National STEM Day

Mission Memories with Astronaut Captain Mike Baker
Mission Briefing Center
11:30-12:15pm  
1:20-2:05pm  

Baker was born in Memphis, Tenn, but he considers Lemoore, Calif. his hometown. After graduating from The University of Texas in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering, Baker was commissioned in the U.S. Navy and earned his Wings of Gold in 1977. He was assigned to Attack Squadron 56, on the USS Midway, homeported in Japan, and flew the A-7E Corsair II. He attended the
U.S. Naval Test Pilot School (USNTPS) in 1981 and was then assigned to the Carrier Suitability Branch of the Strike Aircraft Test Directorate. He has served as an instructor at both USNTPS and the Empire Test Pilots School in England. He has logged over 5,400 hours flying time in 50 different types of airplanes and has over 300 carrier landings.

Baker was selected by NASA in 1985 and is a veteran of four Space Shuttle missions. He served as the pilot on STS-43 Atlantis (1991) and STS-52 Columbia (1992). He then served as the commander on
STS-68 Endeavor (1994) and STS-81 Atlantis (1997). Baker has logged 965 hours in space. Between space missions, he held numerous positions at NASA including CAPCOM on 11 shuttle
missions, the assistant director of NASA Johnson Space Center for Human Space Flight Programs, Russia and as the International Space Station Program Manager for International and Crew Operations. Baker left NASA in 2017 and was the President and CEO of RD AMROSS, a US/Russia joint venture until 2019.

Baker has been honored with multiple awards including the Defense Superior Service Medal, two Defense Meritorious Service Medals, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Legion of Merit, the Navy Unit Commendation, three Meritorious Unit Commendations, the Battle “E” Award, NASA Distinguished Service Medal, NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, NASA Exceptional Service Medal, four NASA Space Flight Medals, three Navy Expeditionary Medals, the National Defense Medal, two Sea Service Awards, and the Overseas Service Award.

2:15pm Astronaut Scholar Sasha Gladkova
Mission Briefing Center

Sasha is an Aerospace Engineer who has had her hands in many different pies. Prior to university, she was an elite gymnast and represented the US as a member of the US Senior National Team in Acrobatic Gymnastics.  

She retired to attend college, where she earned a degree in Aerospace Engineering Sciences with concentrations in Applied Math and Computer Science from the University of Colorado.Sasha was awarded the Astronaut Scholarship in 2022 and 2023 for her research work. Her first position was as a telescope observer at the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy at CU. She interned at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in the Gravitational Astrophysics Lab to interpret and process data from black hole simulations. Sasha joined the Eccentric Dynamics Group at the JILA Lab on campus, where she helped to design and analyze simulations involving dark matter. Sasha interned at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab where she developed software for the Europa Clipper Mission.  

The following year, she worked at Blue Canyon Technologies as a SmallSat systems engineer. During her final year at university, she began working at Ball Aerospace as a mission operations engineer for the Space Weather Follow On mission. After graduating in 2024, she changed roles at Ball (now called BAE Systems) to work on the freshly-awarded NASA GeoXO portfolio as a systems engineer.

3:00pm Jamarius Reid Systems Engineer with Barrios
Mission Briefing Center

Jamarius Reid is an engineering professional with experience in Radio Frequencies & Satellite Communications, Human Spaceflight Operations (Government & Commercial), along with Systems Development & Integration. As a child growing up in North Carolina he developed an admiration for Astronauts, which pollinated into his passion for human spaceflight. Today, Jamarius finds himself living the very dream he’s work so hard to achieve. Mr. Reid oversees Systems Engineering efforts at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) supporting human spaceflight and technical Integrations. His contributions derive from the Gateway Vehicle Systems Integration (VSI) Office as the Verification Lead under Test & Verification (T&V). Jamarius has acquired a diverse palate of experiences that he leverages to ensure the NASA Core Values (Safety, Integrity, Teamwork, Excellence, and Inclusion) are honored and reinforced.