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Meet Spotlighted Space Professionals!

October 4, 2022
Collage of women

Too often students – and even educators – associate having a space career with just being an astronaut or rocket scientist. But we know there is a whole universe of jobs related to space that encompass fields such as science, engineering, technical trades, communications and media relations, and more.

The White House’s National Space Council wants to change that and called upon Federal agencies to help educators expose their students to the multitude of space careers across the federal government and the wide diversity of professionals in those roles.

At NOAA, our mission is to understand and predict our changing environment from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, as well as manage and conserve America’s coastal and marine resources. To do this, we collect, archive, and study information not just from the ground and in the air, but from satellites in space. Information collected from NOAA’s environmental satellites supports products and services used across the country every day that promote and protect our security, economy, environment, and quality of life.

Space missions, satellite programs, and scientific research require a large team of people with a variety of skills. We spoke with a few people here at NOAA, featuring STAR's very own Alexis Wolfe (Chief of Staff) and Paige Lavin (Oceanographer), about their space-related careers and the advice they’d give to young people reaching for the stars.