The Life Scientific: Ginger Kerrick

About this episode

<p>What do you do when your childhood dream of becoming an astronaut is grounded at the final hurdle?</p><p>If you’re physicist Ginger Kerrick, you go on to help run the missions instead.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p>