Meet: Jeff Sugar

Who I am

I work for the NASA Mission Operations Directorate (MOD). I support the Space Flight Training Division, where I am in the Mechanical and Robotic Systems department. In the simplest of terms, I am an instructor teaching the use and operation of the Space Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (RMS) - the Shuttle robotic arm.

Before my job change in February 2000, I used to work out of the Space Station Program Office in the Assembly and Manifest group, known as A&M for short. I was in charge of the manifest for the upcoming ISS shuttle flight. Manifesting, as a verb, is the act of keeping the long packing/shopping list of items to take up, leave on orbit, and bring back on the shuttle from the ISS. This includes anything and everything that goes up, stays up, or comes down. There are other people who keep up with the items when they are on the ISS, where things are stored, etc.

What I like best about my job is being here at the center with so many different people and different things going on. I love the variety. The thing I like least is the lack of time. So much of what we do is high priority, and there never seems to be enough time to get all the things I want to do done.

Career Preparation

My career path really began when I was in high school. I did a summer internship for the University of Maryland - Baltimore County campus at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center with some other students. We had a mentor program set up for several weeks exposing us to NASA and our interests. This established a relationship between NASA and myself and got my foot in the door of somewhere I certainly wanted to be. In college, I encouraged many fellow-engineering students to co-op. My co-oping wasn't always exactly what I wanted, but I learned from every experience.

As a sophomore in college, I ended up as a counselor at the Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama. I had gone to the Space Academy there in my junior year in high school. It was so cool, but being a counselor was way cooler! I had so much more fun. In my junior semester of college, I contacted someone I knew at Goddard and was able to obtain a co-op there, spending nine months total on the job.

I attended college at Virginia Tech earning a bachelor of science degree in aerospace engineering and my master of engineering degree in industrial and systems engineering. Upon graduation, NASA had a hiring freeze.

I began researching for employment in a number of different areas that interested me in the Virginia and Washington DC area: the Naval Research lab, the CIA, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, etc. I came to Houston to interview with Lockheed Martin. While I was here, I contacted the human resources department of United Space Alliance (USA), whom I had been calling on a regular basis. I was able to arrange an interview, and about a month later they made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Finally my persistence paid off! I had originally submitted my resume to USA through their external website.

The co-op experience, overall, was wonderful. That experience helped me to get where I am today. Grade-wise, I wasn't a 4.0 student, but my persistence and experience paid off tremendously.

Growing Up

I was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey, where I lived until I was about 5 years old. Then we moved to Connecticut for about six months before settling in Maryland where I attended elementary, middle, and high school. I went to Carroll Manor Elementary School, Cockeysville Middle School, and Dulaney High School. I was lucky in that I always went to pretty good schools and had pretty good teachers. I got a good background in math and science and had plenty of school activities to participate in.

I have wanted to be an astronaut since I was 5 years old. This dream has never altered or changed. Two things that I remember from my childhood years are that I loved to act in plays in elementary school and a school trip we took in the sixth grade. We visited Jamestown, Virginia, and it was so rich in history that I never forgot how much I enjoyed the trip -- touring the colonial sites, watching the candle making, etc. I can also remember that in middle school, I had a teacher who taught me social studies. His name was Mr. Fry, and he truly made history and social studies interesting. I felt lucky to have had a teacher like him.

During a trip to Australia, visiting a koala zoo

As a child, I loved to read and would start and finish a book in a day regularly. I really enjoyed sci-fi and mysteries though I would read anything, including my sister's books if I ran out of my own subject material. I still like to read, but now most of my subject material is related to space in some way -- Apollo program, Mir, etc.

Personal Information

My parents live outside of West Palm Beach, Florida. I live in Houston. I am single and have no children. At the moment, I have no pets either, but I have had fish, guinea pigs, and hermit crabs. I have one sister, Erica (pictured with me above), who is three years younger than I am. She lives in Chicago and is a dance major. Since my family is pretty spread out, we don't see each other often. We do enjoy traveling together and seeing new places, which we did a lot when I was growing up. Now every Sunday, we make our family calls.

I am a person who likes adventure and learning new things. My newest learning adventure, besides work, is scuba diving. I got my certification last year, and have been on a few diving trips. Something unusual I like to eat is squid. The first time I ate it, I was in sixth grade. We were dissecting squids in science class, and afterwards we fried up the edible parts and ate them. It was really good, and I've been hooked on it ever since.

Future Plans and Goals

My overall goal is to be an astronaut and fly in space. If I am unable to achieve that goal, I plan on continuing my career in the aerospace industry with the hopes of staying near a NASA facility. I certainly plan to continue learning. I would like to pursue another degree, either a doctorate or another master's degree. I want to learn to fly. I'm really interested in learning a few other languages, like Russian and Japanese (languages of some of our space partners).