Since he can remember, Ashish Sood Patel knew he was meant to be an aerospace engineer.
Raised in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan after his family immigrated to the U.S. from India, Patel remembers coming across a shrine in the terminal of the local airport that featured aviation hero Clarence Kelly Johnson, the legendary team leader of the Skunk Works, Lockheed Martin’s advance development program, and key contributor to the design of the Lockheed U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird spy planes.
Little did he know such a prolific aircraft designer was from a few towns over and would help fuel his desire for a career in aerospace.
“Every career assessment they gave us in elementary school, middle school, high school – it always rang true. I wanted to be involved in the exploration of space, the final frontier,” said Patel, who is now living his dream as a Launch Site Integration Engineer for NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Program at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
His drive to become an aerospace engineer took him to Purdue University — the same university Apollo 11 astronaut and first man to walk on the Moon, Neil Armstrong, went to — where he received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering. He also served as an intern in fully immersed professional experiences with several aerospace firms, including Gulfstream Aerospace. During his graduate studies, an internship with Red Canyon Engineering & Software brought him to Kennedy and another step closer to realizing his dream.
“I remember driving into the badging center with all the interns,” Patel said. “The VAB [Vehicle Assembly Building] got closer and closer and I thought, ‘This is real – finally, I’m getting close to achieving what I always wanted to do in life.’ I want to be a part of space exploration, and Kennedy is the last stop for our spacecraft, our rockets, really, everything that reaches space and beyond.”
Less than a year later, he attained his graduate degree and a full-time position with EGS working on the Artemis missions. As part of the Artemis team, Patel is working on the front lines of the effort to return humans to the Moon.
With his unique focus on both systems engineering and project management, he works on a wide variety of engineering problems from multiple perspectives. Patel’s role on the advanced planning and payload integration team sees him assisting with planning for future Artemis missions in terms of what payloads will be integrated and brought on-site and processed at Kennedy.
On a daily basis, Patel works closely with payload stakeholders, customers, developers, and EGS counterparts to synthesize their different needs and make sure all the requirements are clearly defined and the path forward for processing payloads is optimal from the planning stages to post-flight.
“If there’s ever an opportunity to go into space one day, I would do that in a heartbeat,” Patel said. “I think they’re true heroes, our astronauts. Everything we can do to keep them safe and make sure their mission is successful – it’s an honor to be a part of that, no matter how big or how small.”
Image Credit: NASA