Faces of SLS: Justin Littell

I am a mechanical engineer at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, and I’m part of a team that just completed the structural test article for the Space Launch System launch vehicle stage adapter. That piece of hardware will connect the SLS core stage and the interim cryogenic propulsion stage. We built a test version to ensure it can withstand the forces it will experience during flight.

There’s a lot to my job, but basically, rockets are made up of a lot of pieces, and I figure out how to build some of those pieces. I also decide who needs to do what job to make those pieces come together as a rocket. I like to think of it as getting to play with Legos all day – just very large, complex Legos that travel at speeds of more than 17,000 miles per hour.

One of the things I like most about my job is developing the tools and processes NASA needs to achieve the challenging objectives that come with building such a massive rocket. SLS is scheduled to fly no later than November 2018, and I look forward to seeing it launch. My work is built into this vehicle, and I want to see it succeed.

I’m originally from Dayton, Tennessee, and I got my engineering degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. I actually thought I would be an archeologist, but I decided to follow in my older brother’s footsteps and go into the engineering field. Watching a lot of episodes of “MacGyver” may have had something to do with that decision, too.

I have always liked spending time outside, whether camping, hiking or kayaking. As a child, I would build traps for “bad men” and then forget where I built them. That made for some interesting nature hikes. All those activities take a backseat to sleep these days, as my wife and I just had our first child, Finley Kate. I hope my work at NASA makes Finley proud and will inspire her generation to explore Mars and other planets in our solar system.