系统工程主管艾米·伦迪安
“When I was a kid, I grew up watching the Moon landings. I remember watching Neil Armstrong land on the Moon, step on the lunar surface. … And so, as a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut. That was the thing – everybody wanted to be an astronaut. As I grew up, I kind of lost track of that between everything, living life and whatnot.
“And so, a few years ago, when the pandemic hit, I was working for a construction contractor. Work stopped. There was nothing for me, and they laid me off. And I decided that I was due for a career change, and I wanted to get into aerospace. And I targeted, I worked very hard to find this job and to come work here.
“So here I am, a transgender woman, an engineer, working at Kennedy Space Center, and I get to work around these really smart, wonderful people, supporting the Artemis mission, sitting in the control room during the launch. And as a member of the LGBTQ community, I work with the LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group and I try to be visible, to show folks who may still be in the closet that one can live their authentic life and be a part of something so amazing.
“I came across a picture of me when I was probably 10. … I’ve lived in Florida most of my life, so I [would] come over here on Scouting trips. I have a picture of me as a kid standing out [on] – it’s probably pad A – and the best I can figure, it’s Apollo 14 sitting on the pad behind me. So, I get a picture of me as a kid with [an] Apollo rocket behind me and I’ve had several pictures of me with the Artemis I rocket. … Just being able to be a part of this is amazing.”
— Amy Lendian, Systems Engineering Supervisor, Amentum Spaceport, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center
Image Credit: NASA / Kim Shiflett
Interviewer: NASA / Michelle Zajac
Check out some of our other Faces of NASA.
“当我还是个孩子的时候，我是看着登月长大的。我记得我看着尼尔·阿姆斯特朗登上月球，踏上月球表面……所以，当我还是个孩子的时候，我想成为一名宇航员。就是这样——每个人都想成为一名宇航员。随着我的成长，我有点忘记了一切，生活和诸如此类的事情。
“所以，几年前，当疫情爆发时，我正在一家建筑承包商工作。工作停止了。我一无所有，他们就把我解雇了。我觉得我该换个职业了，我想进入航天领域。我很努力地找到了这份工作，来到这里工作。
“我是一名跨性别女性，一名工程师，在肯尼迪航天中心工作，我和这些非常聪明、出色的人一起工作，支持阿尔忒弥斯任务，在发射期间坐在控制室里。作为LGBTQ社区的一员，我和LGBTQ+员工资源小组一起工作，我试着让人们看到，向那些可能还在壁橱里的人展示，一个人可以过真实的生活，成为如此惊人的事情的一部分。
“我偶然看到一张我大概10岁时的照片。我一生中大部分时间都住在佛罗里达，所以我在童子军旅行时都会来这里。我有一张我小时候站在发射台上的照片——可能是发射台A——我能想到的最好的情况是，阿波罗14号就坐在我身后的发射台上。所以，我有一张我小时候的照片，身后是阿波罗火箭，还有几张我和阿尔忒弥斯1号火箭的照片。能参与其中真是太棒了。”
——艾米·伦迪安，NASA肯尼迪航天中心阿曼特姆航天港系统工程主管
影像来源：NASA / Kim Shiflett
采访者：NASA / Michelle Zajac