Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate 

NASA Employee Panel Logic Puzzle

Recently, three NASA employees visited NASA Headquarters in 

Washington, DC, to meet with some students and talk about their 

jobs. On the stage in front of the students, Jorge stood in the middle 

with Sonia to the left and Xander to the right (All directions are 

from the students’ point of view.).

The NASA employees thought it would be fun to see how well the 

students could figure out where they worked, on what NASA 

programs they were working and what their particular jobs were. 

They gave the students the following six statements. Can you figure 

out each employee’s information?

Figure 1. Employees on stage Credit: 

Pixabay (modified)

Each employee works at a different NASA facility, works on a different NASA mission and has 

a different job. 

The facilities include:

• NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California

• NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio

• NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia 

The missions include: 

• Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) 

• Electrified Aircraft Propulsion (EAP) 

• X-59 

The jobs include: 

• Engineer

• Manager

• Scientist
1. The engineer does not work at Langley. 

2. The employee who works at Armstrong is seated somewhere to the right of Sonia. 

3. The scientist is not sitting in the middle. 

4. The employee working on the EAP program works at Glenn. 

5. The employee who works at Glenn is seated directly to the left of the scientist.

6. Xander is not working on the AAM program. 

X-59 

JOB MISSION EMPLOYEE

AAM

EAP

SCIENTIST

LOCATION JOB MISSION LANGLEY ENGINEER MANAGER GLENN

Sonia 

ARMSTRONG

Jorge

Xander

AAM

EAP

X-59 

Engineer 

Manager

Scientist
Background Information

Located nationwide, NASA’s centers and facilities house equipment and personnel who work on 

aeronautics, space and much more. Each location specializes in supporting different aspects of 

NASA’s missions. NASA Headquarters, located in Washington, DC, is where much of the 

agency’s leadership works. Aeronautics, the aviation side of NASA, is primarily supported by 

Ames Research Center, Armstrong Flight Research Center, Glenn Research Center and Langley 

Research Center.

Figure 2. NASA centers and facilities

NASA has many missions related to aeronautics and space. As a result of the diverse missions, NASA 

employs people with many different skills. Besides scientists and engineers, you can find artists, writers, 

accountants, construction workers and just about any job you can imagine at NASA. So, no matter what 

you like to do, there’s a good chance that NASA could use your talents!

Even within aeronautics, there are many different missions going on at the same time. For example, some 

of the current projects include: 

• Electrified Aircraft Propulsion (EAP): NASA is working with industry partners to develop planes 

that can fly using electricity, thereby, lowering aircraft emissions and helping protect the 

environment.

• X-59 or Low-boom Flight Demonstrator: One of NASA’s newest X planes, the X-59, is designed to

fly faster than the speed of sound while producing much less noise than traditional supersonic 

aircraft.

• Advanced Air Mobility (AAM): NASA is leading the nation to quickly open a new era in air travel, 

which includes drones, flying taxis and more. The vision of AAM is that of a safe, accessible, 

automated and affordable air transportation system for passengers and cargo capable of serving 

previously hard to reach urban and rural locations.