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\u201cThe public perception of NASA has a lot to do with our technological successes and the discoveries that we\u2019ve made, but none of that is possible without the people.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the six or so years that I\u2019ve worked at NASA, I\u2019ve learned a lot of incredible stories \u2014 not just of the struggles that different spacecraft encounter on their journeys throughout the universe. There are so many problems that need to be solved and fixes that need to be made, but there are also so many stories of teams that had to work together to accomplish their goals. And a lot of time, these teams are working after hours, on weekends, working late nights and early mornings. These are people who have other problems in their lives that they have to solve, and they\u2019re still showing up and making magic happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is why [Aubrey Gemignani] and I started Faces of NASA: We wanted to make that connection. It\u2019s not just rockets, astronauts, and telescopes. Hundreds of thousands of people come together to make these missions possible, and that\u2019s the part that\u2019s really interesting for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to hold a mirror to other people, and in every Faces of NASA interview, I try to hold a mirror up to what the person has accomplished to get them to be proud of it. For many of those people, it\u2019s the first time they have to self-reflect.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s really nice about [the Faces of NASA project]. Everyone who works here is just living day-to-day, so when they have an opportunity to stop for a moment and look back on how far they\u2019ve come\u2026 it\u2019s the best feeling for both of us. They\u2019re like, \u2018Wow, I\u2019ve never really stopped to think about how much I\u2019ve accomplished or how far I\u2019ve come.\u2019 And I get to share that moment with them. That\u2019s my favorite part of Faces of NASA.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u2013 Thalia Patrinos, Communications Strategist, PCI Productions, NASA Headquarters<\/p>\n