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NASA Chief Scientist and Senior Climate Advisor Kate Calvin, center left, joins team members at the agency\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center for a Climate and Science Town Hall on Sept. 17 in Activities Building 4316. Calvin took part in a question-and-answer session during her visit that was live streamed agencywide. Joining her in the session were, from left, Rahul Ramachandran, research scientist and senior data science strategist for the Science Research and Project Division at Marshall; Marshall Earth Science Branch Chief Andrew Molthan; Marshall Chief Scientist Renee Weber; Marshall Center Director Joseph Pelfrey; and Marshall Science and Technology Office Manager Julie Bassler, who moderated the panel. (NASA\/Krisdon Manecke)<\/em><\/p>\n Molthan answers a question during the Climate Town Hall. Topics discussed during the town hall included the response by NASA and Marshall to climate change, the effects of climate change on NASA and Marshall objectives, and how NASA and Marshall are helping organizations around the world respond to climate change. (NASA\/Krisdon Manecke)<\/em><\/p>\n \u203a Back to Top<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n By Celine Smith<\/em><\/p>\n Jacob Onken remembers his father, Jay Onken, waking him up one morning at 3 a.m. when he was 9 years old to watch the International Space Station fly overhead. At the time, his dad was a POD \u2013 a payload operations director \u2013 at NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center leading flight controllers who support science experiments aboard the orbiting laboratory 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.<\/p>\n Now, the younger Onken has started a new chapter in his career as a POD at Marshall, following in his father\u2019s footsteps. The father and son are the first family members to serve in this role at Marshall. Onken said that happened by chance, despite growing up NASA-adjacent.<\/p>\n Jacob Onken began his aerospace career with an internship at Teledyne Brown Engineering while earning a bachelor\u2019s degree in computer science at Auburn University in Alabama. The internship took him to Marshall\u2019s Payload Operations Integration Center \u2013 a place his father had worked and often taken him when he was younger. Colleagues warmly remembered the veteran POD and welcomed to the role.<\/p>\n After graduating with a bachelor\u2019s degree in computer science in 2018, Onken worked as a contractor with Teledyne for NASA. As a data management coordinator (DMC) he sat console and learned to operate data and video systems aboard the space station.<\/p>\n \u201cI really found myself out here, and I loved it,\u201d he said. \u201cWorking in space flight operations is insanely cool and beneficial to humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n After training for over a year, he earned his DMC certification and later was assigned as the lead DMC for space station Expeditions 62 and 63. He later served as the DMC training lead, preparing new flight controllers for certification. In this role, he trained 13 DMCs for certification, using a people-based leadership approach he learned from his father.<\/p>\n Well before the space station flew, Jay Onken was an aerospace engineer whose early career assignments included orbit analysis for the space shuttle and attitude selection for several Spacelab missions. He later was one of the first flight directors for NASA\u2019s Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and following its launch, joined the first group of space station PODs.\u00a0<\/p>\n He went on to become the director of Marshall\u2019s Mission Operations Laboratory in 2005, deputy chief engineer for the Space Launch System in 2014, and director of Marshall\u2019s Space Systems Department in 2016. He retired in 2018 and died in 2021 after battling cancer.<\/p>\n Jacob Onken continues Jay Onken\u2019s legacy. Colleagues say he embodies similar traits. He often reflects on his father\u2019s advice.<\/p>\n \u201cI was lucky to have my dad, who understood the environment that I was working in,\u201d he said. \u201cI knew his work meant a lot to him. We were always close, but we got even closer. Bonding over the same things was special.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2022, Onken became the DMC flight operations lead, supporting real-time console and planning operations for that team. In 2023, he joined the Operations Directors Office. After another rigorous training curriculum, he completed his POD certification in January 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s rewarding and heartwarming to know that the future of space flight operations is in good hands with the new generation,\u201d said Craig Cruzen, the POD training lead who oversaw Onken\u2019s instruction and certification.<\/p>\n Onken leads a team that communicates with astronauts about the scientific experiments they\u2019re performing on the space station and ensures their safety from the ground.<\/p>\n \n