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 Featured Sols 4214–4215: The Best Laid Plans...3 min readSols 4214–4215: The Best Laid Plans...article2 days ago Hubble Observes a Cosmic Fossil2 min readHubble Observes a Cosmic Fossilarticle2 days ago Voyager 1 Returning Science Data From All Four Instruments2 min readVoyager 1 Returning Science Data From All Four Instrumentsarticle3 days ago
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 Highlights A large propeller plane takes off from a runway, surrounded by brown and green grasses with low buildings out of focus in the background. The plane is white with a blue stripe down the middle, and has a NASA logo on the tail. The sky is a hazy blue with some clouds.

	2 min read

		NASA-Led Mission to Map Air Pollution Over Both U.S. Coasts

		article

			2 days ago Students watch a sounding rocket launch at sunrise.

	4 min read

		NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility to Launch Student Experiments

		article

			2 days ago NASA’s Hubble Restarts Science in New Pointing Mode

	3 min read

		NASA’s Hubble Restarts Science in New Pointing Mode

		article

			2 days ago
 Highlights A woman with long, wavy hair and a bright smile sits at a round table during a formal event, surrounded by other attendees. She is wearing a brown cardigan and a patterned blouse.

	5 min read

		Lakita Lowe: Leading Space Commercialization Innovations and Fostering STEM Engagement

		article

			4 days ago NASA’s Repository Supports Research of Commercial Astronaut Health

	2 min read

		NASA’s Repository Supports Research of Commercial Astronaut Health

		article

			5 days ago NASA astronaut Doug “Wheels” Wheelock and Axiom Space astronaut Peggy Whitson prepare for a test of full-scale mockups of spacesuits developed by Axiom Space and SpaceX’s Starship human landing system developed for NASA’s Artemis missions to the Moon.

	4 min read

		NASA Astronauts Practice Next Giant Leap for Artemis

		article

			2 weeks ago
 Highlights A large propeller plane takes off from a runway, surrounded by brown and green grasses with low buildings out of focus in the background. The plane is white with a blue stripe down the middle, and has a NASA logo on the tail. The sky is a hazy blue with some clouds.

	2 min read

		NASA-Led Mission to Map Air Pollution Over Both U.S. Coasts

		article

			2 days ago NASA Announces New System to Aid Disaster Response

	4 min read

		NASA Announces New System to Aid Disaster Response

		article

			3 days ago Amendment 21: A.3 Ocean Biology and Biogeochemistry: NSPIRES cover page issue and Delay of Proposal Due Date

	2 min read

		Amendment 21: A.3 Ocean Biology and Biogeochemistry: NSPIRES cover page issue and Delay of Proposal Due Date

		article

			4 days ago
 Highlights The Next Full Moon is the Strawberry Moon

	17 min read

		The Next Full Moon is the Strawberry Moon

		article

			3 days ago Mars Dunes

	5 min read

		NASA’s Perseverance Fords an Ancient River to Reach Science Target

		article

			3 days ago Ed Stone, former director of JPL and project scientist for the Voyager mission, died on June 9, 2024. A friend, mentor, and colleague to many, he was known for his straightforward leadership and commitment to communicating with the public.

	5 min read

		Ed Stone, Former Director of JPL, Voyager Project Scientist, Dies

		article

			5 days ago
 Featured Hubble Observes a Cosmic Fossil

	2 min read

		Hubble Observes a Cosmic Fossil

		article

			2 days ago WL20 group of stars is located in the Rho Ophiuchi star-forming region

	5 min read

		NASA’s Webb Reveals Long-Studied Star Is Actually Twins

		article

			3 days ago Artist's illustration of a star system near the Sun that is close enough to Earth for exoplanets in their habitable zones to be directly imaged using future telescopes.

	4 min read

		Coming in Hot — NASA’s Chandra Checks Habitability of Exoplanets

		article

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 Highlights Hubble Observes a Cosmic Fossil

	2 min read

		Hubble Observes a Cosmic Fossil

		article

			2 days ago Voyager 1 Returning Science Data From All Four Instruments

	2 min read

		Voyager 1 Returning Science Data From All Four Instruments

		article

			3 days ago WL20 group of stars is located in the Rho Ophiuchi star-forming region

	5 min read

		NASA’s Webb Reveals Long-Studied Star Is Actually Twins

		article

			3 days ago
 Highlights Illustration showing several future aircraft concepts flying over a mid-sized city with a handful of skyscrapers.

	7 min read

		ARMD Solicitations

		article

			2 weeks ago Team “Rumble Ready” from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, comprised of (from left to right) Professor Mark Gonda, Nicole Xie, Junaid Bodla, Jordan Ragsac, Krishi Gajjar, Gerald McAllister III, and Leara Dominguez, took home first place at the 2024 Gateways to Blue Skies Forum held May 30-31 at NASA Ames Research Center. They are standing in a row posing for the photo; the team members are wearing blue t-shirts, black pants, and tennis shoes.

	4 min read

		Winners Announced in Gateways to Blue Skies Aeronautics Competition

		article

			2 weeks ago Graphic shows a possible future General Electric jet engine with exposed fan blades in front of a cut-away-interior view of its core mechanisms -- all part of NASA's HyTEC research project.

