A vital link between astronauts and mission control - Harvard Gazette

Grier Wilt completed a year at the Harvard Kennedy School and earned a master’s in public administration. She has worked and studied across four continents and speaks French and Russian while studying Arabic and Japanese. Her background includes mechanical engineering, national security, business, and ethnomusicology, along with certifications as a private pilot and an open-sea diver. At NASA, she holds responsibilities as a capsule communicator, spacewalk flight controller, and astronaut instructor. Teachers describe her as insightful, generous, down to earth, and unusually humble for Harvard. Her path began as a childhood commitment after seeing a comet and asking her father how to become an astronaut.

"Not yet 40, Wilt has worked and studied on four continents. By now she's an advanced speaker of French and Russian, and currently studying Arabic and Japanese. She's certified as both a private pilot and an open-sea diver, with degrees or coursework in mechanical engineering, national security, business, and ethnomusicology."

"And weeks after Wilt receives her latest diploma - her master's in public administration, following a whirlwind year at the Harvard Kennedy School - she'll resume the life-or-death responsibilities she holds at NASA: as a capsule communicator, spacewalk flight controller, and astronaut instructor."

"Kessely Hong, who taught Wilt in a class last fall on negotiations, will remember her as "incredible ... insightful and generous" - and, for a lifelong space obsessive - "very down to earth." "She's just an amazing human with an amazing background," agreed Eric Rosenbach, who taught Wilt in a survey course on emerging technologies this spring."

"Wilt says she's just following through on a childhood commitment. Seeing a comet in the skies over her Central Pennsylvania hometown, she asked her father how she could go. "He said, 'Become an astronaut,' probably not thinking anything of it," she said. "And I was like, 'Oh, OK. Now I know what I'm doing for the rest of my life.'""

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