Station Nation: Meet John Wang, Organizational Computer Security Official for the Space Station’s Program Planning and Control Office

2024-05-30

John Wang is an organizational computer security official within the International Space Station Program’s Program Planning and Control Office. Wang coordinates cybersecurity efforts both within the program and across other organizations at NASA. Wang shares about his path to NASA, the perspective on his heritage as a member of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities, and more! Read on to learn more!

Where are you from?

San Francisco, CA.

Tell us about your role at NASA.

My position entails coordinating cybersecurity efforts both within the International Space Station Program and externally with other organizations within NASA.

How would you describe your job to family or friends who may not be as familiar with NASA as employees reading this?

I work on the International Space Station Program as the cybersecurity lead.

How long have you been working for the agency?

Overall, I have worked for the agency since 2007, including as a contractor and civil servant. I started in 2015 as a Pathways intern.

An Asian man wearing an Artemis I NASA tshirt stands in the foreground with a rocket on a launchpad in the background. He appears to be holding the rocket in the palm of his hand. — *John Wang at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center supporting Public Affairs for Artemis I launch. Image courtesy of John Wang*

What was your path to NASA?

I started out as a contractor in 2007 at White Sands Test Facility. Toward the end of 2014, since I was in graduate school, I accepted a position as an intern at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for the fall semester in 2014. Once my internship ended, I accepted a Pathways intern position at the agency’s Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Facility in Fairmont, West Virginia in 2015. In January 2017, I accepted a permanent position at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. At Glenn, I worked in the Engineering Directorate Office, the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, and the European Service Module Integration Office. This past Labor Day weekend (September 2023), I moved to Houston and started working in the International Space Station Program.

What does diversity, equity, and inclusion mean to you? How does it guide you in your work at NASA?

Diversity, equity, and inclusion means including everyone's input of all backgrounds and being equitable to everyone. Having diversity is not just ethnic diversity, it's also diversity of geography, age, gender, religion, etc.

Is there someone in the space, aerospace, or science industry that has motivated or inspired you to work for the space program? Or someone you discovered while working for NASA who inspires you?

I don’t have just one role model; I have multiple role models. Depending on where I was in my career, each role model provided an example of a career path I could take.

What is your favorite NASA memory?

My favorite NASA memory was watching the EFT-1 (Exploration Flight Test-1) launch as an intern at Kennedy.

What do you love sharing about station? What’s important to get across to general audiences to help them understand the benefits to life on Earth?

The next launch, docking, or undocking of various visiting vehicles to station.

An Asian man wearing an Artemis I NASA tshirt stands in front of a NASA office building. — *John Wang in front of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Image courtesy of John Wang*

How has your heritage shaped the person you are today?

My heritage provides me perspectives in keeping an open mind of cultures across the world.

What brings you joy about your heritage and culture?

There is vast diversity even within the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander cultures.

What does Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month mean to you?

Celebrating the contributions and achievements of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders every day.

What would you want others to know about the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander cultures?

In addition to STEM fields, Asians contribute to the arts, entertainment, and sports.

What are your hobbies/things you enjoy outside of work?

My hobbies include attending get-togethers, walking, eating at restaurants, and watching movies.

Day launch or night launch?

Day launch!

Favorite space movie?

Star Wars Return of the Jedi is my favorite space movie.

NASA Worm or Meatball logo?

Worm.

NASA worm logo

Every day, we’re conducting exciting research aboard our orbiting laboratory that will help us explore further into space and bring benefits back to people on Earth. You can keep up with the latest news, videos, and pictures about space station science on the Station Research & Technology news page. It’s a curated hub of space station research digital media from Johnson and other centers and space agencies.

Follow updates on social media at @ISS_Research on Twitter, and on the space station accounts on Facebook and Instagram.

John Wang on the catwalk overlooking the space station at the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

John Wang and former NASA Administrator and veteran NASA astronaut Charlie Bolden at a symposium.

John Wang in front of the crawler-transporter at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.