Workers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, know the best journeys aren’t just about the destination, but how one gets there. And as an eldritch Halloween Moon rises, Marshall team members here are supporting innovative efforts to send new generations of explorers back to the Moon and on to Mars — and some are making their Earthbound journeys pretty innovative as well.
Andrew Denio, a Marshall information technology specialist, and Judson Hudson, a lab technician and computer-aided designer, drive a pair of out-of-this-world vehicles to and from their jobs. Though their rides may lack the striking size and power of NASA’s Space Launch System — set to loft Artemis rockets carrying the first woman and next man to the Moon’s surface in 2024 — they embody NASA’s spirit of innovation and endeavor all the same.
Denio, who joined NASA in 2018, gets around town in a 2010 Toyota Prius customized to look like a space fighter from the “Star Wars” movies. Hudson, an Aerie Aerospace contractor who has supported Marshall since 2004, drives a 2011 Honda Fit Sport modified to resemble the Ecto-1, the rolling gizmo-hauler favored by Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and their colleagues in the spooky comedy classic “Ghostbusters.”
Hudson, a “Ghostbusters” fan since childhood, enlisted a professional designer to produce his car’s slick graphics, but cobbled together the iconic ghost gear himself, buying hardware from local home repair stores and painting and mounting it to mimic the movie versions of the Ecto-1.
Some of Denio’s earliest happy memories involve the “Star Wars” movies, he said. He spent roughly 100 hours customizing his Prius, taking detailed pictures of the original car and carefully overlaying graphics and design features on the bodywork and windows. He fashioned the vehicle’s big engines and blasters from paint buckets and PVC piping.
Both men enjoy the double-takes and hasty picture-taking their cars elicit around Redstone Arsenal, which is home to Marshall, and across the Huntsville area. Hudson has even been mistaken for a real paranormal investigator. “Apparently there are still people out there who’ve never seen ‘Ghostbusters’,” he said.
To encourage their Marshall teammates to join in the Halloween fun, Denio and Hudson even wear movie-appropriate garb to complement their sci-fi rides.
It’s all in service of NASA’s core mission, they agree: to engage and inspire the Artemis generation and fuel the innovation and the spirit of endeavor that will fly new expeditions into the solar system, put human boots once more on the lunar surface — this time to stay — and enable the first-ever crewed missions to Mars.
Supporting cybersecurity activities at Marshall, Denio appreciates the value of his behind-the-scenes role. “Without my team’s work, no one at NASA can log into a computer or even get through the doors to their offices and labs,” he said. “We empower the workforce to do their jobs, providing IT services and infrastructure supporting every critical mission the agency undertakes.”
For Hudson, teamwork and camaraderie drive his commitment to NASA’s mission. “My team occupies a very small facility, which creates a family atmosphere,” he said. “All of us are focused on contributing in small, vital ways to the agency’s enormous undertakings.”
He smiled. “And this time of year, of course, it’s also about the candy.”
The Space Launch System Program Office at Marshall manages SLS for NASA. Get the latest test and flight updates here:
https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html
Learn more about NASA’s Artemis Program here:
https://www.nasa.gov/what-is-artemis
Janet Sudnik
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
256-544-0034
janet.m.sudnik@nasa.gov