Mary Smith never loses sight of her dream
2014-03-31
For Women’s History Month, Johnson Space Center is honoring a few women employees whose character, courage and commitment have helped shaped them into the people they are today.
As a cargo mission lead for LZ Technology a contractor for Lockheed Martin, Mary Smith oversees the entire process of cargo support for her assigned flights which are currently the 39S Russian Soyuz and Orbital 3 Cygnus missions. 39S is currently targeted to launch to the International Space Station in May and Orbital 3 in October. But what does she do in her spare time? Smith is also a singer who has recently debuted on iTunes.
At Johnson Space Center, she works with the hardware provider to make sure all cargo is ready, works to process it, pack it and ship it out to be loaded on the spacecraft. Smith says she loves her job and loves that she is able to work with the cargo hands on, seeing each experiment, piece of food and tool as she prepares it for flight.
Smith has been working with NASA since 1989, when she began in Safety Reliability and Mission Assurance for Rockwell. She found her way to NASA while working at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston as a single mother. A friend told her she should come work at JSC, and she was grateful for the opportunity.
“JSC allowed me to work a job as a single parent and still be close to my kids so that they could still participate in activities,” Smith said. “It also allowed me to meet all kinds of people—another reason I love my job.”
At the time, she was a single mom of three. When she married her husband a few years later who had two kids of his own, their family grew. With five kids between the ages of 11 and 14, Smith recalled that it took a lot of patience and prayer. It was challenging for the two families to combine, but her advice to others is to “always show a united front, and always show your kids that you love them.”
One of Smith’s passions is clearly her family.
“My mother inspired me the most,” Smith said. “She had 11 kids and two sets of twins, but I still aspire to have the youthfulness that my mother had with my brothers and sisters and me.”
Smith’s mother was an incredible woman. Her father passed at 45, when Smith was in high school, and her mother was left to raise her and her 10 brothers and sisters. Growing up in Alvin, Texas, they slept three to a bed—two at the front and one at the foot. They did not have a bathtub, so they would boil water on the stove to get hot water and bathe in a big round tub. Even with these challenges while growing up, Smith’s outlook on her childhood is positive, and she still counts her blessings.
“My mother was such a good mother,” Smith said. “We didn’t suffer from not having food. We ate, we weren’t deprived. We had a good life. We were always clean and fed. We were poor, but we were proud.”
Another passion of Smith’s is singing. In fact, Smith has been passionate about singing since she got her first standing ovation at the age of 6. She vividly remembers singing “Jesus Loves Me” and said, “It was the best feeling that I have ever had in my life.”
Now she performs regularly and has been in a band for nine years. She also sings in nursing homes and said it is worth it “if there is one person I can make smile.”
Throughout her childhood, working with NASA, marriage, three children, two stepchildren and now 18 grandchildren, Smith has enjoyed a wonderful journey that has focused on her family and others. Yet she’s always wanted to be a performer.
“It’s my turn,” Smith said.
That phrase also happens to be the name of her debut album, released Jan. 11 and now available on iTunes. The songs on her album are a sort of biography of the different stages of her life.
“I waited on my dream so that I could get my kids from point A to point B,” Smith said.
It wasn’t easy realizing her dream; in fact, it was a lot of work. Smith wrote five of the songs, sang all the lead and background vocals, worked on the album for one-and-a-half years and financed it completely on her own. All of this while still working her full-time job supporting the advancement of human spaceflight at JSC.
In regards to financing her album on her own, Smith said, “There’s no amount of money that can make me feel how that album makes me feel … to fulfill that dream.”
When the album was released, Smith had a CD release party, and more than 200 people came to celebrate.
“When the CD was finished in December, it was the best feeling,” Smith said. “I may never get to Hollywood, but I bring Hollywood to me.
“Being able to realize my dream while working at JSC is such an accomplishment for me.”
Smith believes and lives by her favorite quote, which comes from Philippians 4:13 in the Bible: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” She lives by this comfort—and with strength—has also accomplished amazing things with her family, her work and her music.
