Eastmont alum Jenae Bickford training at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab in Houston, where astronauts rehearse spacewalks underwater.
When Jenae Bickford graduated from Eastmont High School in 2014, she already knew she wanted to work in aerospace and space exploration. Today, Bickford works in Houston on Boeing’s EVA & Crew Systems team, supporting astronaut training and spacewalk operations connected to NASA, the International Space Station, and future space exploration missions.
After high school, Bickford attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, earning a degree in aerospace engineering and a minor in flight training. While there, she served as president of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and connected with Boeing through a national engineering conference career fair.
She began at Boeing as an intern on the 777X wing team before moving into full-time engineering roles in aircraft design and analysis. After completing a master’s degree in aerospace engineering, she was selected for Boeing’s highly competitive Engineering Career Foundation Program, rotating through projects involving flight testing, cockpit systems, wind tunnel testing, and launch operations at Kennedy Space Center. There, she learned how rockets and crew capsules are prepared for missions supporting astronauts traveling to and from the International Space Station (ISS).
Part of her work has included supporting engineering upgrades to the ISS, including the new Roll Out Solar Arrays designed to improve the station’s power capabilities.
“We support spacewalks both in crew training events and during operations in orbit,” Bickford explained, “we are the first people NASA calls upon for any engineering or hardware-related questions and anomalies.”
Her work includes supporting astronaut training and engineering operations as the hardware subject matter expert (SME) both on the ground and during EVA missions in orbit.
While much of her current work focuses on the ISS, Bickford says future lunar exploration is also an exciting possibility. She is currently pursuing additional graduate work connected to lunar spacewalk operations and hopes to someday support future lunar missions and next-generation spacewalk operations as NASA plans for the next era of human space exploration.
But Bickford says her interest in space began long before college.
“My second grade teacher, Mrs. Paquette, had a poster of a space shuttle crew in the classroom,” Bickford shared. “I used to stare at it all the time. I always knew I wanted to do this kind of work. I always had it in my mind that I was going to complete a mission for her.”
She encourages current students interested in engineering or STEM careers to seek out experiences whenever possible.
“Any kind of hands-on experience is valuable,” Bickford said. “Clubs, projects, building things, designing things…anything that helps one learn about how to think through problems, test ideas, and redesign.”
From Eastmont classrooms to supporting astronauts and future space missions, Bickford’s journey shows how curiosity and persistence can lead far beyond the classroom…and even beyond Earth.
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