Ginger Kerrick on manning Nasa's Mission Control and getting to Mars
Ginger Kerrick tells Jim Al-Khalili about her 30-year career at Nasa - from training the first long-term ISS crew, to becoming the voice of Houston's Mission Control.
What do you do when your childhood dream of becoming an astronaut is grounded at the final hurdle?
If you’re physicist Ginger Kerrick, you go on to help run the missions instead.
After failing the medical of her astronaut application process, Ginger went on to become NASA’s first non-astronaut CAPCOM and its first Hispanic female Flight Director. Across a remarkable three-decade career, she helped train the International Space Station’s first long-term crew, logged thousands of hours in Mission Control, and shaped future missions to the moon and Mars. All with her trademark determination and resilience – qualities forged through life experiences that might have derailed someone else entirely…
In conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Ginger reveals the highs and lows of life at NASA, and discusses the future of human spaceflight: from the potential of AI, to missions to Mars.
Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor
A BBC Studios production
On radio
More episodes
Next
Coming soon
Broadcasts
- Tue 8 Sep 202609:00BBC Radio 4
- Wed 9 Sep 202621:00BBC Radio 4
Sleep – the mystery state
What is the secret to a good nights sleep? Professor Jim Al-Khalili explores.
Is your mind a machine?
Daniel Dennett thinks so. Here is what we learned from his Life Scientific.
Podcast
![]()
The Life Scientific
Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading scientists about their life and work.
