NASA has selected six women and men to join the elite corps of flight directors who will lead mission control for a variety of new operations at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

“This is an outstanding group of future tactical leaders for the Flight Operations Directorate,” said Brian Kelly, director of Flight Operations at Johnson. “We are excited to have them come on board.”

Now the exciting part for the Bhatia community, of this induction at NASA is that one of these distinguished individuals is an Indian and she is a Bhatiyani! Massive news and such a moment of pride for the Bhatia samaaj!

Pooja Joshi Jesrani was born in England but immigrated to Houston during childhood. Jesrani began interning with United Space Alliance (USA) before graduating from The University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering in 2007. In her work with USA and later NASA, she has supported the space station flight control team in many positions, including managing the life support and motion control systems, and then as a capsule communicator (CAPCOM), speaking directly with the astronauts in space. Recently, Jesrani has been working to integrate mission operations for upcoming commercial crew flights.

Pooja is poised to begin extensive training on flight control and vehicle systems, as well as operational leadership and risk management, before she is ready to sit behind the flight director console in mission control supporting NASA’s astronauts. When she does, she will become part of a group that numbers fewer than 100.

Pooja will have the opportunity to oversee a variety of human spaceflight missions involving the International Space Station, including integrating American-made commercial crew spacecraft into the fleet of vehicles servicing the orbiting laboratory, as well as Orion spacecraft missions to the Moon and beyond.

“The job of flight director is not an easy one, and we make these selections very carefully,” said Holly Ridings, acting chief of the Flight Director Office at Johnson. “We had a great group of applicants, so we were able to choose six individuals who have worked in many areas of human spaceflight. They’ll bring a lot of good experience to the role that will serve NASA well as we undertake new and exciting missions.”

As a flight director, Pooja will have this crucial responsibility of making real-time decisions critical to keeping NASA astronauts safe in space.

(This piece of news has been adapted from the official press release by NASA at their Headquarters in Washington and the Johnson Space Center, Houston)