Megan Sumner
NASA Johnson Space Center
As a cargo mission lead for LZ Technology a contractor for Lockheed Martin, Mary Smith oversees the entire process of cargo support for her assigned flights which are currently the 39S Russian Soyuz and Orbital 3 Cygnus missions. 39S is currently targeted to launch to the International Space Station in May and Orbital 3 in October. But what does she do in her spare time? Smith is also a singer who has recently debuted on iTunes.
At Johnson Space Center, she works with the hardware provider to make sure all cargo is ready, works to process it, pack it and ship it out to be loaded on the spacecraft. Smith says she loves her job and loves that she is able to work with the cargo hands on, seeing each experiment, piece of food and tool as she prepares it for flight.
Smith has been working with NASA since 1989, when she began in Safety Reliability and Mission Assurance for Rockwell. She found her way to NASA while working at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston as a single mother. A friend told her she should come work at JSC, and she was grateful for the opportunity.
“JSC allowed me to work a job as a single parent and still be close to my kids so that they could still participate in activities,” Smith said. “It also allowed me to meet all kinds of people—another reason I love my job.”
At the time, she was a single mom of three. When she married her husband a few years later who had two kids of his own, their family grew. With five kids between the ages of 11 and 14, Smith recalled that it took a lot of patience and prayer. It was challenging for the two families to combine, but her advice to others is to “always show a united front, and always show your kids that you love them.”
One of Smith’s passions is clearly her family.
“My mother inspired me the most,” Smith said. “She had 11 kids and two sets of twins, but I still aspire to have the youthfulness that my mother had with my brothers and sisters and me.”
Smith’s mother was an incredible woman. Her father passed at 45, when Smith was in high school, and her mother was left to raise her and her 10 brothers and sisters. Growing up in Alvin, Texas, they slept three to a bed—two at the front and one at the foot. They did not have a bathtub, so they would boil water on the stove to get hot water and bathe in a big round tub. Even with these challenges while growing up, Smith’s outlook on her childhood is positive, and she still counts her blessings.
“My mother was such a good mother,” Smith said. “We didn’t suffer from not having food. We ate, we weren’t deprived. We had a good life. We were always clean and fed. We were poor, but we were proud.”
Another passion of Smith’s is singing. In fact, Smith has been passionate about singing since she got her first standing ovation at the age of 6. She vividly remembers singing “Jesus Loves Me” and said, “It was the best feeling that I have ever had in my life.”
Now she performs regularly and has been in a band for nine years. She also sings in nursing homes and said it is worth it “if there is one person I can make smile.”
Throughout her childhood, working with NASA, marriage, three children, two stepchildren and now 18 grandchildren, Smith has enjoyed a wonderful journey that has focused on her family and others. Yet she’s always wanted to be a performer.
“It’s my turn,” Smith said.
That phrase also happens to be the name of her debut album, released Jan. 11 and now available on iTunes. The songs on her album are a sort of biography of the different stages of her life.
“I waited on my dream so that I could get my kids from point A to point B,” Smith said.
It wasn’t easy realizing her dream; in fact, it was a lot of work. Smith wrote five of the songs, sang all the lead and background vocals, worked on the album for one-and-a-half years and financed it completely on her own. All of this while still working her full-time job supporting the advancement of human spaceflight at JSC.
In regards to financing her album on her own, Smith said, “There’s no amount of money that can make me feel how that album makes me feel … to fulfill that dream.”
When the album was released, Smith had a CD release party, and more than 200 people came to celebrate.
“When the CD was finished in December, it was the best feeling,” Smith said. “I may never get to Hollywood, but I bring Hollywood to me.
“Being able to realize my dream while working at JSC is such an accomplishment for me.”
Smith believes and lives by her favorite quote, which comes from Philippians 4:13 in the Bible: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” She lives by this comfort—and with strength—has also accomplished amazing things with her family, her work and her music.
Megan Sumner
NASA Johnson Space Center