Going the Distance: Lisa Pace Leads Exploration Development Integration at Johnson
Lisa Pace knows a marathon when she sees one. Runner passionate, she participated in five marathons and more than 50 half-marathons. Although she prefers to move quickly, she also knows the value of taking her time. “I solve most of my problems during the race-or I realize that these problems are not worth worrying,” she said.
She learned to adopt an approach similar to her work at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. “Earlier in my career, I ran to get things done and I felt the need to do as much as possible,” she said. “Over time, I learned to trust my team and take a break to give others the opportunity to contribute. There are times when a rapid action is necessary, but it is often a marathon, not a sprint. ”
PACE is head of the development division for the development of exploration within the Directorate of Architecture, Integration and the Science of Exploration in Johnson. In this role, she leads a team of around 120 civil servants and entrepreneurs to provide engineering and mission level engineering and integration services that bring together different architectural elements to achieve the agency’s objectives. Today, this team supports Artemis missions, the commercial initiative of lunar payroll services of NASA and other areas if necessary.
“Artemis’ missions come together thanks to several programs and projects,” said Pace. “We are assessing them together to make sure that the mission from start to finish meets its planned requirements. The division also manages the examination at the level of the mission and the processes of preparation for the flight of planning for execution, until the final certification of the preparation for theft.
At the top of the division through the planning, launch and landing of Artemis, I was a strong career moment for Pace, although she feels the chance to have worked on many major projects during her stay with NASA. “My coolest and most enriching project consisted in designing and deploying an orbital debris monitoring telescope on ISLAND ASCENSION around 10 years ago,” she said. “The engineers, the scientists and the soldiers with whom I got to work and that I travel on this beautiful island is difficult at high!”
Pace says luck and a big timing led him to NASA. There were many engineering jobs when she graduated from Virginia Tech in 2000, and she quickly received an offer from Lockheed Martin to become an engineer of facilities in the Division of the Sciences of Research and Exploration of Johnson, or ARES. “I thought that working in the building where they keep the rocks of the moon would be in the fridge – and it was! Twenty -five years later, I’m still there,” said Pace.
Meanwhile, she learned a lot about solving problems and team constitution. “I often find that when we do not agree on the” good “way of doing something, there is no right answer-it simply depends on your point of view,” she said. “I take the time to listen to people, understand their side and build relationships to find common ground.”
She also highlights the importance of knowing your colleagues. “Relations are everything,” she said. “They make work so much more significant. I bring this lesson to my personal life and appreciate my time with my family and my friends outside of work. ”
Investing time in relationships has given a new unexpected skill – that of Matchmaker. “I am responsible for the creation of five couples who are now married and who have six children with each other,” she said, adding that she knew a couple of Johnson.
She hopes solid relationships will be transferred to the Artemis generation. “I hope to transmit a strong brand of NASA and the family culture that I had the chance to have, to work here for 25 years.”
