image credit: NASA/JPL. Talk to Tracy Drain for any length of time, and the word “fun” peppers the conversation, even when discussing things most people don’t relish. Someone once said a hundred years from now, people will say that Kepler was the most influential mission of this century. And I also thought that if finding a job in the space industry didn’t work out, a mechanical engineering degree would give me opportunities to work in all sorts of other industries, instead. For instance, studying the runaway greenhouse effect on Venus can help us better understand our own climate. “Oh, they were so much fun!” she exclaims with bright eyes and a smile. It’s hard to put a price on that. I also loved music; I took piano lessons and played the clarinet in the band at school. The scientists think it’s quite possibly the core of a proto-planet where the mantle got stripped off in a series of collisions. Wendy Drain, 53 Muskogee, OK. She was always very supportive of anything I wanted to do or try. She has been with NASA for over 17 years now and is currently the Technical Group Supervisor for the Flight Systems Engineering group and working on the Psyche mission, studying the largest known metal asteroid in our solar system with a projected launch set for 2022. Today, in addition to her continued work as a leading Flight Systems Engineer, Tracy Drain has dedicated a significant portion of her energy to helping children and students develop a stronger scientific literacy. Wendy Drain's Reputation Profile. On IMDb TV, you can catch Hollywood hits and popular TV series at no … Tracy is a Flight Systems Engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. During her time at UK, she interned at the NASA Langley Research Center in Virginia. My mom was always very excited about airplanes and spacecraft and anything to do with space, whether it was real or fiction. Talk to Tracy Drain for any length of time, and you will hear the word “fun” a lot – even when she's discussing things most people don’t relish. Tracy was attracted to astronomy but didn’t have a clear sense of what career opportunities were available in the field. One Kentuckian, who has devoted her life to science after being inspired as a student, has highlighted the importance of a supportive and challenging primary, secondary and post-secondary education experience. She received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kentucky. I was trained as an ACE, someone who communicates with the Deep Space Network when we're sending commands and monitoring the connection to the spacecraft. A more practical perspective is that studying other worlds helps us learn more about our own planet. I went out to Denver to be with the LM team, along with a few other engineers from JPL. ), continually learning new things, being surrounded by people I love, and staying healthy. While she is in Louisville, she will be visiting schools as a role model. This site is maintained by the Planetary Science Communications team at. I really wish someone had told me that the important thing about being a scientist or an engineer is learning how to think critically, learning how to be creative, learning problem solving and learning how to learn so that you get a fundamental understanding of things so you can attack new problems you've never seen before. She was never a person to say, "You can't do that" or, "You shouldn't do that." 3 Profile Searches Follow. But I loved it – I always had a few close friends who were also interested in the same nerdy things that I was, LOL. It was launched in August 2011, and arrived at Jupiter on July 4th 2017 after a 5 year journey. Tracy, let’s start at the beginning. LAS to Host JPL Systems Engineer Tracy Drain at the April Meeting. I just wander through the stacks of the library and pick up whatever catches my attention. Tracy was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, where she graduated from Waggener High School in 1993. She said, "OK!" I was in math competitions in high school, and I remember one day we were all in a minivan driving down the freeway to a competition with my ninth grade math teacher, Mrs. Brown. “Oh, they were so much fun!” she exclaims with bright eyes and a smile. Drain didn’t leave aerospace behind – she studied controls and vibration during her master’s studies at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta. As a child, her mother, her teachers, and those around her encouraged her to “pay attention to the world around [her].” This attention to both natural phenomena and technological marvels would ultimately pave the way for Drain to pursue excellence in the sciences. Probably making a recommendation to our Project Manager on a course of action for an issue that cropped up on Kepler shortly after launch. She was recently the Deputy Chief Engineer for Juno, which successfully arrived at Jupiter on July 4th, 2016. Instead of a seated, on-stage-style conversation, we hosted a social at Copper & Kings Distillery featuring art curated by our illustrator, August Northcut, local food, beverage and live music features and of course, Drain sharing her amazing story and mingling with our audience. Where were you born? Image credit: NASA/JPL. We have a unique student program at each of our speaker series events thanks to our sponsors at Lifetime Wealth Strategies, but this one was extra special. It was sent to collect the kind of data that would allow scientists to learn more about the details