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"My name is Nadra Hatchett, I'm and aerospace engineering working in the Office of the Center
Director at the Marshall Space Flight Center. My first memory of NASA was in the 8th grade.
I remember going to the Space & Rocket Center. It was a field trip. Soon after, though, I
remember hearing the testing of the engines and feeling the vibrations because my church
was really near the arsenal. I felt all of that and that really intrigued me. I was really
fascinated by the sounds. I had this vision of being an architect. I wanted to do urban
planning, but I knew I just needed to get into college, so that's what I did. I just
got in college and found my way toward NASA. One day, my instructor came up to me and asked
me if I wanted to do a co-op with NASA. I said "yeah"! Got hired on as an intern, worked
that for a little while and decided I wanted to go back to school. I went to Athens State,
got a degree in mathematics with a minor in physics and, with my experience as a draftsman
and with my math degree and physics minor, all of that put together allowed me to become
an aerospace engineer. Who would've thought it. I didn't plan it, it just happened that
way. I love the fact that you start out with blueprints and ended up with hardware. I love
the whole process. I love working with the guys in the machine shop. My children ask
lots of questions and every day when they were little they would ask 'What are you going
to do, mom? Where are you going?' I would let them know I'm going to NASA. At the time,
the space shuttle is what we had to get to the space station. They knew about the space
station because I always brought pictures and I always shared what I did through pictures.
I would always tell them 'I'm at work doing things to get things up to the space station,
so all of our experiments, not all of them but a lot of them, get a chance to go up to
help the astronauts experiment to make things better for you.' The people who influenced
me the most in my career, in my life, are my parents. They always taught me that God
created all of us equal, no matter what color we are, no matter what's going on in the world,
no matter what's on the news, the truth is God created all of us equal. Get along with
people. Love people. Smile at people. Show them you're friendly. If you show them that
you're friendly, they'll be friendly back. It's human nature. I think it's important
to celebrate Black History Month because I believe the more you understand people, the
race, the struggles that people have gone through, the better and easier it is to work
with them. It's human nature to want to know people and when you have the black history
programs and when you celebrate it, it gives us a sense of pride that we've had some people
struggle through to make it better for us. When I look at black history, I look at Rosa
Parks. I look at the fact that she took a stand and that stance is the reason why I
have this job. It's the reason why I'm able to do the things that I wouldn't have normally
been able to do years ago. I'm here and I'm grateful."