(This is another installment in a series of posts about my job and where I want my career to go from here. For previous deep thoughts, here are parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. For now, this series continues to be ongoing and indefinite.)
Four years ago, I was smack in the middle of being Lead Rendezvous Officer for STS-133.
Earlier this week, I found myself sitting “at the table” during the agency’s Flight Readiness Review for the upcoming Soyuz flight and ISS increment.
The contrast between these two things is a little hard for me to explain, but it is striking nonetheless. I was (by FAR) the most junior person at the table which was simultaneously intimidating, exciting, and a little overwhelming…and I’m not quite sure what to make of it yet. Maybe a lot. Maybe nothing.
When I left the world of real-time mission operations and my job as a flight controller in mid-2011 to move to our safety organization, I knew I was taking a bit of a gamble. Although I needed to find something new since the space shuttle program was ending, safety didn’t necessarily seem like the best way to go. (I’ve talked about this several times before.)
But I tried it, and I liked it, and I stayed, and sitting there at that table on Tuesday, I realized that it was 100% — 200%! — the right decision. If I had stayed in my old organization, never in a million years would I have had access to some of the opportunities I’ve had in the last year. Never in a million years would I have ended up at that table.
This was not the first time I’ve had this realization, but it did hit me more forcefully than ever before.
Some days I worry about what the future holds, and some days I don’t. But I still remind myself to be patient. And I remind myself that it’s nice to be here right now. And I remind myself that since my gut instinct has treated me well in the past, it’s likely to do so again.