of Jupiter’s formation and evolution. The April meeting of the Louisville Astronomical Society will be held on Saturday, April 15 at 7:00 PM in the Cochran Auditorium of Strickler Hall on the U of L campus behind the Planetarium. If it cut off too early or too late, we would have wound up in a different sized orbit than we had intended, and we would have our work cut out for us pulling out our contingency plans and deciding what next steps to take (and figuring out why that had happened in the first place). Tracy was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, where she graduated from Waggener High School in 1993. Additionally, the project has successfully been able to monitor abnormal and extreme weather events. Watchlist. Now that Juno successfully entered orbit around Jupiter on July 4 2016, the operations team is hard at work ensuring the scientists can collect the data they need to learn more about Juno's atmospheric composition, internal structure and magnetic field (among other things!). JPL systems engineer Tracy Drain blogs about the upcoming launch of NASA's Kepler mission, which will look for Earth-like planets. While there, she interned at the NASA Langley Research Center in Virginia. The first member of her family to go to college, she wanted to be sure the investment was worth it. When I started thinking in high school about what I wanted to do for my career – math, science, and space seemed like things that could keep me interested for an entire career. Drain joined the Kepler project in 2007 as the Missions Readiness Lead, hunting for Earth-like planets, staying until the satellite’s launch in 2009. Tests at school? Having played a part in the success of the Kepler mission. In an interview she gave with NASA, she remembers her first time developing an interest in space and space exploration, marveling at how scientists were able to understand how the solar system took shape. Tracy, let’s start at the beginning. This is great change in our leadership and I think this is very positive for us. In considering future careers, job security was a major factor. The findings of this particular mission have given scientists a better understanding of both the recurring weather patterns of the Red Planet and even its geological history. Biography submission guide. Tracy became interested in space as a child, and her love of Math, Physics and anything related to Space led her to pursue a career as an engineer at NASA. I got a call sometime later to come interview and practically drooled all over everyone they would let me talk to. As a child, her mother, her teachers, and those around her encouraged her to “pay attention to the world around [her].” This attention to both natural phenomena and technological marvels would ultimately pave the way for Drain to pursue excellence in the sciences. In her 17 years at JPL, she has participated in the development and operation of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (a science and relay orbiter at Mars), the Kepler mission (searching for Exoplanets) and the Juno mission to Jupiter. |  Tests at school? Psyche will launch in 2022, on a journey to study the solar system's largest metal asteroid. She was always pointing out airplanes overhead and having us watch space shuttle launches on TV. Official Sites, View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro. Since she was young she’s loved puzzles and brain teasers, and she tackles engineering challenges as more problem-solving games to enjoy. Kristen Erickson Give us the highlights on that project. In the summer of 2000, Drain began working at JPL and has since been involved with a variety of deep space missions. In her 15 years at JPL, she has participated in the development and operation of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter(MRO), Kepler (searching for new Exoplanets) and Juno, orbiting Jupiter to find new knowledge about the Gas Giant. She attended the University of Kentucky to pursue a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering. Remember that sense of awe you got the first time you were in a dark enough place to look up at the night sky and actually see the Milky Way? In her free time, she can most often be found curled up with a good book (her other favorite way to explore new worlds). Since she was young, Tracy has loved puzzles and brain teasers. After graduating from Waggener High School in 1993, Drain would move into the BS in Mechanical Engineering program at the University of Kentucky. Early on, you're involved in the requirements and rules the design has to follow so you can meet your mission goals. You're drowning in so much homework that you're looking for the shortcuts to get an A, and that is not the best way to really learn the material deeply and foster that high level of critical thinking. I spent a fair amount of time playing outside like a normal kid when I was very young, but as a I got older I spent most of my free time curled up with a book. NASA's Stardust spacecraft was the first to ever bring comet dust samples back to Earth. Tracy Drain Help Center Contributor Zone Polls. Now, she tackles engineering challenges at JPL like new problem-solving games to enjoy. It’s a feeling that makes us fall a little bit in love with the cosmos, and adds richness to our lives. Computer Science, Tracy D. Drain That research, as well as summer internships at NASA’s Langley Research Center, helped her get her first job at JPL in 2000.