Darlene Beville never imagined one day she would work for the space program.
Born and raised on the Space Coast, watching rockets launching from her backyard was a normal part of her life, but she didn’t realize what an impact it would have on her.
“I grew up on a ranch and I always thought I would go into the veterinary field,” Beville said.
Little did she know she would end up working on a different ranch — the Rocket Ranch — and become one of the spacecraft technicians with ASRC Federal – a company contracted by Lockheed Martin – at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to assemble the Orion spacecraft that will ultimately take the first woman and first person of color to the Moon as part of Artemis.
“The space program was the background of this whole area,” Beville, who lives with her husband in Mims, Florida said. “I had no idea I would end up here, but I knew I wanted to stay in the area because my whole family was from here so I started out working in the cafeteria at the old NASA Headquarters building at Kennedy just to get my foot in the door.”
She didn’t have to wait long for another opportunity to arrive.
About a year later in 1988, Beville became a spacecraft technician working on installing the thermal protection system on the space shuttles all the while attending Brevard Community College – now Eastern Florida State College – to further her education to become a Quality Inspector for the shuttle program.
Fast forward to today, the experience she had working on shuttle helped her land a job working as one of the technicians on the thermal protection system for Orion. The thermal protection system on Orion is one of the most critical components of the spacecraft, responsible for protecting it and the astronauts it will carry home from deep space destinations.
“I didn’t have a fascination for space until I started working out here and building parts for the space shuttle, and it wasn’t until I witnessed my first launch from Kennedy that made it all feel real,” Beville said, as she recalled feeling the ground shake beneath her while the buildings vibrated and the car alarms blared.
“Just to know that I was a part of that – ever since then I’ve become very passionate about the space program and the work we do out here,” she said.
Having gained experience since shuttle, Beville now finds herself mentoring newer employees, all the while reminding them of the importance of doing a perfect job.
“This is our future,” Beville said. “And if they don’t do their job to the best of their ability, then it may not work. All the jobs have to come together and work together for this to be successful.”
Though she worked on shuttle through the last flight, Beville joined the team after the shuttle was already developed and flying. Orion was different, however.
“We started working on Orion from scratch, from day one,” Beville said. “That’s part of what’s so gratifying for me about working on the Orion spacecraft versus shuttle because from the very beginning, we got to provide input on improving the product and making it better. And to know that this is the spacecraft that will go to the Moon is simply incredible.”