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Abdiel Santos-Galindo’s journey to becoming a ground systems integration engineer for Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida was fueled by inspiration, hard work, perseverance, and a hint of magic.
“Sometimes, science and engineering need a little magic to make it happen,” said Santos-Galindo, who believes the true magic of NASA comes from the teamwork of its employees.
In his current role, Santos-Galindo is part of the massive coordinated effort to send humans back to the Moon as part of Artemis. Working mainly in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and Rotation, Processing, and Surge Facility at Kennedy, his team is involved in everything relating to ground support equipment for the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, throughout the design, development, test, evaluation, and certification phases.
“Nothing here is done by yourself,” Santos-Galindo said. “Everybody collaborates as a team. We’re responsible for over 20 subsystems located within the VAB that have to be ready to go support all the necessary needs of the vehicle, our customers, and stakeholders.”
Santos-Galindo is involved in the stacking process for the SLS vehicle and ensuring all ground support equipment has been properly certified and is ready for installation by the operations teams. As Artemis missions progress, the SLS will evolve into increasingly more powerful configurations, requiring modifications in the VAB, including new platforms to support and service the SLS Block 1B and Block 2 rockets on later Artemis missions. His systems engineering and integration team works with operations, project management, engineering, and design and development counterparts to initiate the necessary work.
Growing up on his “beautiful island home” of Puerto Rico, the San Juan native knew from a young age he wanted a future in engineering, though never imagined being part of the NASA team until an inspirational family trip to Washington, D.C. in 2008. Watching the celebration of NASA’s 50th anniversary on the National Mall, he saw presentations and booths detailing the agency’s past, present, and future, and was moved by the enthusiasm of the NASA employees he met that day.
Santos-Galindo joined NASA’s Interdisciplinary National Science Project Incorporating Research and Education Experience (INSPIRE) program in high school, which led to an internship at Kennedy in 2011. During his internship, he witnessed the STS-135 launch – the final flight of the Space Shuttle Program – and once again, the enthusiasm of NASA’s employees proved inspirational.
“It was really an eye-opening experience,” Santos-Galindo said. “It was great to realize and understand the amount of joy, happiness, hard labor, and pure enthusiasm that is poured into the work this agency does on a daily basis.”
After his internship ended, Santos-Galindo began working monorail operations at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, to help pay his way through college. While driving the park’s iconic trains helped fuel his knowledge and interest in mechanical engineering, he also fell in love with the park’s magic, and even met his fiancée there. Although his prospects at the most magical place on Earth remained bright, he still dreamed of a future with NASA.
In 2018, Santos-Galindo was in his final semester at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering with a concentration in robotics and a minor in space studies, when he got a call to interview for an internship with EGS. Seven months later, his NASA dream finally became a reality when he was hired full time.
During the 10th anniversary of STS-135, from the sixth floor of an office building at Kennedy overlooking the VAB, Santos-Galindo watched celebratory events on his NASA computer and truly appreciated the journey that took him from a working college student to being part of an agency on the cusp of sending humans back to the Moon.
“That’s the moment I realized I’ve come full circle,” said Santos-Galindo. “I came from being an intern, to going through college, all the way up to working here now and being a part of it. All I can say is don’t give up and keep moving forward.”
To learn more about Exploration Ground Systems, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/ground/index.html
Check out some of our other I am Artemis features.
Image Credit: NASA