	4 min read

		NASA, Industry to Start Designing More Sustainable Jet Engine Core

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 Highlights Simulated Roman image full of synthetic galaxies

	6 min read

		NASA’s Roman Mission Gets Cosmic ‘Sneak Peek’ From Supercomputers

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			4 days ago Ed Stone, former director of JPL and project scientist for the Voyager mission, died on June 9, 2024. A friend, mentor, and colleague to many, he was known for his straightforward leadership and commitment to communicating with the public.

	5 min read

		Ed Stone, Former Director of JPL, Voyager Project Scientist, Dies

		article

			5 days ago Astronaut-packaged cheese sandwiches

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		Food Safety Program for Space Has Taken Over on Earth

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			6 days ago
 Featured A team from Iowa accepts its Artemis grand prize award during NASA’s Lunabotics competition on Friday, May 17, 2024, at the Center for Space Education near the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.

	5 min read

		Artemis Generation Shines During NASA’s 2024 Lunabotics Challenge

		article
			2 weeks ago
 Highlights Students watch a sounding rocket launch at sunrise.

	4 min read

		NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility to Launch Student Experiments

		article

			2 days ago A large propeller plane takes off from a runway, surrounded by brown and green grasses with low buildings out of focus in the background. The plane is white with a blue stripe down the middle, and has a NASA logo on the tail. The sky is a hazy blue with some clouds.

	2 min read

		NASA-Led Mission to Map Air Pollution Over Both U.S. Coasts

		article

			2 days ago NASA astronaut and Expedition 64 Flight Engineer Victor Glover reviews procedures on a computer for the Monoclonal Antibodies Protein Crystal Growth (PCG) experiment inside the Harmony module.

	2 min read

		NASA Joins National Space Council in Celebration of Black Space Week

		article

			2 days ago
 Highlights NASA Astronaut Official Portrait Frank Rubio

	5 min read

		Astronauta de la NASA Frank Rubio

		article

			2 days ago 2021 Astronaut Candidates Stand in Recognition

	6 min read

		Diez maneras en que los estudiantes pueden prepararse para ser astronautas

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			3 months ago Astronaut Marcos Berrios

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			3 months ago


3 min read NASA’s Modern History Makers: Abigail Rodriguez


Glenn Communications
 Abigail Rodriguez poses in front of the concentrator mirror in the Electric Propulsion and Power Laboratory at NASA’s Glenn Research Center.
Credits: NASA/Bridget Caswell
 <back to gallery Finding a job at NASA doesn’t always happen on the first try. For Abigail Rodriguez, she wasn’t going to let anything get in her way of working for NASA and was resilient in finding a job where she could use her civil engineering degree. Rodriguez attended multiple job fairs and applied online until she found an opportunity that was the perfect fit. She accepted a spring internship at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and near the end of her time at Kennedy, she received a call from NASA’s Glenn Research Center offering her a summer internship in Cleveland. “I went home for two weeks; then I was back on a plane again to come here for my summer internship,” Rodriguez said. Home for Rodriguez is Añasco, Puerto Rico. Growing up in the public school system, she was involved with numerous extracurricular activities and always had her sights set on NASA. “We grew up in the shuttle era, watching all the launches and landings,” Rodriguez said. “Building a space station was something as a kid you couldn’t comprehend, but it was so cool.” Among her extracurriculars was an after-school program that promoted math and science among students grades 4 through 12. “That’s where I got a lot of interest in going into STEM,” Rodriguez said. “We did so many interesting projects and learned the physics of everything. We were all creative minds, and it was something I really liked.” She graduated from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüezwith a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a master’s degree in engineering management. After four other internships with NASA, she accepted a Pathways Intership in safety and mission assurance in 2013. A decade later, she leads safety and mission assurance for the Fission Surface Power project, which aims to design a fission power system that would provide at least 40 kilowatts of power — enough to continuously run 30 households for 10 years – and demonstrate it on the Moon. “The farther we go away from the Sun, the more we will need to rely on innovative energy sources like nuclear,” Rodriguez said. “I’m setting the path for future projects and, hopefully, making this a lot easier for the person who comes after me.” In her role, Rodriguez ensures the project and its technical planning are consistent with NASA’s safety and mission assurance design processes, specifications, rules, and best practices. She supervises reliability assessments, environmental impact statements, and approval processes, as well as collaborates with outside agencies like the Department of Energy and Department of Transportation. Exposure to exciting projects like this has kept Rodriguez in the field of safety. She’s had the opportunity to work on projects ranging from an International Space Station experiment to one focused on monitoring environmental conditions in Lake Erie. “In safety, you touch so many different areas that NASA is involved in,” Rodriguez said. “It’s intimidating, but it makes me feel proud I’m here.” *NASA is in a Golden Era of aeronautics and space exploration. In partnership with commercial and private businesses, NASA is currently making history with significant missions such as**Artemis**,**Quesst**,**and electrified aviation. The NASA’s Modern History Makers series highlights members of NASA Glenn’s workforce who make these remarkable missions possible.* ***Jacqueline Minerd*** ***NASA’s Glenn Research Center***


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 Page Last Updated:
								Oct 24, 2023
							Page Editor:
								Kelly M. Matter
												Responsible NASA Official:
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