I Am NASA Stennis: Carol Kellar

Kellar looks forward to enabling the future of spaceflight. “I am so excited about NASA furthering the United States’ presence on the Moon and, then, on to Mars. Reaching, landing, and working on Mars is like something out of a science fiction novel, of which I am very fond of reading,” said Kellar. “Stennis is the gateway to space.” Carol (Thibodeau) Kellar, chief of the Procurement Management Support Division at NASA’s Stennis Space Center, near Bay St. Louis, Misissippi, helps make human deep space exploration possible from the Mississippi backwoods, where she plans to live out her “happily ever after.”

Kellar’s involvement hides behind the scenes in her current role, but her contributions extend throughout many of the center’s mission tasks. She joined the Stennis Office of Procurement in 2004 and has regularly participated across multiple areas, activities, and teams. For example, she served as a procurement analyst, the contracting specialist/officer for two previous test operations contracts and for propellant delivery orders, the lead contracting officer for the current Synergy Achieving Consolidated Operations and Maintenance contract, and in a detail position within the Stennis Center Operations Directorate.

“I am also fortunate to have been able to work with a variety of cross-organizational teams both at Stennis and within NASA,” said Kellar. “All held the same goal, do great things. I am always learning something new in this profession. That makes for a very satisfying career, and it’s right here where I want to live.”

For Kellar, the Mississippi Gulf Coast is home. Kellar grew up in the coastal community of Woolmarket, now part of the city of Biloxi, with a widowed mother on a limited income. “My mother provided endless encouragement and a place to call home, …” she said. “So, although I have lived in other places, I always made my way back home. I now live with my husband of eight years, two teenagers, two dogs, and a horse.”

Kellar diligently pursued local higher education, which ultimately led her to a skilled position with NASA. “I received a full education right here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast,” Kellar said. She began grade school at Woolmarket Elementary, moved on to D’Iberville Middle and High Schools, and continued to Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. Afterward, she moved on to the University of Southern Mississippi, Gulf Coast Campus, for an undergraduate degree. Kellar next finished her Master of Business Administration degree at William Carey University, then called William Carey College.

Experience, opportunity, and the willingness to take a risk also contributed to Kellar’s career with NASA. Kellar worked in public education and private industry before joining the federal ranks in 1997. She started in civil service at Keesler Air Force Base, working in the 81st Contracting Squadron for seven years. “When an opening appeared for a contract specialist position at Stennis, I jumped at the chance and was fortunate to get picked up,” said Kellar.

Kellar directly supports NASA’s Artemis to take the next man, first woman, and first person of color to the lunar surface. Kellar manages a “support organization within a support organization.” Her teams’ support is critical to the successful oversight of the contracts responsible for many of the work activities in NASA and Stennis missions, including recent Green Run testing of the first Space Launch System core stage onsite.

“I am proudest of the various roles I have served in supporting rocket propulsion testing,” Said Kellar, “I love testing. After 17 years, it has never gotten old. Whenever I walk outside and hear the sound or see the ‘cloud’ of a test onsite, it always makes me smile. That’s what we do. That’s what we support.”

Kellar looks forward to enabling the future of spaceflight. “I am so excited about NASA furthering the United States’ presence on the Moon and, then, on to Mars. Reaching, landing, and working on Mars is like something out of a science fiction novel, of which I am very fond of reading,” said Kellar. “Stennis is the gateway to space.”

For information about Stennis Space Center, visit Stennis Space Center.